JOHNNY WHITELEY (November 20, 1930 – February 13, 2022)
The flood of tributes paid to Johnny Whiteley reflect not just his achievements as a player and later coach, but also the way he conducted himself as a person.
His career took him to the other side of the world, but he was never happier than when in his home city of Hull, where he was liked and admired by supporters of both clubs.
‘Gentleman John’, whose nickname reflected his highly competitive but impeccably fair approach to the game, had black and white blood running through his veins, having played more than 400 times for Hull and coached them for five seasons from 1965 to 1970.
He also had a stint in charge of Hull KR, as well as Great Britain, for whom he had made 15 appearances, winning the World Cup, and Yorkshire.
Whiteley, who has died aged 91, remained a welcome visitor at both Hull clubs, whether to their stadiums or training grounds, and players from each have talked of the way he went above and beyond to offer friendship, help and advice.
Widely regarded as the best Rugby League player ever to come out of Hull and among the greatest loose-forwards to have emerged from the Northern Hemisphere, he featured in two World Cups, in 1957 and 1960, and helped Great Britain win two Ashes series, in 1958 and 1959 (he also coached the Lions to their last Ashes success, in Australia in 1970).
With FC, he was twice a title winner, and along with three Championship deciders, played in two Challenge Cup and five Yorkshire Cup Finals (one of them a replay). He was captain in half of those ten big matches.
In a golden age of loose-forward play, Whiteley was a truly classy operator, with brilliant handling, great vision, which helped him bring the best out of his team-mates, and genuine pace, which meant he could also excel as a second rower.
Aided by working in the city’s fish docks, close to where he was born, and later as a drayman, he was supremely fit, and while he was noted for his good conduct on and off the pitch, he was no pushover physically.
While he didn’t play Rugby League at school, Whiteley learned his trade in street games, including during the war years, and he was a regular on the terraces at Hull’s old home The Boulevard, close to where he lived.
“We’d spend our days playing rugby among the bomb-hit streets, climbing over rubble and trying to make the best of the situation we found ourselves in,” said Whiteley when looking back at his childhood days.
He represented Hull Boys Club before completing National Service, during which he excelled at rugby union in The Army.
Soon after being demobbed in 1950, he was offered a trial by Hull, and was signed after impressing in two ‘A’ team games.
Whiteley’s first-team debut was away to York in December 1950, the first of 417 games in which he scored 156 tries and kicked two goals.
He joined a powerful pack, which helped Hull establish themselves as one of the foremost clubs of the Fifties.
The Airlie Birds reached three successive Championship finals, claiming success in 1955/56, when they beat Halifax 10-9 at Maine Road, Manchester, and 1957/58, when they won 20-3 against Workington at Odsal, Bradford either side of a 15-14 loss against Oldham.
And there were two trips to Wembley in as many years, although Wigan lifted the Challenge Cup with a 30-13 victory in 1958/59, then Wakefield with a 38-5 success a year later.
Hull also missed out in the Yorkshire Cup in four seasons – against Bradford in 1953/54, Halifax in the following two years (the first match in 1955/56 was drawn) and Featherstone in 1959/60.
Representative honours first came Whiteley’s way in April 1953, when he helped England beat France 15-3 in a European Championship clash in Paris.
He was selected for the Great Britain squad for the inaugural World Cup in France in 1954 but didn’t feature in any of the four matches as Huddersfield’s Dave Valentine got the nod at loose-forward.
But a debut did come in the 1957 competition, when he played in the second row as the Lions were beaten 31-6 by Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the second of three matches in a tournament played on a mini-league basis.
Great Britain won the third World Cup in 1960, with Whiteley figuring in two of their three wins, 23-8 over New Zealand at Odsal and 33-7 over France at Station Road, Swinton.
He also helped the Lions claim two Ashes series – in Australia in 1958, playing in all three Tests, and on home territory in 1959, when he appeared in two out of the three meetings – as well as one against the New Zealand tourists in 1961.
When the renowned Roy Francis left Hull for Leeds in 1963, Whiteley became player-coach, and remained in charge after hanging up his boots at the end of the 1964/65 season.
He guided the Black and Whites to two Yorkshire Cup finals, losing 8-7 to Hull KR in 1967/68 before a 12-9 victory over Featherstone at Headingley, Leeds in 1969/70.
At the end of that season, he enjoyed his finest coaching achievement as Great Britain headed Down Under and bounced back from a first Ashes Test defeat in Brisbane to beat Australia in both Sydney showdowns.
That was followed in the Autumn by a 3-0 success in New Zealand, and Whiteley completed his first spell as Great Britain coach with World Cup wins over Australia at Headingley, France at Wheldon Road, Castleford and New Zealand at Station Road, only for Harry Bath’s Kangaroos to upset the form book and claim a 12-7 victory in the final back in Leeds.
By then, Whiteley had taken charge at Hull KR, having crossed the city to succeed his good friend Colin Hutton on his return from the Australasian trip.
Early in the 1971/72 campaign, he enjoyed another Yorkshire Cup triumph, as Rovers were 11-7 victors over Castleford in the final at Belle Vue, Wakefield, one of 40 wins in the 73 games he was at the helm for.
He left Craven Park in February 1972, citing disagreements with the board over team selection (it was to be more than three years later that Rovers handed full control to their coach).
As was his way, Whiteley maintained good relations with the club.
He remained coach of Yorkshire, his twelve years in that role matching the number of appearances he made for the county side as a player and had a second stint with Great Britain between 1980 and 1982, which included a drawn series with the visiting New Zealanders and a home Ashes defeat.
Having launched the successful West Hull amateur club in 1971, Whiteley set up his own gym and so began his much-praised work with the youth of the city.
He was made an MBE in 2005 and inducted into the Rugby Football League Hall of Fame in 2018.
He died shortly after listening to the radio coverage of Hull’s victory over Wakefield Trinity in the opening game of the club’s season before he passed away peacefully.
Before Saturday’s game at the MKM Stadium, Hull FC paid their own tribute to their former hero and the match programme against St Helens was dedicated to him. The two Hull clubs have created the Johnny Whiteley Memorial Trophy, which will be contested by the reserve sides of the two Hull clubs, although Friday night’s inaugural game had to be postponed because of the weather conditions.
RFL Chief Executive, Ralph Rimmer, said of him: “Johnny Whiteley MBE was a remarkable man, loved and respected by both Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers, and someone whose life will rightly be remembered and celebrated well beyond his home city, and beyond the sport of Rugby League.
“He was a unique link between the first Rugby League World Cup of 1954, in which he was a non-playing member of the victorious Great Britain squad, and our last Great Britain team to win the Ashes in 1970, when he was the coach – the players from that tour always talk of him with awe, affection and respect.”
Johnny Whiteley leaves his wife Joan, two daughters and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, two of whom, Jack and Leo, delivered the match ball at Saturday’s match.
A book of condolence is available for fans to contribute to at the club’s retail store at St Stephen’s shopping centre.
Details of his funeral had not yet been made public at the time of writing.
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