John William Whiteley MBE (20 November 1930 – 13 February 2022) was an English professional rugby league footballer and coach.
He also represented Great Britain at international level, winning the Rugby League World Cup with the team in 1954 and 1960.
His first honours with the club came in the 1955–56 season, with Hull winning the league championship when Colin Hutton kicked a last-minute penalty in the playoff final against Halifax RLFC at Maine Road, Manchester.
In 1957, Whiteley became Hull's captain,[3] and lead them to the Championship playoffs again in the 1957–58 season, winning against Workington Town.
In the following season, Whiteley played in Hull's first appearance at Wembley in the 1958–59 Challenge Cup Final, but lost 13–30 to Wigan.
Whiteley was selected for Great Britain squad while at Hull for the 1954 Rugby League World Cup in France.
[9] Then followed a trip to South Africa in which the British and French teams staged a series of exhibition matches for the promotion of the game.
Johnny was a member of the 1958 Great Britain touring squad that retained the Ashes, and he scored a try in the 40–17 third Test success in Sydney.
[13] Club International Individual (The figures in parentheses refer to the number of games played in the 1968 World Cup.)