‘Happy Frank’: League legend waves goodbye to a world’s worth of smiles
Frank Endacott tells Tony Smith he backs the Kiwis as a winning World Cup chance, but fears Warriors won’t make the top eight.
Former Warriors, Kiwis and Wigan coach Frank Endacott has finally hung up his boots after 66 years in rugby league.
The affable Cantabrian looks back on a career that began as a 5-year-old in Shirley, Christchurch.
His journey in the game he still loves with a passion included two seasons as Warriors head coach, seven years in charge of the
Kiwis, and short stints in England with Wigan and Widnes, before carving out a new career as a players agent.
Then he returned to the grassroots as coach of the Northern Bulldogs in the Canterbury club competition.
Today, he is enjoying another sporting interest – harness racing – but still ‘‘watches every rugby league game’’ and has firm views about the need to curb the NRL bunker’s powers, the World Cup hopes of the Kiwis, and the Warriors’ chances of cracking the NRL playoffs.
As a former Warriors coach, what do you think of their prospects in 2022?
I did a radio programme before round one and was asked where I thought the Warriors would finish. After looking at their squad, I said around 11th, and I haven’t seen anything since then that has changed my mind. It’s good to see them sitting in the top eight now, and hopefully they’ll still be there at the end, but I’ll stick with my original prediction of around 10th, 11th, 12th. But hopefully, I’m a poor judge, and I’m wrong.
Is Nathan Brown the right man to coach the Warriors?
I’ve always supported him, from his appointment. I don’t see him doing anything wrong at all. He’s a good up-and-coming coach and I think he’s got more of a chance of relating to our blokes than a lot of coaches they’ve had. I don’t see any reason for getting rid of him. I think he’s the man for the job.
Can the Kiwis win another League World Cup this year?
One thing about the Kiwis is they always compete. We’ve got a really good pool of players. I’m actually going over for the World Cup, so I hope they win it, and I think yes, they have got a chance.
If the Kiwis don’t win, who would you like to see take the trophy?
Anyone else other than Australia! They’ve had more than their share of the World Cup . . . even though they’ve deserved it. They’re the obvious choice, but England will be tough in their own conditions, and of course, we know how good Tonga are going. It would be huge for the game [if they won], internationally, and they’ve got more than a chance. There are four genuine chances there [including the Kiwis], and, in England, anything can happen. The crowds can have a big influence.
Two years ago, when you were coaching the Northern Bulldogs in Kaiapoi you told you were probably the oldest rugby league coach in the world at 72. Are you still coaching?
Stuff
No, I coached last year at 73, and decided to pull the pin. I decided I needed a new interest, that’s why I’ve
gone out and bought a share in three racehorses. I still watch every NRL game and every English [Super League] game too, and I’ll still go down to Kaiapoi here and watch the locals play. But, as far as coaching I’ve done my hard yards, I’ve been involved in rugby league for 66 years in just about every capacity, except refereeing [chuckles].
How did your coaching career begin?
I was playing first grade for Addington in ‘72. Our coach didn’t turn up one night for training, he’d left town. The players all sat around the little changing rooms in Jerrold St and said ‘we need a player-coach for Saturday’. They all looked around, and had a vote. I ended up with the job even though I was one of the youngest in the team.
The same thing happened in 74. I liked it, I took to it naturally. I started serious coaching in 1982 with
Addington. We won the grand final for the first time in the club’s history, and they were one of the oldest clubs in Canterbury. That set me on to Hornby, then on to Canterbury, and the rest is history.
Tell us about the time you coached your team from a tree?
That really happened.
[Addington] were playing Linwood, and the referee was giving us a hammering – the penalty count was 22-2 and rising.
I just had enough, I told the captain, ‘I’m not having this’ and I took the team off the field. I got three weeks’ suspension, I wasn’t allowed to go to the games or coach at training, nothing. At Jerrold St, I picked this tree out that was close to the sideline and dressing rooms. The way the lights were around there it was hard to see.
I climbed up the tree, with a dark hat and coat on, and gave the instructions from there.
The boys would run around the field, then come and do their stretches under the tree, and I’d give the instructions. I did that for three weeks. They had board members sitting in cars on the street, watching to see if I was coaching.
But, I was there an hour earlier than them and got up the tree, so they didn’t know – they know now! And we won the
grand final that year.
What’s your biggest highlight, as a coach?
I’ve got to say two stick out. The Kiwis’ (22-16) win over Australia at North Harbour in ‘98 was the toughest of the 35 tests I was involved in.
The players that night showed me how tough they were, every one of them. We lost [prop] John Lomax [to a red card] in the first 28 seconds, and played with 12 men. We were down to one on the bench by halftime due to injuries, but we still beat the best Australian team I’ve seen on paper.
The other one of course, was Canterbury against Auckland in the ‘93 national grand final.
They’d brought all the players back from England, two-thirds of the Kiwi side. But we thrashed them, I think it was 36-12. We had a real young side, but it was just like a big, tight family. We went out and put together one of the best games you’d ever see.
Biggest regret?
Going to Old Trafford twice in the one year for grand finals – one was the Super League grand final for Wigan, and we just got beat. And going there with the Kiwis in the 2000 World Cup and getting beat by Australia.
It was great to make two finals before big crowds, but I was pissed off to lose because I thought we would have won both of them. I was real confident with the
Kiwis – we were unbeaten in the build-up and thrashed England in the semis by a record score (49-6). We were in the game with 15 minutes to go, but it ran away from us in the end.
You’re known throughout the rugby league world as ‘Happy Frank’, how did that nickname come about and what’s behind the ‘happy’ philosophy?
Very easy, one word sums that up – respect. Wherever I’ve gone I’ve respected people, from the guy who hands out the jerseys to the players. And that came from my father – he taught me as a young kid that it cost nothing to smile at people and say hello, and always have a smile on your face.
The British media named me ‘Happy Frank’ . . . I think they were used to so many dour coaches, English and Australian, that they got a surprise when they actually had someone willing to talk to them every time after a game and with a smile on his face.
What makes Frank happy today?
Family is big for me, it always has been, we’re a pretty tight family and it’s good to have the time. I’ve been absolutely committed to people all my life, now I can just do everything at my pace.
There’s always a job here looking after land with my wife [Joan], even though she does most of it! We’re still living out here [in North Canterbury] on 10 acres.
I get real enjoyment out of my horses – one with [trainer] Mark Purdon and two with Cran Dalgety, is something for me to follow.
And you meet good people in racing too, I find that good.
But rugby league’s still in my blood, that’ll remain to the day I die.