John Wittenberg
Personal information | ||||||
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Full name | John Julius Wittenberg | |||||
Born | 1939 Wide Bay, Queensland, Australia | |||||
Died | 2005 Burren Junction, New South Wales, Australia | |||||
Playing information | ||||||
Position | Prop forward | |||||
Club | ||||||
Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
1961 | Newtown (Toowoomba) | |||||
1962–1963 | Wynnum Manly | |||||
1964–1966 | Theodore | |||||
1968–1970 | St George Dragons | 53 | 12 | |||
Total | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |
Representative | ||||||
Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
1962–1966 | Queensland | 9 | 3 | |||
1968–1970 | New South Wales | 5 | 0 | |||
1966–1970 | Australia | 6 | 0 | |||
John Wittenberg (1938–2005) was an Australian rugby league player. He was a front-row forward with the St. George Dragons. He was a representative in the Australian national team in 1966 and from 1968 to 1970 earning 6 test caps.
His son, Jeff, later played professionally in Australia and England.
Playing career
Wittenberg was from Wide Bay, Queensland and played for Toowoomba, the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls and in the Central Queensland town of Theodore in the early and mid sixties from which clubs he represented for Queensland and Australia. The Queensland Rugby League attempted to block his transfer to Sydney in 1967 forcing him to sit out the 1967 season and causing him to miss selection for the 1967 Kangaroo Tour.
He played 53 games for St George from 1968 to 1970 representing for New South Wales and regaining Australian representative selection during that time. Four of his representative caps were at the 1968 World Cup played in Sydney including the World Cup Final victory against France in June 1968.
He died of a heart attack while working on his farming property in Burren Junction west of Wee Waa, New South Wales aged 67.
Sources
- St George Dragons Player History Website http://www.showroom.com.au/dragons/dragonshistory
- Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
- Queensland representatives at qrl.com.au
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