Neil Whittaker (born 10 September 1956) is an Australian former 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 who played in the 1970s and 1980s for Balmain in the NSWRL competition. Whittaker was also the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

from 1998 to 1999.

Background

Whittaker was born in

Crookwell Crookwell is a small town located in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in the Upper Lachlan Shire. At the , Crookwell had a population of 2,641. The town is at a relatively high altitude of 887 metres and there are several sn ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia

Playing career

Whittaker made his first grade debut for Balmain in Round 6 1979 against Newtown at

Henson Park Henson Park is a multi purpose sports ground in Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia. History It was established in 1933 on the site of Daley's brick pit, Thomas Daley operated the Standsure Brick Company from 1886 to 1914. The brickworks ...

. Over the following 7 seasons, Whittaker became the club's first choice hooker and captained the side. Towards the end of his playing career, Whittaker mainly played from the bench after the emergence of

Benny Elias Ben Elias (Arabic: بن الياس; born 15 November 1963 in Tripoli, Lebanon),is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played primarily as a for Balmain in the New South Wales Rugby League premie ...

. Whittaker retired from playing at the end of 1985.

Post playing

In 1994, Whittaker became chairman of Balmain and was one of the backers behind the club changing its name and location to become more marketable. It was decided in 1995 that Balmain would change their name to the "Sydney Tigers" and play their home games at

Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres west of Sydney's central business district. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure t ...

. The move started in the same year that the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Super ...

had begun. By the end of 1996, Balmain reverted to their original name and returned to playing at

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Sydney S ...

for the 1997 season as the "Sydney Tigers" experiment was deemed a failure. In February 1997, Whittaker was appointed John Quayle's successor as Chief Executive of the NSWRL. In July 1997, Whittaker was one of the main stakeholders that began talks with the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

as Balmain were looking to merge with another club. At the end of 1997, Whittaker helped broker the deal that led to the reunification of the game in January 1998 as the ARL/Super League war was declared over. One condition of the peace agreement between the ARL and News Limited was that there would be a 14 team competition in 2000. The 20 clubs that played in 1998 would be assessed on various items such as sponsorship, crowds, on-field success and the like. It was also announced that clubs that merged would receive a large sum of money, as well as a guaranteed position in the 2000 NRL Competition. As NRL CEO, Whittaker oversaw clubs such as

Hunter Mariners The Hunter Mariners were an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Hunter Region's largest city, Newcastle. Hunter was formed in mid-1995 and was later disbanded at the end of 1997. The club was formed because of the Super Leag ...

South Queensland Crushers The South Queensland Crushers were an Australian rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. In 1992 it was decided that the team would be admitted into the New South Wales Rugby League competition, along with three other teams, a ...

Adelaide Rams The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition. The Rams lasted two seasons, the first in the Super Le ...

and the

Western Reds The Western Reds were a rugby league football club based in Perth, Western Australia. Founded in 1992 as the Western Reds, they entered into the Australian Rugby League competition in 1995 before defecting to the rival Super League competition i ...

culled from the competition. Whittaker was also NRL CEO at a difficult time when foundation clubs such as Balmain and Western Suburbs merged to form the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

and North Sydney and South Sydney being axed from the competition. Whittaker resigned as NRL CEO at the end of the 1999 season.

References

1956 births Living people Australian chief executives Australian rugby league players Australian rugby league administrators Balmain Tigers players Huddersfield Giants coaches National Rugby League chief executives Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from New South Wales {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-stub