THE POACHER WHO TURNED GAMEKEEPER
ROBIN WHITFIELD November 26, 1943 - July 20, 2025
By DOUG THOMSON
ROBIN WHITFIELD, who has died aged 81 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, was a top-level referee who took up the whistle after being given his marching orders as a player by his own club.
Between 1980 and 1994, he was in charge of more than 400 matches, including nine Tests, two of them in the World Cup, a State of Origin contest and three Challenge Cup finals.
Whitfield, who had a twelve-year career as a goal-kicking fullback with hometown team Widnes, Barrow and Huyton, with whom he fell into dispute due to disciplinary misdemeanours, once sent off six players in the same game.