Matthew Ronald Sparrow (born 3 October 1981) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Sparrow made 440 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

across his 17-year-long playing career, notably 369 over two spells with

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

, also appearing professionally for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

and Lincoln City. He went on to play at non-league level for

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a Association football, football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the English Football League, Football League i ...

, before emigrating to

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 ...

going on to feature semi-professionally for

Sorrento Sorrento ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Italy, city and overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the southern terminus of a main branch o ...

, Joondalup United, Bayswater City and Fremantle City.

Club career

Scunthorpe United

Born in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, London, Sparrow spent 11 years of his professional career at Scunthorpe United, playing in the bottom three tiers of league football for them. He formally signed for the club as a 16-year-old and played in the FA Youth Alliance final for Scunthorpe at the old Wembley stadium against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. After spending several months in prison in 2001, he became a regular in the Scunthorpe first team. He was part of the team that won promotion to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

after finishing the 2006–07 season as champions. In August 2007, he was offered a new three-year contract with the club. Sparrow scored twice in the 2008–09 League One Play-off Final at

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 ...

against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

, helping them to a 3–2 victory and promotion to the

Testimonial year

Sparrow made his 300th appearance for Scunthorpe in April 2009, and subsequently played in a testimonial match which took take place on 1 May. Former Scunthorpe striker

Billy Sharp Billy Louis Sharp (born 5 February 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Doncaster Rovers. Sharp has played for Sheffield United, Rushden & Diamonds, Scunthorpe United, Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Re ...

and veteran midfielder

Peter Beagrie Peter Sidney Beagrie (born 28 November 1965) is an English former professional footballer, sports television pundit and commentator. As a player, he was a left-winger in a career that lasted from 1983 to 2006. He played for ten different clubs ...

returned for the match. Also involved were

Jack Cork Jack Frank Porteous Cork (born 25 June 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for and captained club Burnley, where he is also employed as the assistant manager of the clubs under-21 team. He played fo ...

, Alex Calvo Garcia,

Jamie McCombe Jamie Paul McCombe (born 1 January 1983) is an English professional footballer who last played for Lincoln City. Career Frickley Athletic Jamie McCombe played youth team football for Frickley Athletic in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire between 1 ...

Jamie Forrester Jamie Forrester (born 1 November 1974) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker between 1991 and 2010. He played in France, the Netherlands and his native England. He notably played for Grimsby Town, Scunthorpe Uni ...

, John Eyre, Lee Ridley, Paul Wilson, Steve Housham,

Andy Butler Andrew Peter Butler (born 4 November 1983) is an English football coach and former player who is first team manager at National League side Scunthorpe United. Born in Doncaster, Butler was a defender in a playing career that lasted from 2002 ...

Mark Jackson Mark A. Jackson (born April 1, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who was a point guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the St. John's Red Storm and was selected by the New ...

Martin Carruthers Martin George Carruthers (born 7 August 1972) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for Aston Villa, Hull City, Stoke City, Peterborough United, York City, Darlington, Southend United, Scunthorpe United, Macclesfield Town, Bos ...

, Steve Torpey, Lee Hodges, Paul Harsley, Wayne Graves, Lee Turnbull,

Tony Daws Anthony Daws (born 10 September 1966 in Sheffield) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, he is academy manager of National League side Scunthorpe United. As a player, he was a striker and played for Notts County, Sh ...

Andy Crosby Andrew Keith Crosby (born 3 March 1973) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager at club Tranmere Rovers. A defender during his playing days, he began his career at Leeds United. Still, he made his de ...

Ian Baraclough Ian Robert Baraclough (; born 4 December 1970) is an English football manager and former player who is currently sporting director at Partick Thistle, of the Scottish Championship. His most recent role had been a short spell as assistant manager ...

, Cleveland Taylor, Chris Hope,

Kevin Sharp Kevin Grant Sharp (December 10, 1970 – April 19, 2014) was an American country music singer, author, and motivational speaker. Sharp came on the country music scene in 1996 with his first single: a cover of Tony Rich's " Nobody Knows", which to ...

