With all the new talk of a first Ashes series here in over 20 years, 22 years to be precise by the time we reach kick off in the first game of the proposed tour next year, it got me thinking about the late, great Johnny Whiteley MBE, who would undoubtedly have been even more excited than the rest of us about such a proposition.

My reason for this article is to make a suggestion, which I hope both sets of combatants will agree with, starting with our home support.

I would like to suggest the creation of a new award, the Johnny Whiteley Player of the Series award, to be awarded to the standout player, from either side, over the whole series, with the player being announced, and receiving the trophy, at the third and final game of the series.

I would also suggest that the winner of the award doesn’t necessarily need to come from the winning team, but just needs to be a player who gives absolutely everything he’s got, to score the tries, make the tackles, produce the best kicking game, make the most line breaks, offloads or post-contact metres for his team, whichever side that may be, in this way, even if the series is won by either side after two games, at least there is still a chance of ultimate pride for the losing, or indeed winning side, in the last game, no matter what the outcome.

My reasoning for this suggestion is that the name Johnny Whiteley is absolutely synonymous with the rugby league Ashes Series for various reasons and because, I certainly believe, and hope many others will, his name could easily unite the supporters and everybody else who are involved in this great rivalry, better than any other name.

Johnny, who passed away at the age of 91 in 2022, had and still does have, the ability to unite arguably the biggest divide in professional rugby league, that of Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers, his name is still spoken regularly, with fond memories for both sides of our divided city, when he used to march the match ball onto the pitch at the Hull Derby, he was equally hero worshipped on both sides of the great divide, a unique ability which I believe could also transcend the biggest rivalry in international rugby league.

When England and Australia renew hostilities in 2025, it will be no less than 55 years since Johnny coached the last Great Britain team to claim a test series victory over Australia, not only that, he actually managed to do it DOWN UNDER, before also coaching Great Britain to win the rugby league World Cup in France two years later.

There is also the inevitable funny story, which I believe both sets of supporters will absolutely adore about this man’s Ashes story, which he told me about himself in 2017 as Hull FC launched their vitally important Hull & Proud Week.

I had to interview him for the club website and he told me about the time when he effectively resurrected the West Hull amateur rugby league team in the early 1970s, I can still remember it clearly now and I always will, he said, “When we were talking about what colours the team would wear, the players all said they wanted to wear red, white and blue, like the Great Britain team.

He continued to say: “I told them that Great Britain were the best team in the world at the time, so if they wanted to wear red, white and blue, they would have to earn the right to play for them.”

“But I said they could wear green and gold like Australia, because they were only the 2nd best team in the world, it’s a true story is that.”

Watching him recount that story, with a genuine glint in his eye, it was absolutely obvious that he meant every word of it, he was absolutely serious, that much was unquestionable and, having come to know him as much as I did, it didn’t surprise me one little bit and I’m sure everybody who ever knew him would be as equally convinced.

For me, when I think of The Ashes, the first name that always comes to mind now is Johnny Whiteley MBE and for that reason, I believe the Johnny Whiteley Player of the Series award must be made real and will add even greater gravitas to what is sure to be a much-anticipated test series on these shores next year and moving forward beyond then.

Being a trustee of a charity named after another Hull FC legend Jack Harrison, I would suggest we run this campaign through said charity, the remit of which is to educate people about the stories of prominent people from Hull and East Yorkshire, the sort of exalted company that Johnny Whiteley’sname definitely belongs with, but with a desire for him to keep serving the game of rugby league and uniting the two greatest rivals in international rugby league, hopefully, those of you reading this, will agree with me.

Written by Ian Judson (site contributor & Hull FC fan)