Neil Whittaker (born 10 September 1956) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s for Balmain in the NSWRL competition.
By the end of 1996, Balmain reverted to their original name and returned to playing at Leichhardt Oval for the 1997 season as the "Sydney Tigers" experiment was deemed a failure.
In July 1997, Whittaker was one of the main stakeholders that began talks with the Parramatta Eels 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.
As NRL CEO, Whittaker oversaw clubs such as Hunter Mariners, South Queensland Crushers, Adelaide Rams and the Western Reds culled from the competition.