Craig Whitington (born 3 September 1970) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, who played for

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. His father,

Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-N ...

is also a former professional footballer who played for Chelsea and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

Playing career

Early career

Whitington began his playing career at non-league

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

in the late 1980s. He then moved onto Crawley in 1991 after he netted a hat-trick at Town Mead in an FA Cup clash with Worthing.

Crawley Town

In 1990 Whitington joined

, the team his father Eric had been a fan's favourite at some years before. Whitington played in the team that reached the third round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

in 1991, losing 5–0 at the Goldstone Ground against

. He scored 75 goals in 173 appearances which prompted interest from Cyprus club Omonicosia, but they couldn't meet the asking price of £100,000. That was a disappointment, as in the same season they went on to play Juventus in the European Cup. Then in December 1993, Fourth Division

to pay £50,000 for his services.

Scarborough

In 1993 Whitington arrived in Scarborough after being signed by former Crawley boss Steve Wicks and in his only proper run in the Football League he scored 10 goals in 27 appearances. Then in the summer of 1994, the then

manager,

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player who is currently football advisor at Torquay United. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed ...

signed Whitington for £20,000 after seeing him in a pre-season Yorkshire Electricity Cup clash against Huddersfield for Scarborough.

Huddersfield Town

Whitington was placed on the bench for a League Cup tie with

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

and then the next game against

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

Whitington made his debut wearing the number 10 shirt alongside Andrew Booth. It turned out to be his only game for the club and he was sent out to

during the 1994–95 season. Whitington remained at Town until he was sacked in early 1996 for a drugs offence.

Crawley Town (Again)

Whitington's ban for his drugs offence lasted for 10 months and when the ban was completed the only club that showed any interest were his old club; Crawley Town. However, he failed to live up to his promise and his second spell wasn't as good as the first and he left Crawley in 1997, due to a troublesome knee injury.

Later career

He didn't play football again until 1999 when he began turning out for Rottingdean United in the Brighton League. He returned to senior football in 2005–06 to play in the

Sussex County League The Southern Combination Football League (named Premier Sports Southern Combination Football League) is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of e ...

for

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originall ...

under Ian Chapman. In 2007 Whitington and his friends formed a football team called Brighton North End. Whitington played striker for the team that in their first season won the treble: Brighton League Division 2, the JW Whittington Cup and The Hove and Worthing Cup. They were subsequently promoted to the Brighton Premier League. Whitington was also secretary when the club was formed, before leaving sometime in 2008 after scoring 12 goals in 25 games over 2007 and 2008. He joined Three Bridges in 2008.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitington, Craig 1970 births Living people Footballers from Brighton English men's footballers Men's association football forwards English Football League players Crawley Town F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Worthing F.C. players Whitehawk F.C. players Three Bridges F.C. players