Feature Interview: Johnny Whiteley MBE

Feature Interview: Johnny Whiteley MBE

In the latest of our ex-player feature interviews, hullfc.com caught up with club legend and Rugby League Hall of Fame member Johnny Whiteley to recollect his memories on winning the Rugby League World Cup, the Hull Derby, and his dear friend Clive Sullivan.

Club News

In the latest of our ex-player feature interviews, hullfc.com caught up with club legend and Rugby League Hall of Fame member Johnny Whiteley to recollect his memories on winning the Rugby League World Cup, the Hull Derby, and his dear friend Clive Sullivan.

Before England conquered the footballing world in 1966, the Great Britain rugby league team had already toppled their sporting pinnacle twice.

Whiteley, a Hull FC and Rugby League Hall of Fame member, was vice-captain in Great Britain’s 1960 triumph in the tournament – the second of three successes in the tournament since its inception in 1954.

Whiteley, who was Hull FC captain for nine years between 1957 and 1965 and head coach for the rest of the decade, skippered the team alongside Wigan great Eric Ashton.

The side was littered with some of the biggest names in the sport at the time, including Billy Boston, Alex Murphy and Whiteley’s Hull team-mate and 1959 Lance Todd Trophy winner Tommy Harris, defeating New Zealand, France and Australia to claim their second World Cup triumph in six years.

The now 89-year-old picked up his second winners medal in the tournament, having been named in the squad for the inaugural 1954 World Cup in France but wasn’t selected to play.

Speaking of his memories of the tournament, Whiteley told hullfc.com: “I was vice-captain to Eric Ashton during that tournament (1960). It was an absolute honour to play alongside him for my country.

“By the time the World Cup came along in 1960, that Great Britain squad had been together for quite a long time. We were a quality, established side with some of the world’s best players. To be part of it was a great real privilege.

“I was 29 at the time and in the peak of my career. Everything was going great for me and to play alongside some of them great players is something I’ll never forget.”

One man who Whiteley formed a close bond with during his many years at the club, and would also go on to achieve great international honours with the Great Britain side, including a World Cup triumph, was fellow club legend Clive Sullivan, who likewise made a name for himself on both sides of the River Hull.

“I was one of the closest people to Clive at Hull when he first joined. Even though I am remembered as a forward, I was actually the first person to be his centre at the club.

“Clive loved the game and the people of Hull loved him from the first minute. He was a fantastic player with great pace and also an upstanding gentleman off the field.”

Whiteley continued: “He was only very young when he first came to the city and was very shy but he was extremely likeable.

“You could not have asked for a better bloke to have on your side and an easier player to coach.

“Clive could have signed for Bradford Northern before he got his chance with the Black and Whites, though.”

Whiteley played with Sullivan for a couple of seasons at towards the end of his career, just as the Welshman started to come through the ranks at Hull FC, before hanging up the boots and coaching Sullivan as the Black & Whites permanent head coach following Roy Francis’ retirement.

One thing neither player were strangers to was the Hull Derby, with Whiteley having played in 27 during his 15 seasons with the Black and Whites, a period in which he played 418 times, racking up 156 tries.

On top of that, he went on to coach Hull FC and then Hull KR, so he knows just about everything there is to know when it comes to being involved with derby day.

“Every season that game is the special one, whether it is at the KCOM, Craven Park, the Boulevard or Wembley, It is ingrained in the city, we all dream about Derby Day, it has heritage and it means so much to everybody.”

Nevertheless, his greatest Derby memory also happens to be his first derby memory as he took to the field in the Black and White for only the second time, in what turned out to be his first ever derby match back in 1950, a 3-3 draw at the Boulevard.

For a 19-year-old, whose only previous playing experience was with Hull Boys Club, the Hull U16’s and a bit of Rugby Union whilst he was with the Military Police, the Hull derby against arch rivals Hull KR was a culture shock.

“I wasn’t really physically equipped to play, all the teams had huge packs and at 19 I didn’t exactly feel big in them days!

“Prior to signing for Hull a month earlier, I had played for Hull Boys club and then Rugby Union in the army but then when I came out of the army, Hull signed me and put me straight into the first team.

“I remember going out there and taking some big hits and remember thinking, Christ, how am I going to cope with this for the rest of my career!”

The game fell at a time when the Hull derby was often played over the Christmas period and for Whiteley, he couldn’t have wished for a better present.

“As a Hessle Road lad, to play at Christmas for Hull and against Rovers, what a memory.

“It was a Christmas Day match and to walk out there for Hull Football Club was like all your Christmas’ coming at once.”

It was also a time when players and coaches were at one with the supporters, all heading to the Boulevard together and sharing a drink or two after the match. A great position to be in if you had won, but not so good if you found yourself wandering to the ground with some Hull KR supporters or worst still, you had lost!

“Back then you rubbed shoulders with everyone, you walked to and from the games with them, you would head down Hessle Road and have a couple of pints in Halfway House!

“Rovers also had Alec Dockar, England’s loose forward, so I was getting verbals from the East Hull people as well about going head to head with him, so all these little things building up to this first derby match was something else.

“But I had a decent game and came through the baptism of fire and it built the foundations for some extremely special years for me and it was great to hold my own with Alex, he was a wonderful man and someone who became a friend.”