Matthew "Matt" Gidley (born 1 July 1977) is an Australian former 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 and administrator. Gidley played for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

in the

ARL Premiership The ARL Premiership was Australia's first grade rugby league competition between 1995 and 1997. It replaced the previous competition, the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, after the competition expanded to 20 teams with the admittance of fo ...

and the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

, and St Helens in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

, and for

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in the

State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two States and territories of Australia, Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales Blues and the Queensland ru ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at international level. He is also the former CEO of Football Operations at

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

Background

Gidley was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

. Matt is the older brother of the former

and

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

halfback

Kurt Gidley Kurt Geoffrey Gidley (born 7 June 1982) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Warrington Wolves in the Super League. An Australia international and New South Wales State of Origin representative a ...

. Playing as a youngster 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 rugby league team, Newcastle representative team was al ...

for the Wests club, While attending Glendale High School, Gidley played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 1995.

Playing career

Newcastle

Gidley had played all his junior football in the position, however with

Matthew Johns Matthew James Johns (born 27 July 1971) is an Australian rugby league media personality, commentator and former professional player. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative , Johns played his club footb ...

taking up the position in the Knights line up, he slotted in to right . Gidley was selected for the Australian team to compete in the end of season

1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations The 1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations series was contested by Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand in 1999. It was the first multi-national rugby league tournament to feature the sport's three world powers since the 1989–1992 Rugby League Wor ...

tournament. In the final against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, he played at centre in the Kangaroos' 22-20 victory. Gidley played at centre for Newcastle in their

2001 NRL grand final The 2001 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2001 NRL season. It was contested at Stadium Australia in Sydney by the Newcastle Knights (who had finished the regular season in third place), and the Parramatta E ...

victory against the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

. At the end of the

2001 NRL season The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested ...

, he went on the

2001 Kangaroo tour The 2001 Kangaroo Tour was the Australia national rugby league team's nineteenth Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. The truncated tour featured only the three Ashes series Test matches against Great Britain. The 2001 tour was almost abandoned du ...

. Having won the 2001 NRL Premiership, the Knights travelled to England to play the

2002 World Club Challenge The 2002 World Club Challenge was held on Friday, 1 February 2002, at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Newcastle Knights. Background Bradford Bulls The 2001 Super League Grand Fin ...

against

champions, the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

. Gidley played at centre and scored a try in Newcastle's loss. Matt Gidley

Gidley became famous for his wing/centre combination with former Knight

Timana Tahu Timana James Aporo Tahu (born 16 October 1980) is an Australian former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. He last played for Denver Stampede in the US PRO Rugby competition. A List of dual-code rugby internationals, dual-code ...

. A common play was for the ball to be sent out to the right side of the field where Gidley would run, draw one or two players in before doing the famous Gidley flick pass to Tahu or placing a grubber kick down the line. This play was used at both club and representative level. 2006 saw a rejuvenation of sorts for Gidley seeing him recapture some of his old magic flick pass play with Knights winger Brian Carney. In 2006, Gidley retired from representative football, aiming to focus on playing well at club level. This move was questionable as it was right before the annual

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Syd ...

clash, where many thought Gidley was going to make the Country side in the centre position. He became only the 4th Newcastle Knight to play more than 200 career games.

St Helens

Gidley joined English club St Helens in the

as a replacement for

Jamie Lyon Jamie Lyon (born 24 January 1982), also known by the nickname of "Killer", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin represe ...

in 2007 when Lyon returned to Australia with the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League sea ...

. His first match for the English club was their victory in the

2007 World Club Challenge The 2007 Carnegie World Club Challenge was played between Super League XI champions, St. Helens and 2006 National Rugby League premiers, the Brisbane Broncos. It was a replay of the 2001 World Club Challenge, and both clubs' fifth WCC appear ...

over the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

. He played in the 2007 Challenge Cup Final victory over 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 ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. Gidley was named in the

Super League Dream Team The Super League Dream Team is an annually-selected rugby league All Star Team consisting of the players deemed to have been the best in their respective positions in the Super League competition. The team is selected by a panel of journalists and ...

for 2008's

Super League XIII Engage Super League XIII was the official name, due to sponsorship, for the 2008 Super League season by Engage Mutual. Twelve teams competed for the League Leader's Shield over 27 rounds (including Magic Weekend, Millennium Magic), after which th ...

. He played in the 2008 Super League Grand Final defeat by the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

. He played in the 2009 Super League Grand Final defeat by the Leeds Rhinos at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

. He then put pen to paper on a one-year contract to keep him at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road is a former football stadium in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For ...

for 2010.

Administration career

In 2011, Gidley returned to the

as the Business Development Manager before being appointed the CEO of Football Operations in June 2011 by the new owners, Hunter Sports Group. Meanwhile, his younger brother Kurt was club captain. He stepped down as CEO on 1 November 2017.Matt Gidley Leaves Knights
/ref>

References

External links

St Helens profileMatt Gidley NRL profileState of Origin Official website Rugby League Player Stats2001 Ashes profile

Saints Heritage Society profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gidley, Matthew 1977 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Newcastle Knights captains Newcastle Knights players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales St Helens R.F.C. players Western Suburbs Rosellas players