Tony Butterfield

Infobox rugby league biography
playername = Tony Butterfield
fullname = Anthony Butterfield
nickname = Butts

---

caption =
position = rlp|PR
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1966|2|4|df=yes
placeofbirth = Penrith
countryofbirth = Australia
height = 183 cm
weight = 103 kg
club1 = leagueicon|Penrith Panthers|16 Penrith Panthers
year1start = 1986
year1end = 1987
appearances1 = 4
tries1 = 0
goals1 = 0
fieldgoals1 = 0
points1 = 0
club2 = leagueicon|Newcastle Knights|16 Newcastle Knights
year2start = 1988
year2end = 2000
appearances2 = 229
tries2 = 27
goals2 = 0
fieldgoals2 = 0
points2 = 108
teamA = leagueicon|New South Wales|16 New South Wales
yearAstart = 1998
yearAend =
appearancesA = 1
triesA = 0
goalsA = 0
fieldgoalsA = 0
pointsA = 0
source = [http://rugbyleagueproject.com/players/Tony_Butterfield.html Rugby League Project] and [http://www.yesterdayshero.com.au/PlayerProfile_Tony-Butterfield_11394.aspx Yesterday's Hero]

Tony Butterfield (born 4 February 1966 in Penrith, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league player for the Penrith Panthers and the Newcastle Knights. His position of choice was at prop-forward.

Playing career

Butterfield was signed from the Panthers reserve-grade to join the inaugural Newcastle Knights team for 1988. He remained with the Knights for thirteen seasons, retiring in 2000 as the club's most capped player - a record he later surrendered to Andrew Johns.

Butterfield was selected for one NSW Origin match; game 3, 1998.

In 1997 Butterfield was named in the Newcastle Knights Team of the Decade and again, in 2007, in the Team of the Era. [cite web | title=Knights Team of the Era | url=http://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=28823 | accessdate=2007-08-26 ]

Post playing

After retiring as a player, Butterfield became the president of the Rugby League Players Association and oversaw the embarrassing situation of the Dally M Awards being cancelled in 2003. Butterfield had announced that the players would boycott the competition's major awards night if their set of demands were not met. In response, the National Rugby League called the players' union's bluff and simply cancelled the awards for that year. As the awards generally only attracted a small television audience, and a relatively small amount of media attention, it is widely believed that the only losers in the whole situation were the players themselves. [cite web | title=Accusations fly as NRL cancels Dally M awards| url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2003/09/04/939317.htm | accessdate=2007-09-04 ] Shortly thereafter, Butterfield was replaced as head of the RLPA by former Newcastle teammate Matthew Rodwell.

References