Mat Gardner (born 24 August 1985) is a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer.

Rugby League Career

Huddersfield Giants

Gardner joined from

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

( Heritage № 818) and made his Super League début in a match against

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

on 4 March 2006 for Huddersfield. He enjoyed a solid début season with the

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

in 2006, which included a memorable hat-trick against the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

, and also played several games, which saw him line-up against his brother

Ade Gardner Adrian Antonio Gardner (born 24 June 1983) is an English former professional rugby league footballer, who spent the vast majority of his career with St Helens in the Super League. He was an England and Great Britain representative er. Early ...

. He played in Huddersfield's first seven games and scored 2 tries, although a long run in the reserves followed before he was recalled for the game against

Harlequins RL The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

Salford Red Devils

With Huddersfield signing David Hodgson from Salford and Rod Jensen being established on the other wing Mat Gardner left Huddersfield and signed for

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

for the 2008 season.

Harlequins RL

Gardner moved to Harlequins RL for the 2009 Super League season. He then moved to Widnes, boarding and playing darts but never marking at The Sporties in St. Helens.

Leigh Centurions

He signed for Leigh for the 2012 season scoring 26 tries in 58 appearances up til the beginning of the 2014 season.

International

On 22 Feb 2020 Mat captained and coached

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in their 30-14 win over

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Rugby Union

He switched codes to represent

in rugby union sevens at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

References

https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12196/12034553/listen-brazil-womens-coach-and-ex-super-league-player-mat-gardner-on-the-golden-point-podcast 1985 births Living people Barrow Raiders players Brazil national rugby league team coaches Brazil national rugby league team players Castleford Tigers players English people of Brazilian descent English rugby league players Huddersfield Giants players Leigh Leopards players London Broncos players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Barrow-in-Furness Rugby league wingers Salford Red Devils players Swinton Lions players Widnes Vikings players {{England-rugbyleague-bio-stub