Matthew John Ridge (born 27 August 1968) is a New Zealand television presenter, and a former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and

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. A fullback in both codes, Ridge played rugby union for

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and became an All Black, but never won an international cap. He turned professional in 1990 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 ...

of the New South Wales Rugby League, and won the 1996 ARL Premiership. He later captained the Auckland Warriors and New Zealand national team (the Kiwis). An accurate goal-kicker, he set several scoring records in rugby league. He is now best known for his work in television alongside his partner Marc Ellis in shows including ''Game of Two Halves'' and ''Marc & Matthew's Rocky Road to…''.

Rugby union career

Rugby league career

Despite never having played a game of rugby league in his life, Ridge was signed by the

and their Kiwi coach Graham Lowe to play in the New South Wales Rugby League's Winfield Cup competition from mid- 1990 (according to Ridge in a 2024 podcast, he signed for AU$35,000 for his first half year and that would increase to $60,000 from 1991 while getting $2,000 for a win and $1,000 for a loss. At the time he was only on $15 a day and described himself as "poor" and openly said he switched codes for the money). Ridge made his debut at fullback for the Sea Eagles in their Round 10 clash with Cronulla at Manly's home ground, Brookvale Oval. He became the team's first choice goal kicker ahead of captain and dual rugby international Michael O'Connor and part-time kicker Mal Cochrane when he kicked 6/7 in his first game helping 10th placed Manly to a 24–8 win over the third-placed Cronulla Sharks. Ridge ended the 1990 season as Manly's leading scorer with 94 points (2 tries, 43/57 goals) in 11 games. Just six games into his rugby league career, Ridge played his first test for

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 ...

against the touring Great Britain Lions. He made his test debut in the 2nd test played at the Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland, displacing Manly team mate Darrell Williams in the No.1 jumper (Williams was moved to the centres). Although the Kiwis lost the match 14–16 and subsequently the series, Ridge established himself as the Kiwis first choice kicker whenever he played, kicking 5/8 on debut. He would kick another 6/7 in the 3rd and last test in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

as the Kiwis salvaged some pride with a 21–18 win. Despite good form for Manly in 1991, Ridge missed selection for the mid-season Trans-Tasman Test series against

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 ...

due to a dispute over compensation between clubs and the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) which also ruled out Daryl Halligan, John Schuster and Kurt Sherlock.Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1991 ''New Zealand Rugby League'', 1991. pp. 25–36 Ridge's 'defection' from rugby union to rugby league was the subject of a TV documentary, ''In a Different League''. It was hosted and narrated by his friend and former teammate John Kirwan who himself switched to league with the Auckland Warriors in 1995. The documentary, broadcast in 1991, showed Ridge's early days with Manly and his introduction to test football with the New Zealand team, as well as the reaction when All Blacks first choice fullback John Gallagher also switched to league a week after Ridge when he signed for famous English club

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. After an injury-interrupted 1992 season when Ridge regained his place as the Kiwis' fullback for the two tests against the touring Great Britain team, the 1993 season started solidly. However a serious knee injury against Balmain in Round 10 of the season would rule him out out until 1994. This would also see him miss selection in the mid-season tests against

as well as the Kiwis end of season tour of Great Britain and France. Ridge returned to form in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, playing 23 games for Manly and scoring 234 points (5 tries, 106/132 goals) for the season. He also regained the Kiwi #1 jumper when he was selected for the two tests against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

in October. Ridge played and kicked goals in each of the 1995 Trans-Tasman Test series' three games against Australia, though the Kiwis lost the series 0–3 (he kicked 7/8 during the series, only missing his first kick in the 3rd test). Ridge finished the 1995 ARL season as the league's top point-scorer with a club record 257 points (11 tries, 106 goals and 1 field goal), breaking Graham Eadie's record of 242 points. At the end of the season he played for the Sea Eagles at fullback in their 4–17 Grand final loss against the Sydney Bulldogs. Ridge captained the New Zealand team at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup in England and Wales. The Kiwis finished in third place, losing a hard-fought semi-final 20–30 to Australia after extra-time in Huddersfield. In 1996, Ridge a prominent supporter of

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 ...

in the dispute which split the sport, sat out nine weeks of the season when the new competition was put on hold. However, Manly won the ARL Grand Final, defeating the Dragons, with Ridge playing a major part. In 1997, Ridge moved to the Auckland Warriors who had switched to the Super League during the Super League war. In total, Ridge scored 1,093 points in 122 first grade games for Manly between 1990 and 1996 (32 tries, 477/599 goals @ 79.63%, 11 Fg ), putting him then third on the all-time Sea Eagles point scorers list behind fullbacks Bob Batty and Graham Eadie. Ridge's total currently sees him in fourth place. Along the way, he set the Sea Eagles' records for single season scoring (257 points in 1995 from 11 tries, 106 goals and 1 field goal), and points in a match – 30 points (2 tries, 11 goals) against Western Suburbs in 1996. Ridge spent the 1997 Super League season as captain of the Warriors, though injuries kept him to just 9 games. He also captained New Zealand in a Super League test match against Australia in 1997. In 1998 he wrote an autobiography with Angus Gillies, ''Take No Prisoners'', published by Hodder Moa Beckett. He continued as captain of the Warriors in the 1998 NRL season and the first half of the Warriors' 1999 season. However, in the 1999 season he was sent off and suspended three times, missing twelve weeks, and he retired after the season. In total he scored 238 points in 37 first grade games for the

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

between 1997 and his retirement in 1999 (8 tries, 103 goals). At the time of his retirement he was the all-time top scorer in international matches for the New Zealand national rugby league team with 168 points (6 tries, 71 goals) from 25 test appearances.

Post-playing career

In 2002, Matthew Ridge was chosen to host the original New Zealand version of television game show '' The Chair'' which first broadcast on ABC in January 2002 in the United States hosted by former tennis champion

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

. Ridge later became a television presenter, working with his partner Marc Ellis in various sports-related shows like 'Game of Two Halves', and 'Marc & Matthew's Rocky Road to ...'. In 2021 he presented a TV series ''Designing Dreams'' on six New Zealand architects: Roger Walker, Pip Cheshire, Julie Stout, Nicholas Dalton, Anna Maria Chin and Michael O'Sullivan. He was involved in a car accident in 2009, fracturing his pelvis and hip.

Personal life

Ridge's first wife was Sally Ridge, an interior designer and television presenter for TVNZ's Homefront. In November 2010, Ridge and his then-partner Carly Binding had a son, London Luca Ridge. In December 2017, Ridge and his second wife Chloe Alexa Liggins also had a son.

References

External links