Crawford Matthews

Crawford Matthews (born 23 November 1991) is English rugby league footballer who has previously played for the Gateshead Thunder in League 1.

Born in Norwich, Matthews attended Heaton Manor School,[2] and started his rugby league career at the age of 14 with amateur club Gateshead Panthers.[3] He later moved to Gateshead Thunder.

In September 2010, Matthews joined Super League side Hull F.C.[1] Although he played regularly for the under-20 side, he never made an appearance for the first team.

Matthews has represented Scotland at under-16, under-18, 'A' team level, Students, 9s and made two appearances for the senior professional team against Ireland and France in 2011.[4][5][6] He was also a member of the ashes winning Great Britain & Ireland Academic Lions squad in Australia 2011 - scoring a crucial try in the final test.[7][8]

Crawford completed a masters programme at Oxford's St Antony's College, graduating M.St.(Oxon). He is a full Oxford blue,[9] having been a member of the 42–0 winning team in the 2015 rugby league varsity match.[10]

Since 2017 he has been based in Berlin, completeing his PhD. There he has been a member of Touch Berlin and following residentual qualification, Touch Rugby for the German National team Touch Deutschland, which he captained last year in the European championship EFT and was due to repeat this summer at the Euros in Nottingham.