A New South Wales State of Origin representative prop-forward, he started his club football career with the Penrith Panthers but played the vast majority of it with the Newcastle Knights, with whom he won the 1997 ARL premiership.
Butterfield was born in Penrith, New South Wales, and 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.
[5] At the end of the season the NRL believed that the players would boycott the competition's major awards night if their demands were not met.
Butterfield took a negotiating stance that if the NRL announce that they would accept a number of minimum conditions that would be sufficient to guarantee the players' attendance at the awards.
Butterfield was awarded 2004 Organiser of the Year by the Labor Council of New South Wales for his efforts in building up the RLPA.