|
 The
Lost Warrior
By Rachael Mitchinson
When Sean Long first began playing rugby at his local amateur club Wigan
St. Judes for a bit of fun, he never imagined that years later he would be
one of the biggest names in the sporting world.
Sean Long was seven when he first caught the ‘rugby bug’. “A couple of my
friends were playing rugby at Wigan St. Judes, so my dad took me along to
join in,” Sean explains. As a young lad growing up in Wigan he religiously
followed the local rugby team, Wigan Warriors. His heroes were the likes
of loose forward Ellery Hanley and stand off Shaun Edwards.
At his local high school, The Deanery, Sean admits he was good at “nothing
else except sport!” It was obvious he had sporting talent, as he excelled
at many other events, including rugby’s arch rival, football. At sixteen,
Sean unexpectedly became Wigan High Jump Champion, a fact that surprised a
St Helen's club official or two during the course of this interview!
Upon leaving school at 16, Sean realised his dreams and signed for The
Warriors. “It’s a good job rugby came along, because I wasn’t the
cleverest,” he admits.
Wigan gave Sean an apprenticeship and he went on to play for the academy,
the reserves, and eventually, the first team. The club believed in
providing their young players with an all-round education, in case things
did not work out, and, therefore, Sean and all the other apprentices
attended college two days a week, to study for GNVQs in Sport and Leisure.
Sean was unimpressed with this. “It was rubbish!” he comments with a
chuckle.
Just when everything seemed to be running smoothly for Sean, he suffered a
huge setback when Wigan decided to let him go. Reminiscing about this
difficult time, Sean believes the club released him because they had a
number of players that played in his position, including one of his
boyhood heroes.
“There were a lot of half backs around at that time, such as Shaun
Edwards, Henry Paul, Nigel Wright and Craig Murdock, and it seemed as
though I was always second or third choice,” he says.
Judging by the expression on the scrum half’s face, he still feels quite
bitter towards his former club about the decision to let him go. “I was
shocked because I was a lad from Wigan and I wanted to play for my local
team. I was doing alright so it was a bit of a blow. I thought, 'Well I’ll
come back to haunt them!'”
Sean’s big break came when St. Helens signed him from Widnes in 1997.
Despite his success at the club, he is very modest about his achievements.
“I reckon I’ve done alright,” states the double Lance Todd trophy holder
and Great Britain player, who sensationally scored the winning drop goal
in the 2002 Grand Final.
Sean is proud of Saints’ win over Brisbane Broncos in the World Club
Challenge in 2001. “We did it in good style!” he remarks. Sean also
enjoyed a particularly sweet success last year when he played a crucial
part in St. Helens’ victory over Wigan Warriors in the Powergen Challenge
Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, a game in which he was
awarded the Lance Todd Man of the Match Trophy.
Discussing the rivalry between Saints and Wigan fans, Sean remarks, “I
think it’s really good, both towns are passionate about their rugby but
it’s not malicious and there’s no fighting. When the fans are up for it,
it gets the players up for it too!"
Sean admits he finds it difficult controlling his feelings when he faces
his former club. “I try not to treat the Wigan games differently but the
emotion does get to me, especially with me leaving Wigan, which adds some
spice to it," he says. "I always want to get one over on them, as I tend
to get a bit of stick now and again in Wigan when there’s a local derby.”
Recent months have left both Saints and Wigan fans stunned over Saints'
controversial sacking of, and Wigan's subsequent appointment of, Ian
Millward as head coach. Several key St. Helens' players, including Sean,
were tipped to follow Millward to the JJB Stadium. However, Sean is
adamant it is not a switch he will be making.
“No, I won’t be returning to Wigan," he says. "Saints have done a lot for
me. I owe them my life really!” Sean has two years left on his contract
and he says he wants to end his career at Knowsley Road.
Despite the competition on the pitch, Sean is proud of his roots and he
chooses to stay in the area he was brought up in. He has lots of good
friends from school in the Wigan area and enjoys nothing better than
walking his dog in the local countryside!
His family live in Wigan and his younger brother, Karl, is continuing the
family sporting tradition by playing rugby union for Fylde. But would Sean
ever be tempted to switch codes and follow the likes of Jason Robinson and
Andy Farrell into rugby union?
“About four years ago when my contract was up I thought about it, but its
not really my bag,” he says. Saints played a friendly against rugby union
club, Sale, around this time. The first half was played by union rules and
the second half was played by league rules. “It was the worst first half
of my entire life!” observes Sean with an embarrassed grin. “I think union
is a scrappy game and I am more suited to league.”
Indeed, Sean still feels he still has plenty more to achieve in rugby
league. He wants to collect as much silverware as possible for St.
Helen's, although he admits being successful is becoming increasingly
difficult. “I am trying to improve my game, as Super League is getting
tougher and tougher,” he says.
No doubt one of Sean's ambitions is to play for a winning Great Britain
team in the Tri Nations Final against Australia, something he hopes to
achieve this season. “We beat them a couple of times last year, but we
went into the final a bit cocky and fell on our faces. A win is coming,
hopefully it will be this year.”
In winning caps for Great Britain and playing in Grand Finals with St.
Helens, Sean has come a long way since his days as a youngster at St
Judes. Doubtless, many young players at the Poolstock club today dream of
following in Sean's footsteps. His advice to such young players is simply
to have fun playing the game.
He says, “Obviously you need natural talent but just enjoy yourself and
don’t take it too seriously.” Sean Long clearly practices what he preaches
- except, perhaps, when it comes to facing his hometown club.
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