Neil Whittaker (born 10 September 1956) is an Australian former professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
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 chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
of the
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
from 1998 to 1999.
Background
Whittaker was born in
Crookwell, New South Wales
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 s ...
, 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
Henson Park was established in 1933 on the site of Daley's brick pit, Thomas Daley operated the Standsure Brick Company from 1886 to 1914. The br ...
. 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; also known as Back Door Benny 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 S ...
. 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, west of Sydney CBD. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure the most notable were the Parramatta E ...
. 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.
Sup ...
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 Syd ...
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 (NRL).
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...
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 Leagu ...
,
South Queensland Crushers
South Queensland Crushers was 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, as par ...
,
Adelaide Rams
The Adelaide Rams was 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 Lea ...
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 (Australia), ...
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 is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...
and
North Sydney
North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council.
History
The Indigenous people on the s ...
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 administrators
Australian rugby league coaches
Australian rugby league players
Balmain Tigers players
Huddersfield Giants coaches
National Rugby League chief executives
Rugby league hookers
Rugby league players from New South Wales
20th-century Australian sportsmen
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