View source for Jeff Butterfield

{{Short description|British Lions & England international rugby union player}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2012}}

{{Infobox rugby biography
| name          = Jeff Butterfield
| image         =
| birth_name    = Jeffrey Butterfield
| birth_date    = 9 August 1929
| birth_place   = [[Heckmondwike]], England<ref name="Scrum">[http://www.espnscrum.com/england/rugby/player/5665.html Jeff Butterfield Profile on scrum.com]</ref>
| death_date    = {{death date and age|df=y|2004|4|30|1929|8|9}}
| death_place   = [[Wicken, Northamptonshire]], England
| height        = 
| weight        = 
| position      = Centre
| repteam1      = {{nrut|England}}
| repteam2      = [[British and Irish Lions]]
| repcaps1      = 28
| repcaps2      = 4
| reppoints1    = Pts:15
| reppoints2    = 12
| ru_ntupdate   = 
| repyears1     = 1953–1959
| repyears2     = 1955
| years1        = 
| ru_clubupdate = 
| apps1         = 
| apps2         = 
| apps3         = 
| apps4         = 
| apps5         = 54
| points1       = 
| clubs1        = [[Loughborough Students RUFC|Loughborough Colleges]]
| clubs2        = [[Cleckheaton RUFC]]
| clubs3        = [[Northampton Saints|Northampton]]
| clubs4        = [[Barbarian F.C.|Barbarians]]
| clubs5        = [[Yorkshire Rugby Football Union|Yorkshire]]<ref>Philip Gaunt (1969). "Yorkshire Rugby Union - Centenary 1869-1969 (Page-28)". Chadwick Studios/[http://www.duffieldprinters.co.uk Frederick Duffield & Sons Ltd] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906135655/http://www.duffieldprinters.co.uk/ |date= 6 September 2013 }}. ISBN n/a</ref>
| university    = [[Loughborough University]] 
}}

'''Jeffrey Butterfield''' (9 August 1929 – 30 April 2004) was an [[England national rugby union team|England]], [[British and Irish Lions]], [[Yorkshire Rugby Football Union|Yorkshire]], [[Cleckheaton RUFC]], [[Northampton Saints|Northampton]] and [[Barbarian F.C.|Barbarians]] [[Rugby football|Rugby]] player and businessman.

==Education and teaching career==
Butterfield was educated at [[Whitcliffe Mount Grammar School]], [[Cleckheaton]] and [[Loughborough University|Loughborough College]], where he took a BSc. in Physical Education in 1951. He later took up a teaching post at [[Wrenn School|Wellingborough Grammar School]] in Northamptonshire, after which he became a science master at [[Worksop College]].

==Rugby career==
Butterfield began his senior rugby career with Northampton Saints and played for them 227 times.<ref name="Northampton Saints Hall of Fame">[https://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/rugby/hall-of-fame/jeff-butterfield/ Northampton Saints Hall of Fame]</ref> In addition to his duties at Northampton he also played 54 times for Yorkshire and captained them in two County Championship finals, in 1953 and 1957.<ref name="Northampton Saints Hall of Fame"/>

He is considered to have been one of the most gifted [[Centre (rugby union)|centre]]s to have played Rugby for England and was capped 28 times and captained the team four times.<ref name = scrum/> He was first capped by England in 1953 against France; here he played with a fellow Northampton player Lew Cannell. Butterfield played for England for 6 years, including 28 successive matches – in his final season he was captain. Butterfield became England's most capped back, and on his watch, England won the Five Nations' Championship four times, the Triple Crown twice and a Grand Slam.

As well as playing for [[Northampton Saints|Northampton]] and England, Butterfield is celebrated for his play on the [[1955 British Lions tour to South Africa]] where he scored tries in three of the four test matches.<ref name = scrum>{{cite web| url = http://www.espnscrum.com/england/rugby/player/5665.html| title = England / Players & Officials/ Jeff Butterfield| website = ESPNscrum|access-date = 2012-07-15}}</ref> He later toured with the [[1959 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand|Lions in New Zealand in 1959]] but here he was plagued by an injury and was unable to play in any of the matches.{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}

Butterfield was influenced as a player by the Bradford Northern Rugby League club whom he used to watch as a child.{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}  He used to watch the pre-war international outside half, [[Willie Davies (rugby)|Willie Davies]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}  Of him, Butterfield said, "Willie always carried the ball in front of him with both hands. Though he always continued to run straight when he passed. I modelled my technique on his."{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}} One of the most memorable features of Butterfield's game was his near-perfect timing of a pass.{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}

==Later life==
After retiring from full-time rugby, Butterfield briefly worked the paint industry and later opened the Rugby Club in [[Hallam Street]], London, which he and his wife, Barbara, ran for 25 years.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jeff Butterfield |website=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=12 May 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301091440/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1461568/Jeff-Butterfield.html |archive-date=2016-03-01 |url-status=live |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1461568/Jeff-Butterfield.html}}</ref> Butterfield and his family also enjoyed skiing.  His later years were dogged by ill health.

Butterfield was President of [[Milton Keynes]] Rugby Club from 1972 until his death in 2004 and also had a unique role in developing [[rugby union in the Cayman Islands]].<ref name=RugDis>Cotton, Fran (Ed.) (1984) ''The Book of Rugby Disasters & Bizarre Records''. Compiled by Chris Rhys. London. Century Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7126-0911-3}}</ref>

Butterfield married Barbara Kirton in 1956 and they had one son (Giles).

==References==
<references/>

{{English national rugby union team captains}}
{{British and Irish Lions 1955}}
{{British and Irish Lions 1959}}
{{Rugby union in British dependencies}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butterfield, Jeff}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Northampton Saints players]]
[[Category:English rugby union players]]
[[Category:Caymanian rugby union players]]
[[Category:British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England]]
[[Category:England international rugby union players]]
[[Category:Barbarian F.C. players]]
[[Category:Alumni of Loughborough University]]
[[Category:Yorkshire County RFU players]]
[[Category:People from Heckmondwike]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Kirklees]]
[[Category:Rugby union in the Cayman Islands]]
[[Category:Loughborough Students RUFC players]]
[[Category:Schoolteachers from Northamptonshire]]
[[Category:Rugby union players from West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Schoolteachers from Nottinghamshire]]
[[Category:Rugby union centres]]
[[Category:People educated at Whitcliffe Mount School]]
[[Category:Teachers at Worksop College]]
[[Category:20th-century English sportsmen]]