Matthew Ronald "Matt" Sparrow (born 3 October 1981 in Wembley

Wembley

Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

) is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 footballer currently contracted to Football League Championship

Football League Championship

The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...

 side Brighton & Hove Albion. Sparrow previously spent 11 years at Scunthorpe United

Scunthorpe United F.C.

Scunthorpe United Football Club is an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, who play in the Football League One....

 before leaving in June 2010.

Scunthorpe United

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 F.C.

West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...

.

After spending several months in prison in 2001, he became a regular in the Scunthorpe first team.

In August 2007, he was offered a new three-year contract with the club.

Sparrow scored the opening goal in the 2008/09 League One Play-Off Final at Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium

The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

 against Millwall

Millwall

Millwall is an area in London, on the western side of the Isle of Dogs, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the south of the developments at West India Docks, including Canary Wharf.-History:...

 which lead them to a 3-2 victory to clinch promotion to the Coca-Cola Championship.

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

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 Sharp

William Louis "Billy" Sharp is an English professional footballer who currently plays as a striker for Doncaster Rovers. He is now widely known for playing in a game for Doncaster Rovers against Middlesbrough two days after his two-day-old son's death...

 and veteran midfielder Peter Beagrie

Peter Beagrie

Peter Sidney Beagrie is a former English footballer who played as a left-winger. He played for ten different clubs at professional level notably Everton, Manchester City, Bradford City and Scunthorpe United...

 returned for the match. Also involved were Jack Cork

Jack Cork

Jack Frank Porteous Cork is an English footballer currently playing for Southampton. He is a versatile player who can play across the back, and can also play in midfield...

, Alex Calvo Garcia

Alex Calvo García

Alex Calvo García , aka Jandro, is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder.-Football career:...

, Jamie McCombe

Jamie McCombe

Jamie Paul McCombe is an English football defender who currently plays for Huddersfield Town in Football League One, although as of 24 November 2011, he is on loan at fellow League One side Preston North End....

, Jamie Forrester

Jamie Forrester

Jamie Mark Forrester is a former English professional footballer who played as a Striker between 1991 and 2010 in France, the Netherlands and his native England...

, John Eyre

John Eyre (footballer)

John Eyre is an English football forward.-References:*...

, Lee Ridley

Lee Ridley

Lee Ridley is an English professional footballer who plays as a left back and is currently without a club.He has previously played for Scunthorpe United, Cheltenham Town, Darlington and Lincoln City and Grimsby Town....

, Paul Wilson, Steve Housham, Andy Butler

Andy Butler

Andrew Peter "Andy" Butler is an English professional footballer currently playing for Football League One side Walsall. He is a left-footed central defender.-Scunthorpe United:...

, Mark Jackson

Mark Jackson (footballer)

Mark Graham Jackson is an English footballer who is currently playing for reformed Farsley AFC, after his last club Farsley Celtic was wound-up by its administrators on 12 March 2010....

, Martin Carruthers

Martin Carruthers

Martin Carruthers is an English football forward, who currently plays for Arnold Town F.C- As a player :Lincoln City*Coca-Cola League Two Play-Off Final runner-up: 2004–05...

, Steve Torpey, Lee Hodges

Lee Hodges (footballer born 1978)

Lee Hodges is an English footballer who is unattached. A midfielder, Hodges began his career with West Ham United, and went on to play for eight other league clubs, before dropping into non-league football in 2005....

, Paul Harsley

Paul Harsley

Paul Harsley is an English footballer who plays for North Ferriby United as a midfielder. He has spent his 14 year career playing for clubs in the bottom two tiers of the Football League....

, Wayne Graves, Lee Turnbull

Lee Turnbull

Lee Turnbull is an English actor who has appeared in The Famous Five, Making Waves and The Bill. He appeared on stage at the Old Red Lion in 2004 as part of the cast of Cherry Picnic....

, Tony Daws

Tony Daws

Anthony "Tony" Daws is an English former professional footballer, who played as a striker. He has been the academy manager at Scunthorpe United since 2005, and was appointed Caretaker Manager for just over 2 weeks in March 2011.In his playing career he played for Notts County, Sheffield United,...

, Andy Crosby

Andy Crosby

Andrew Keith "Andy" Crosby is an English footballer / assistant manager who plays as a defender. He is now Nigel Adkins' player-assistant manager at Southampton.-Career:Crosby was born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire...

, Ian Baraclough

Ian Baraclough

Ian Robert Baraclough is a former English professional footballer who was most recently the manager of Scunthorpe United, where he notably appeared as a player between 2004 and 2008...

, Cleveland Taylor

Cleveland Taylor

Cleveland Ken Wayne Taylor is a footballer who plays as a winger for Burton Albion.-Career:Born in Leicester, Leicestershire, Taylor began his career at Premier League club Bolton Wanderers as a youngster in 2001, but his chances were limited and he was subsequently loaned out for spells at both...

, Chris Hope

Chris Hope

Chris Hope is an American football player who plays for the Tennessee Titans.-High school:...

, Kevin Sharp

Kevin Sharp (footballer)

Kevin Philip Sharp is a Canadian-born footballer who plays as a left-back for Harrogate Town.-Career:...

, Kevin Pressman

Kevin Pressman

Kevin Paul Pressman is an English former football goalkeeper, currently coaching at Bradford City. Pressman made 588 appearances in English and Northern Irish league football for 5 different clubs over 3 decades....

, Paul Musselwhite

Paul Musselwhite

Paul Stephen Musselwhite is an English footballer who plays for York City as a goalkeeper, where he is also the club's Goalkeeping Coach....

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

Simon Elliott

Simon John Elliott is a New Zealand International footballer who currently plays for Chivas USA in Major League Soccer.-Semi-Professional & College career:...

 – plus managers Brian Laws

Brian Laws

Brian Laws is an English former footballer and manager, most recently of Burnley.Playing as a defender, Laws made over 100 appearances for each of Burnley, Middlesbrough, and Nottingham Forest. In 1994, Laws became player-manager of Grimsby Town before taking a similar position with Scunthorpe...

 and Nigel Adkins

Nigel Adkins

Nigel Howard Adkins is a former footballer and is the current manager of Championship Club Southampton.-Playing career:As a player, Adkins was goalkeeper for Tranmere Rovers, Wigan Athletic and Bangor City...

.

Brighton

On 29 June 2010, Sparrow signed for League One

Football League One

Football League One is the second-highest division of The Football League and third-highest division overall in the English football league system....

 promotion hopefuls Brighton, penning a three-year contract.

Personal life

He attended the John Leggott College

John Leggott College

John Leggott College is a sixth form college on West Common Lane, in Old Brumby, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England.-Technical school:...

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

External links

• Matt Sparrow player profile at scunthorpe-united.co.uk