Kevin Pressman Kevin Paul Pressman (born 6 November 1967) is an English football coach, former professional goalkeeper, and goalkeeping coach and assistant manager for Gainsborough Trinity. As a player, he made over 500 appearances in both the Premier Leagu ...

Paul Musselwhite Paul Stephen Musselwhite (born 22 December 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is the goalkeeping coach at club Scunthorpe United. He made 692 appearances in the league and 815 appearances in all co ...

, Justin Walker, Ross Hyslop, Brian Quailey, Sam Beagrie, Des Comerford and

Simon Elliott Simon John Elliott (born 10 June 1974) is a New Zealand football manager and former player who most recently served as head coach of USL Championship side Sacramento Republic FC. A defensive midfielder, he spent his professional career in the , ...

– plus managers

Brian Laws Brian Laws (born 14 October 1961) is an English former professional footballer and manager. Playing as a defender, Laws made over 100 appearances for each of Burnley, Middlesbrough, and Nottingham Forest. In 1994, Laws became player-manager of ...

and

Nigel Adkins Nigel Howard Adkins (born 11 March 1965) is an English professional football manager and former footballer and physiotherapist. He was most recently the manager and technical director at Tranmere Rovers. Adkins played as a goalkeeper for Tran ...

. On 24 June 2010, it was reported that Sparrow had turned down a new contract offer and was looking elsewhere to continue his career.

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 29 June 2010, Sparrow signed for

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

side

, penning a three-year contract. Brighton won the League One championship that season (in which Sparrow scored four goals) and were promoted to the Championship. In the 2011–12 season, Sparrow scored two goals, both in the 3–0 home win over Southampton. However, he received a red card and a three-match suspension in February's win against Leicester City, for a reckless sliding tackle.

Crawley Town

On 10 January 2013, Sparrow signed for

and fellow Sussex side

on a free transfer. Sparrow made his Crawley debut only two days later on 12 January, coming on in the 67th minute as a substitute replacing fellow midfielder

Dannie Bulman Dannie Mark Bulman (born 24 January 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played in the English Football League with Wycombe Wanderers, Oxford United, Crawley Town and AFC Wimbledon. Prior to retiring, ...

, in a 2–0 defeat against

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

. He made his home debut on 2 February in a 1–1 draw against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 9 February in a 2–1 defeat against his former club Scunthorpe United. He scored his second goal for the club in a 2–2 draw against

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

. He played 17 times for Crawley in the league that season, scoring three goals as they finished in 10th place, their highest-ever league placing.

Return to Scunthorpe United

Sparrow returned to his old club

on 2 July 2013 after being released by Crawley Town. On 5 May 2015 it was announced that Sparrow wouldn't be offered a new deal and was free to leave the club.

Later career

On 24 June 2015, he signed a one-year deal with

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

club Lincoln City and make his debut in a home game against

. In 2016, he emigrated to Western Australia and joined semi-professional club

. On 6 October 2016, it was announced that Sparrow had signed with

of the

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

. He made a total of 4 appearances for Gainsborough before returning to Australia. Sparrow signed for Joondalup United for the

2017 National Premier Leagues The 2017 National Premier Leagues was the fifth season of the Australian National Premier Leagues football competition. The league competition was played amongst eight separate divisions, divided by FFA state and territory member federations. T ...

season, where it was announced that he would also work in a coaching role.

Personal life

He attended the

John Leggott College John Leggott College is a sixth form college on West Common Lane, in Old Brumby, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. History Technical school Scunthorpe Central Technical School began around 1923. In the late 1930s, it was called the Scun ...

in Scunthorpe between 1998 and 2000, studying Leisure and Tourism.

Career statistics

Honours

Scunthorpe United *

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

: 2006–07;

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

runner-up: 2008–09 Brighton & Hove Albion *Football League One:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrow, Matt 1981 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Brent People from Wembley Footballers from Scunthorpe English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Scunthorpe United F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players English Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen