My dad used to lock me in a room and smack me to pieces
SHAUN WANE HAD A TOUGH START IN LIFE SO IS ESPECIALLY PROUD TO NOW BE ENGLAND COACH AIMING FOR WORLD CUP GLORY
TO understand just how much it will mean to Shaun Wane to lead his country out at a home World Cup, you first need to know where he has come from and what he has come through.
‘It was a very, very unhappy childhood,’ admits the England rugby league coach, who grew up on the Worsley Hall council estate in Wigan. ‘My dad was a brutal man and I was a shocking kid. I was breaking into places, pinching cars, going out all night fighting with men.
‘My dad’s way of dealing with it was smacking me to pieces every week. And I mean 20 minutes locked in a room, couldn’t get away and he was a big fella.
‘ I just remember being scared. I don’t have any good memories at all. It was sadness. I just wanted it to end.
‘I didn’t go to school for months on end and one day when I was 15 I rang in a bomb scare to the police and the school got evacuated. I got caught and got arrested.
‘The police took me home and then my dad nearly killed me. That’s when I ran away and never went back home.’
It proved to be the turning point of Wane’s life. He went to live with the family of his girlfriend Lorraine — now his wife of 30 years and mother of his two daughters. Within a year he had signed a professional rugby league contract with Wigan, while most of his friends from the estate were, and still are, in prison. ‘I had nowhere to go and went to Lorraine’s house — I walked in and her house was warm and I had my own bed, whereas my house was freezing and I shared a bed with my two brothers,’ recalls Wane, whose dad and two brothers have all now passed away. ‘There was a meal on the table every day and I was thinking, “What the f*** is this?”. We never had food in our house. I thought she was odd.
‘I thought everybody was like me and got smashed up by their dads. It was a tough start to my life so to end up coaching my country when you are as patriotic as me is unbelievably special. I’m not one for patting myself on the back but when I got home after meeting the RFL board last year, I said to my wife, “I can’t believe it, I’m head coach of England, my country”. I’ve given my family something to be proud of.’
WANE has the Japanese word Kaizen tattooed on his right forearm. ‘I went to America on a trip and I got drunk and woke up with it -— my missus went mad,’ he laughs.
Kaizen means ‘change for the better’. It is his coaching philosophy and he has lived his life by it, not least in the 10-year period from retiring as a player to becoming a full-time coach.
‘I was doing up to 120 hours a week, every week for a decade,’ he says. ‘I was the key account manager for Tarmac in Manchester and I coached kids as well.
‘My family life suffered. It was tough. But I wanted to be the best at Tarmac and sell more concrete than anyone else. I was obsessed with it. And I wanted to be recognised as a good coach. I managed both.’
Wane, now 56, was eventually appointed Wigan Under 18 coach in 2003, then worked his way up to the first team and became head coach in 2011. In his seven years in the top job, he won three Super League Grand Finals, a Challenge Cup and a World Club Challenge.
When he took over as England boss last year, Wane was given one task — win the 2021 World Cup. ‘That was it, simple, and that’s why I took the job,’ he says. ‘If they’d said to me just give a good account of ourselves, I’m not sure I’d have taken the job. I like the stress, the pressure, the need of having to perform.’
Despite being in the job for 14 months, Wane is yet to meet up with his squad, let alone take charge of a game, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Instead, he has held weekly Zoom meetings with players and has just got off a video call with his Australia-based stars as he speaks to Sportsmail.
Today, with 200 days to go until England get the World Cup underway against Samoa at St James’ Park, Wane will name a training squad for his first session with the players on Tuesday.
The ultimate goal is to be playing at Old Trafford on November 27 in the World Cup final in front of what could be a sell-out home crowd.
‘It could be really special,’ added Wane. ‘For us to win it in our country, it would be a huge shot in the arm for English rugby league.
‘It would give our great game some recognition that it’s lacking at the minute.
‘We last won the World Cup in 1972. That’s my message to the players — it’s half a century. There’s only a few of those players still alive and I’ve got a video from them to play to my players.
‘They are in the history books for ever and this is our chance to be in the history books for ever. It’s in our hands, it’s in our country, this is our chance and I don’t want to miss it.’
All remaining tickets for the Rugby League World Cup 2021 go on sale today at tickets.rlwc2021.com