John William Whiteley

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(20 November 1930 – 13 February 2022) was an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He played his entire club career with

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

making over 400 appearances between 1950 and 1965. He also represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at international level, winning the

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was ...

with the team in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

and

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

. Whiteley began his coaching career while still playing at Hull in 1963 and remained in the role after retiring as player. He resigned in 1970 and joined

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

, where he coached until 1972. He also coached the Great Britain national team on two occasions. In recognition of his achievements in the sport, he was inducted into the

Rugby Football League Hall of Fame The Rugby League Hall of Fame honours the leading players of the sport of rugby league. It was established by the sport's governing body in the UK, the Rugby Football League, in 1988. Players must have been retired for at least five years to be ...

in 2018.

Early life

Whiteley was born on 20 November 1930. He grew up in Hull during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, during which his house was hit by a bomb in the

Hull Blitz The Hull Blitz was the bombing campaign that targeted the English port city of Kingston upon Hull by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during the Second World War. Large-scale attacks took place on several nights throughout March 1941, resulting in over ...

. He began playing rugby league for Hull Boys' Club when the club reformed in 1946. Like many of his team mates, he agreed not to sign for a professional club until the completion of his

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

Playing career

Hull

After some impressive performances in trial matches, Whiteley signed for Hull in December 1950. Rather than offering him a signing-on fee, Whiteley was promised a place in the squad the following game. He made his debut on 23 December 1950 in a 19–11 win against

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Clarence Street Clarence Street is a former rugby stadium in York, England. From 1885 until 1989 it was the home of York F.C. (later York R.L.F.C.) before being sold and demolished. The site is now housing. History York Football Club was formed in 1868 and pla ...

. He played in three successive Yorkshire Cup finals for Hull between 1953 and 1955, but was on the losing side on each occasion. His first honours with the club came in the 1955–56 season, with Hull winning the league championship when

Colin Hutton Colin C. Hutton (May 1926 – 3 February 2017) was an English rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, and coached rugby league in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He played at club level for Widnes an ...

kicked a last-minute penalty in the playoff final against Halifax at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest atte ...

, Manchester. Hull won the European Club championship in 1957. In 1957, Whiteley became Hull's captain, and lead them to the Championship playoffs again in the 1957–58 season, winning against

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...

. In the following season, Whiteley played in Hull's first appearance at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in the

1958–59 Challenge Cup The 1958–59 Challenge Cup was the 58th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. The final was contested by Wigan and Hull F.C. at Wembley Stadium in London. The final was played on Saturday 9 May 1959, where ...

Final, but lost 13–30 to

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

. Whiteley also played in the

1959–60 Challenge Cup The 1959–60 Challenge Cup was the 59th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final The 1959–60 Challenge Cup tournament ended in a final between Wak ...

Final, but Hull lost again, this time to

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

. Whiteley became a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

at Hull in 1963, before retiring as a player in 1965. He played 15 seasons for Hull making 417 appearances and scoring 156 tries and 2 goals for at total of 472 points. In his time with Hull, he was never dropped.

Representative honours

In 1953 he played his first match for England against France in Paris, winning 13-15. Whiteley was selected for

squad while at Hull for the

1954 Rugby League World Cup The 1954 Rugby League World Cup was rugby league football's first World Cup and was held in France in October–November 1954. Officially known as the "Rugby World Cup", SPARC, 2009: 28 four nations competed in the tournament: Australia, France, ...

in France. However he did not participate in any of the four matches, with

Dave Valentine David Donald Valentine (12 September 1926 – 14 August 1976) was a Scottish representative rugby union and Rugby League World Cup, World Cup winning rugby league footballer, a List of dual-code rugby internationals, dual-code rugby internatio ...

playing as in all four matches. Whiteley represented the Rest of the World in the 11–20 defeat by Australia at

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

on 29 June 1957. Then followed a trip to South Africa in which the British and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

teams staged a series of exhibition matches for the promotion of the game. Johnny was a member of the 1958

touring squad that retained

the Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

, and he scored a try in the 40–17 third Test success in Sydney. Whiteley was a member of the last Great Britain team to beat Australia on home soil in the 1959 test series, scoring the try that beat the Aussies that year. He scored a match-winning try against the Aussies in the last few minutes which gave Great Britain the 1960 Ashes. He was a member of the 1962 Great Britain team which won the Ashes in Australia.

Coaching career

Whiteley carried on coaching at Hull after his last appearance as a player. When Roy Francis retired as Hull coach in 1965, Whiteley, now himself retired with an injured shoulder, took over but resigned in 1970. Whiteley moved across the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

as coach in 1970 and stayed until 1972 when he left due to conflict with the Hull KR Board of Directors. He coached the G.B. squad that toured Australia in 1970 and they were the last to win the Ashes in Australia. He left Hull on his return to coach

until leaving them in 1972. He then carried on coaching the Yorkshire Origin side for 12 years. He was then recalled to coach Great Britain in 1980 for two years.

After rugby

After his career finished, Whiteley ran a successful Working Men's Club (Eureka) in west Hull from which he also ran a gym. He later set up the

West Hull West Hull A.R.L.F.C. is an amateur rugby league football club from Kingston upon Hull, currently playing in the National Conference League Premier Division. The team plays their home matches at West Hull Community Park and their strip colours a ...

amateur rugby league club. Whiteley was inducted into the

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

Hall of Fame in 1992, and joined the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

Roll of Honour in November 2004, having been nominated by both Hull and Hull Kingston Rovers. He was made an

for services to rugby league and the community in the

2006 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2006 in some Commonwealth realms were announced (on 31 December 2005) in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Grenada, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, and Saint Christopher and Nevis to cel ...

list. He was awarded an Honorary Degree from Hull University in 2012. In 2018 he was inducted into the

. He died on 13 February 2022, at the age of 91.

Honours and awards

Club *

RFL Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football Lea ...

(2): 1955–56, 1957–58 * European Club Championship (1): 1956–57 International *

(2):

Individual * Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE), 2005 *

Honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

, 2012 *

inductee, 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiteley, Johnny 1930 births 2022 deaths England national rugby league team coaches England national rugby league team players English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team coaches Great Britain national rugby league team players Hull F.C. coaches Hull F.C. players Hull Kingston Rovers coaches Royal Military Police soldiers Rugby league locks Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Kingston upon Hull Rugby articles needing expert attention Yorkshire rugby league team coaches