Matthew Butturini (born 7 August 1987 in

Murwillumbah Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848 km north-e ...

) is an Australian field hockey player. He is a member of the

Australia men's national field hockey team The Australia men's national field hockey team (nicknamed the Kookaburras) is one of the nation's most successful top-level sporting teams. They are the only Australian team in any sport to receive medals at six straight Summer Olympic Games ( ...

. He won a gold medal at the 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup and a gold medal at the 2011 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy. He was part of the bronze medal-winning Australian team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Personal

Butturini was born in August 1987 in

Murwillumbah, New South Wales Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848 km north-ea ...

. In 2009, he was a university student, studying in New South Wales. That year, he completed a Bachelor of Science degree at Sydney University. After graduating, he moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

so he could train with the national team full-time.

Field hockey

Butturini is a centre and defender. He participated in a national development camp in December 2008 in Perth, Western Australia. At the camp, he attracted the attention of national team coach

Ric Charlesworth Richard Ian Charlesworth AO (born 6 February 1952) is an Australian sports coach and former politician. He played first-class cricket for Western Australia and international field hockey for the Kookaburras (the Australian national team), win ...

who would be key in moving him to the national team. Charlesworth describes him as a "fast learner who offers both speed and versatility".

State team

Butturini plays for the NSW Waratahs in the Australian Hockey League. He played for the team in the first found of the 2011 season.

National team

Butturini is a member of the Australian national team. New national team coach

named him and thirteen new players who had less than ten national team caps to the squad before in April 2009 in a bid to ready the team for the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...

. In 2009, he was a member of the national team during a five-game test series in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia against Malaysia. In 2009, he won a gold medal at the Men's Hockey Champions Trophy competition. He played in the game against Korea. He won a gold medal at the 2010 World Cup in Delhi, India. In May 2011, he played in the Azlan Shah Cup for Australia. The Cup featured teams from Pakistan, Malaysia, India, South Korea, Britain and New Zealand. He won a gold medal in the 2011 Champions Trophy in New Zealand, playing in all the pool and semi-final games for Australia. In December 2011, he was named as one of twenty-eight players to be on the 2012 Summer Olympics Australian men's national training squad. This squad will be narrowed in June 2012. He trained with the team from 18 January to mid-March in

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

. In February during the training camp, he played in a four nations test series with the teams being the Kookaburras, Australia A Squad, the Netherlands and Argentina.

Coaching

Butturini coached the Southern River Hockey Club, and was coaching the team in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, he guided his team to a premiership. He then went on to player-coach the Fremantle Hockey Club in the Premier 1 grade in WA until 2019.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Butturini, Matthew 1987 births Living people Australian male field hockey players Olympic field hockey players for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in field hockey Field hockey players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Hockey India League players 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey people from New South Wales Sportsmen from New South Wales