Aaron Whittaker (born 9 July 1968) is a New Zealand 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. A New Zealand international representative halfback, he played club football in Australia, England and New Zealand.

Early years

Whittaker grew up in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

and was a Schoolboy Kiwi in 1983 before becoming part of the dominant

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a 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. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

rugby league side of the early nineties.Coffey, John. ''Canterbury XIII'', Christchurch, 1987. The side was coached by

Frank Endacott Frank Morris Endacott , also known by the nickname of "Happy Frank", is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer, and coach. Background His son, Shane, also played rugby league. Playing career Endacott played for Addington an ...

and included future stars such as

Whetu Taewa Whetu Taewa (born 19 October 1970) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who represented New Zealand six times between 1989 and 1996. Playing career New Zealand Whetu was born on the West Coast, New Zealand and started p ...

Quentin Pongia Quentin Lee Pongia (9 July 1970 – 18 May 2019) was a New Zealand rugby league footballer who represented New Zealand in the 1990s and 2000s. Background He was the grandson of fellow Kiwi international Jim Calder. His sister Megan Tahapeehi ...

and Brent Stuart. In Christchurch he played for two clubs: the

Halswell Hornets Originally a separate village, Halswell is now a residential suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located southwest of Cathedral Square on State Highway 75. History Halswell is named after Edmund Halswell QC (1790–1874), a government offic ...

and the

Riccarton Knights Riccarton may refer to: New Zealand * Riccarton, New Zealand, a suburb of Christchurch ** Riccarton (New Zealand electorate), the electorate named after it ** The location of Riccarton Race Course * a locality on the Taieri Plains in Otago Scotl ...

. His form was impressive enough to land a contract in the

NSWRL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

, signing with the

Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 NSWRFL season, 1982 until 1998 NRL season, 1998 ...

in 1992. Whittaker played in three games for the club, including a try-scoring effort against the

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 ...

touring side, returning to New Zealand at the end of the year. In 1993, Whittaker was selected for the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team ( Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird o ...

. He went on to play thirteen games for the national side, although only three were test matches. During this time, he trained with Gary Freeman and Daryl Halligan and this allowed him to improve his halfback and goal kicking skills. In 1994, he was part of the Kiwis tour of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. Between 1990 and 1994, he played in 17 games for Canterbury, scoring thirteen tries.

England

In 1994, he played for the Canterbury Cardinals in the new

Lion Red Cup The Lion Red Cup was a New Zealand domestic rugby league competition that ran from 1994 to 1996 sponsored by brewers Lion Nathan. It was created due to the increase in public awareness of domestic rugby league due to the Auckland Warriors being ...

and at the half way stage was the competition's leading points scorer. As a result, he began to attract interest from overseas clubs and agreed to a mid-season transfer, joining

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 ...

. He returned to the Cardinals in the English offseason and played in part of the

1995 Lion Red Cup The 1995 New Zealand rugby league season was the 88th season of rugby league that had been played in New Zealand. The main feature of the year was the second season of the Lion Red Cup competition that was run by the New Zealand Rugby League. Th ...

Return to New Zealand

After a spell in England, he returned to New Zealand, signing for the

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

. He played eight first grade games for the Warriors in the 1997 and 1998 seasons under the club's new head coach Frank Endacott. After being released by the Warriors, he returned to local football in Canterbury, playing for his old side the Haswell Hornets. In 2001, he was involved in the South Island team that played the touring French side.

Later years

He now has 3 children with his wife, his oldest boy following in his footsteps becoming a well-refined league player. His two younger daughters are both sports based as well. In 2002, he was named the head trainer for the New Zealand 'A' sides tour of France and the United States, a position he retained for the sides 2003 tour of Australia, where he worked under former teammate Terry Hermansson. He is now involved with the Currumbin Eagles JRL as a coach where he has steered numerous teams to finals contention. He also is involved with the Gold Coast Rugby League as a

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittaker, Aaron 1968 births Living people Canterbury rugby league team players Illawarra Steelers players Wakefield Trinity players New Zealand Warriors players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby league referees South Island rugby league team players Halswell Hornets players Riccarton Knights players Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Christchurch