The club was saddened to learn that our former player, Robin Whitfield, passed away over the weekend after a long and courageous battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Robin served the club between 1962 and 1969 before playing stints at Barrow and Huyton. However it is as a top-class referee that he will probably be best remembered by the wider Rugby League community, as his officiating career featured Wembley finals, Test matches in Europe and Australasia, and even State of Origin football.
Robin was the teenage captain of the Widnes St Patrick’s junior club when he signed for the Chemics in October 1960, and he was still only 18 when making his first team debut in a 12-10 win over Wigan in 1962.
He played in both of the drawn cup ties against Leigh during the epic 1964 Challenge Cup run and soon established himself as a key player at the club, with 40 appearances in season 1965/66. The emergence of Ray Dutton provided Robin with competition for the fullback role and, in August 1969, he transferred to Barrow in search of regular first team football, having scored a total of 20 tries and 209 goals in his 116 games for Widnes.
After 16 months at Barrow, Robin returned closer to home when signing for Huyton in December 1970, and he spent nearly four years with the Alt Park club. In what transpired to be his last game as a professional player, Robin was sent off in a game against Warrington – the seventh “early bath” of his career.
Remarkably, he was still serving his eight-match RFL suspension when he made his first appearance as a whistler, officiating a game between Simms Cross and Ince in January 1975. Soon, the columns of the local press were reporting on Robin’s rapid progress as an official, and it was predicted that he would go to the very top in his new role.
He took charge of his first senior game in September 1980, and a little over two years later he was appointed as the referee for two France versus Australia Test matches. More big games followed for Robin – he was in the middle for the third, and decisive, State of Origin game in 1983 and went on to control more games in the southern hemisphere, including all three Tests in the 1986 Aussie-Kiwi series. Back home, his standing as a referee was recognised with three Challenge Cup final appointments – in 1983, 1986 and 1992. He might have made more Wembley appearances if he had not been ineligible for five finals during the 1980s due to the presence in the big game of either Widnes, his hometown team, or his brother, Colin, who played in three finals for Wigan and Halifax.
Robin won three Referee of the Year awards before retiring in 1994, having carried on the proud tradition of Widnes match officials that includes Jack Smith, Dick Jones, George Phillips, and two of Robin’s mentors as a young ref – Mick Naughton and Ronnie Campbell.
Robin will be missed by all followers of Rugby League and we extend our sympathies to his family and many friends.
