Career Record for Featherstone
Appearances			Tries	Goals	Drop Goals	Points
Total	Start	Sub
78	71	7	11	0	8	41

A nuggety style halfback and local lad, Phil Butler had made his debut for Rovers in October 1974, during a prolonged period of injury for Steve Nash. His pugnacious spirit and never-say-die attitude won Butler the respect of fans by now accustomed to the very best standards of half-back play. Phil played a total of 20 games in his first season. Once Nash had left, Butler was able to step up, but in the very first game of the new season a cruel shoulder injury put him out of action and was to plague him throughout his career.

Undoubtedly Phil’s finest hour was a Challenge Cup quarter-final against Leeds in 1976. Playing behind an awesome pack, he cut Leeds to shreds with a superb display. Rovers won a memorable encounter 33-7. The semi-final was well on the way to being another historic occasion for Rovers, 9-0 up at half-time against Widnes and Butler in fine fettle. A recurrence of that wretched shoulder injury forced him off, and a second-half collapse saw Rovers beaten 14-9 and denied Wembley in cruel fashion.

Over the next few seasons Butler’s chances being consistently hit by a series of injuries and Dale Fennell took over scrum-half duties. After almost two full years out, he came back in 1981/82 to regain his first team spot from Terry Hudson, a real comeback tale. Inevitably though, injury struck again and he was forced to quit in 1982.