Matt Balunas

{{short description|Scottish footballer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name= Matt Balunas

| image=

| fullname= Matthew Balunas

| height=

| position= Right back

| birth_date= 7 January 1918

| birth_place= Holytown, Scotland

| death_date= {{death date and age|2006|02|01|1918|01|07|df=y}}{{cite journal|title=A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players|author=John Litster|publisher=Scottish Football Historian magazine|date=October 2012}}

| death_place= Bellshill, Scotland

| youthyears1=

| youthclubs1=

| years1= –

| clubs1= Newarthill Hearts

| caps1= | goals1=

| years2= 1944–1955

|clubs2= Third Lanark

| caps2= 220 | goals2= 0

|years3= 1955–1956

|clubs3= Stranraer

| caps3=  | goals3=

| years4= –

|clubs4=

| caps4=  | goals4=

| totalcaps =

| totalgoals =

}}

Matthew Balunas (7 January 1918 – 1 February 2006) was a Scottish footballer who played as a right back.

A member of North Lanarkshire's Lithuanian immigrant community,{{cite web|title=Lithuanians in Lanarkshire|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/scotland/strathclyde/|website=Legacies: UK history local to you|publisher=BBC|access-date=18 January 2021}} Balunas spent almost his entire senior career (which only began in his mid 20s due to World War II) with Third Lanark,{{cite web|url=http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/thirdlanark/thirdlanark.html|title=Third Lanark: 1946/47 - 1966/67|author=Neil Brown|website=Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database|accessdate=9 January 2021}} winning two Glasgow Merchants Charity Cups[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6kxAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Z5EMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2663%2C1084942 Exhilarating final at Hampden], Glasgow Herald, 12 May 1952[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ky01AAAAIBAJ&sjid=7qULAAAAIBAJ&pg=3998%2C896475 Charity Cup For Third {{!}} Rangers Beaten], The Glasgow Herald, 8 May 1954 and featuring on the losing side in four Glasgow Cup finals.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VYJDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aJEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4730%2C1603960 Third Lanark's Weak Finishing], The Glasgow Herald, 1 October 1946[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VWlAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gpgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3166%2C1630877 Glasgow Cup for Celtic], The Glasgow Herald, 28 September 1948[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9kpAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XoYMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3491%2C2648134 Easy Hampden Victory For Rangers], The Glasgow Herald, 29 September 1953 He was considered to be a reliable, uncomplicated and defensive-minded player.[https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12437572.matt-balunas-former-third-lanark-full-back-in-the-post-second-world-war-era/ Matt Balunas {{!}} Former Third Lanark full-back in the post-Second World War era], The Herald, 20 February 2006