Mat Gardner (born 24 August 1985) is a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer.

Playing career

Huddersfield Giants

Gardner joined from

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

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. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

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

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees 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 confl ...

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

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

, 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.

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 status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

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 till the beginning of the 2014 season.

International

On 22 Feb 2020, Mat captained and coached

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in their 30-14 win over

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

International career

Gardner was called up to represent

rugby union sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In 2020 he played one game for the

Brazil national rugby league team The Brazil national rugby league team represents Brazil in the sport of rugby league. The nation made its international debut at the inaugural Latin American Rugby League Championship held in Los Ángeles, Chile in November 2017, losing to the h ...

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 Cumbria rugby league team 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