George Braeden Whitelock (born 27 March 1986) is a former New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He played for the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

competition and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

in the

Air New Zealand Cup The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

. He played as a flanker.

Biography

George is the son of a former Junior All Black, Braeden Whitelock, and the grandson of

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

Nelson Dalzell George Nelson Dalzell (26 April 1921 – 30 April 1989) was a New Zealand rugby union player. A lock, Dalzell represented Canterbury at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks The New Zealand ...

. He has three younger brothers including All Blacks

Sam Whitelock Samuel Lawrence Whitelock (born 12 October 1988) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a lock for the Crusaders in Super Rugby and Canterbury in the Mitre 10 Cup. Whitelock has captained the Crusaders, and New Zealand in five interna ...

and

Luke Whitelock Luke Charles Whitelock (born 29 January 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a loose forward for in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the in the international Super Rugby competition. Whitelock has Captained ...

as well as former

player Adam Whitelock. All four Whitelock boys were educated in

Feilding Feilding ( mi, Aorangi) is a town in the Manawatū District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North. The town is the seat of the Manawatū District Council. Feilding has w ...

and played their junior rugby for Palmerston North High School Old Boys' Rugby Football Club. Whitelock married former

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

player and

Black Sticks Women The New Zealand women's national field hockey team is also known as the Black Sticks Women. The team's best performances include a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, a third placing at the 201 ...

captain

Kayla Sharland Kayla Marie Whitelock (née Sharland, born 30 October 1985) is a New Zealand field hockey player, and former captain (sports), captain of the New Zealand women's national field hockey team (the ''Black Sticks Women''). She has competed in four ...

in December 2013. He retired in late 2015, opening a gym with his wife in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

. Whitelock also holds an agricultural diploma from Lincoln University.

Rugby union career

Junior representative teams

Whitelock played for and captained both the New Zealand National Under-19 and New Zealand National Under-21 teams.

Provincial

Whitelock debuted for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

in 2007 against

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Reg ...

playing in all but two of their matches that season. The following year Whitelock transferred to

alongside his brother

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

. In his first year with Canterbury, Whitelock was part of the team which won the 2008 NPC. In 2009 Whitelock was named captain of the

team. He would go on to lead the Canterbury team through one of its most successful periods becoming the only player to captain a side to five NPC titles in a row. Whitelock was also captain when

lifted the

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in 2009.

Super Rugby

Whitelock made his

debut against the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

in 2008 becoming the first of the Whitelock brothers to do play for the Crusaders. In a remarkable occasion in professional sport teams all four Whitelock brothers played together for the first time in a competitive match in March 2013 (vs. Bulls). Other than a preseason match at the beginning of the previous season this was the first time playing together since playing for Fielding High School in 2003. The brothers would play a further 17 games together at their time with the Crusaders. Despite playing for a

back row stacked with talent including

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

Reuben Thorne Reuben David Thorne (born 2 January 1975) is a New Zealand rugby union player, and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. Professional Career and the All Blacks Super 12 Playing as a flanker, Thorne first appeared in the Super 12 ...

Mose Tuiali'i Moses Moses Tuiali'i (born 25 March 1981) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A Loose forward, Tuiali'i notably played for the Crusaders in Super Rugby between 2004 and 2008. He also played for the Blues in 2003 and later the Highland ...

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby ...

, Keiran Read and

Matt Todd Matthew Brendon Todd (born 24 March 1988) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer, who plays as an Openside Flanker for the Toshiba Brave Lupus in the Japanese Top League competition. Todd played 25 tests for New Zealand internationally, from ...

. Whitelock played 86 games for the Crusaders including captaining them on a number of occasions. Following the conclusion of the

2014 Super Rugby season The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby ...

Whitelock announced he was leaving to take up a one year deal with the

Robbie Deans Robert Maxwell Deans (born 4 September 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, currently the head coach of Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights. He was head coach of the Australian national team between 2008 and 2013. Deans had ...

coached

Panasonic Wild Knights Saitama Wild Knights (formerly Panasonic Wild Knights) is a Japanese rugby union team formerly based in Ōta city, Gunma prefecture which plays in the Top League. Inspired by Tony Brown at fly half (though he was not captain), it dominated the l ...

. Whitelock retired from all forms of rugby at the end of this deal.

All Blacks

Whitelock made his test debut for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 2009 against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in Christchurch, impressing off the bench and scoring a try. With brother Luke's All Black debut in 2013, George, Sam and

Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

became the first trio of siblings to play for the All Blacks.

References

External links

*
George Whitelock Crusaders Player Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitelock, George 1986 births Living people Crusaders (rugby union) players Canterbury rugby union players Otago rugby union players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union flankers New Zealand international rugby union players Rugby union players from Palmerston North New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan Saitama Wild Knights players People educated at Feilding High School Dalzell-Whitelock family