Don Whitten (16 September 1935 – 28 December 2021) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played with Footscray in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL). Whitten, who played for Footscray in the under-19s, joined his brother

Ted TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

in the senior team in 1956. He played 24 games over three seasons with Footscray, often as a centreman, then in 1959 joined

Western District Football League Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

club Casterton as coach.''Casterton News''
"Whitten Returns"
, 30 July 2013, Ian Lewis He coached Casterton to a premiership in 1960, but was then replaced in the role by two-time Essendon

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

winner,

Reg Burgess Reg Burgess (born 6 August 1934) is a former Australian rules footballer who played 124 Victorian Football League (VFL) games for the Essendon Bombers. Burgess was a centreman and debuted for Essendon in 1954. He was one of Essendon's best pla ...

. Instead, Whitten played for

Yarraville Yarraville is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Maribyrnong local government area. Yarraville recorded a population of 15,636 at the . Yarraville i ...

in 1961 and was a member of their premiership side that year. He captained the club in 1963, a year in which he finished second in the

J. J. Liston Trophy The J. J. Liston Trophy is awarded annually to the best and fairest senior player in the Victorian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football Association). It is named after J.J. Liston, a businessman, civic leader and sports administrato ...

, to teammate

Ron Clegg Ron "Smokey" Clegg (17 November 192723 August 1990) was an Australian rules footballer in the (then) Victorian Football League. Clegg was recruited from the South Melbourne Under 19's after winning the 1944 Melbourne Boys Football League's be ...

. From 1964 to 1968, Whitten was coach of Tocumwal in the Murray Football League. During his tenure, Tocumwal made three consecutive grand finals and won the premiership in 1967. Whitten died on 28 December 2021, at the age of 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitten, Don 1935 births 2021 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Braybrook Football Club players Casterton Football Club players Western Bulldogs players Yarraville Football Club players