Matthew Campbell (born 30 January 1964) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er in the Victorian and Australian Football Leagues (VFL/AFL) and is now a media representative for a sports betting agency.

Football career

Campbell was recruited from

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. O ...

(SANFL) club

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

, and made his senior VFL debut with the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/ ...

in their inaugural

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden mat ...

in 1987. Campbell made a name for himself as a quick

wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is a pilot or UAV who supports another pilot in a potentially dangerous flying environment. ''Wingman'' was originally the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation. According to t ...

, and went on to play 79 games for the club (and kick 28 goals) between 1987 and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

. His career highlights include being selected as

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

International Rules International rules football ( ga, Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed ...

Tests against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

in 1987 and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

Media career

Following his retirement from football, Campbell has worked primarily as a television sports commentator, particularly for Australian rules football, first with the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

, then

Fox Footy Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited, operated out of their Me ...

. Originally based in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, he moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

in early 2002. Campbell has also performed as an MC at sporting events, most commonly at

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

matches, including the

Anthony Mundine Anthony Mundine Jr. (born 21 May 1975) is an Australian former professional boxer and rugby league footballer. In boxing he competed from 2000 to 2021, and held the WBA super-middleweight title twice between 2003 and 2008. He also held the I ...

- Darmel Castillo fight on 2 February 2005. In January 2006, Campbell was a replacement host on

SEN 1116 1116 SEN (call sign 3AK) is an Australian radio station in Victoria. Owned and operated by Pacific Star Network, it broadcasts a sports radio format from Lower Plenty to Greater Melbourne. First broadcast on 29 November 1931 as 3AK, the st ...

's ''

Hungry for Sport Hunger is a sensation that motivates the consumption of food. The sensation of hunger typically manifests after only a few hours without eating and is generally considered to be unpleasant. Satiety occurs between 5 and 20 minutes after eating. T ...

'' program, but the closure of Fox Footy in October 2006 left him without regular TV commentary work. In 2007 he provided occasional commentary for ABC-TV telecasts of the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

Match of the Day. With the sudden death of friend and former colleague

Clinton Grybas Clinton Andrew Grybas (9 February 1975 – 5 January 2008) was a leading Australian rules football and sports radio and television commentator. Career His media career began at the South East Melbourne Magic basketball team as club journalist ...

in early 2008, Campbell joined the Fox Sports regular AFL commentary team. In the late 2000s he became a spokesman for online Australian sports betting agency

Sportsbet Sportsbet, is an online gambling company owned by Flutter Entertainment, primarily targeting the Australian market. Sportsbet is licensed as a corporate bookmaker in the Northern Territory under the ''Racing and Betting Act 1993'' (NT). Sportsb ...

.Suns hot favourite for spoon
/ref> Matt is now the main spokesman for

BetEasy BetEasy (formerly known as CrownBet and BetEzy) was an Australian corporate bookmaker offering online sports and racing betting platforms. BetEasy is licensed in the Northern Territory and owned by The Stars Group. BetEasy was the official wage ...

(formerly CrownBet), used on

Seven Sport Seven Sport is the brand and production department under which all sporting events on the Seven Network are broadcast. It broadcasts some of Australia's most prominent sporting events, such as the AFL, cricket, the Olympics and Paralympics, as ...

's AFL broadcasts.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Matthew 1964 births Living people Australian media personalities Australian rules football commentators Brisbane Bears players North Adelaide Football Club players All-Australians (1953–1988) Australian rules footballers from South Australia South Australian State of Origin players Australia international rules football team players