Matt Shipway (born 11 September 1985) is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

international

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 and coach of the Port Macquarie Sharks. He primarily plays as a .

Background

Shipway was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

. He is of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

descent through his grandparents.

Playing career

In 2006, Shipway captained the

Port Macquarie Sharks The Port Macquarie Sharks are an Australian rugby league football team based in Port Macquarie and was formed in 1940. Playing Record Playing record compiled from scores published in the Rugby League Week ''Rugby League Week'' (frequently ...

to a premiership, before moving back to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

two years later. After moving to

, Shipway signed to play for

The Entrance Tigers The Entrance Tigers are a rugby league club based at The Entrance, New South Wales, Australia.They are competing in the 2022 Denton Engineering Cup (NSWRL Presidents Cup Northern Conference) & Central Coast Division Rugby League. They have previ ...

,Government to recognise South African rugby league's status
''smh.com.au'', 20 October 2013 only for the team to fold before he could play a game. In 2008, Shipway joined the

Macquarie Scorpions The Macquarie Scorpions is an Australian rugby league football club based in Toronto, New South Wales formed in 1954 as Toronto Workers. They currently play in the Newcastle Rugby League The Newcastle Rugby League is a local rugby league foo ...

in the

Newcastle Rugby League The Newcastle Rugby League is a local rugby league football competition in Newcastle, Australia. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1910. A Newcastle representative team was also assembled from players in ...

. In 2010, Shipway signed with the

South Newcastle Lions The South Newcastle Lions is an Australian rugby league football club based in Merewether, New South Wales formed in 1910. They currently play in the Newcastle Rugby League competition. Rivalries are Central Newcastle, Western Suburbs and Lakes ...

, taking on the captain-coach role in 2011. In 2012, Shipway was on standby for various games for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

New South Wales Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

team, as a possible fill-in for injuries. In 2013, Shipway gave up the coaching side of his captain-coach role to concentrate more on his game. In June 2013, Shipway played for the

Newcastle Rebels Newcastle were a rugby league team who played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from 1908–1909, one of the nine foundation clubs. After the formation of several clubs in January 1908, members of the NSWRFL came to Newca ...

representative team. In October 2013, Shipway was named in the New South Wales Country Residents team to tour

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Before the tournament, he credited his selection in the team to his decision to give up the coaching role at South Newcastle that year to concentrate on his game saying, ''"I think I still played pretty good footy as the captain-coach, but the move allowed me to concentrate more on my game and the biggest thing was not having to worry about anyone else. As the captain-coach I'd have to turn up and watch the first two games and talk to the other coaches then go in the sheds and try and get everyone else ready for the game as well."'' He eventually had to leave the team mid-tour on 10 October 2013, as he was named in the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

squad. Shipway played in the

22-18 warm up game win over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

where he scored a try, before playing 4 games in the World Cup tournament. His tour helped him develop a cult following back in

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

, where his friend Joe Cudmore started the

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page "The red-headed

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny Bill Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the List of dual-code rugby internationals#New ...

". In 2014, Shipway joined the

Boston Thirteens The Boston Thirteens (officially written as Boston 13s RLFC) are a professional rugby league football team based in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. The team previously played in the USA Rugby League, before turning fully professional in 2021 and bec ...

in the

USA Rugby League The USA Rugby League (USARL) is the official governing body for rugby league, a code of rugby football, in the United States. The organization also runs the national amateur competition for club teams in the US. The league consists of six te ...

. In 2015, Shipway became the coach of the

. In 2018, Shipway coached and played in Port Macquarie's first premiership win in 20 years.

References

External links

*
2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shipway, Matt 1985 births Living people Australian people of American descent Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Boston 13s players Macquarie Scorpions players Newcastle rugby league team players Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales Rugby league second-rows South Newcastle Lions players United States national rugby league team players