SEAN LONG was a brilliant rugby league character on and off the field.
Many a story has been shared of the former St Helens star after the mercurial halfback came through the Wigan Warriors academy before becoming one of Saints’ greatest-ever players in the summer era.
But, not many people know about Long’s early life – and now he has revealed all about his early life, including the issues he went through as a child.
“I was dragged up, I was a scrubber. I lived in Wigan, we had no money and lived in poverty in the late ’70s and early ’80s,” Long said on the Dare to be Different podcast with Craig White.
“I would go out there and find a way to make money and survive. It was fight or flight, when I’m knocking round the streets on my own, cruising round, I was up to no good all the time.
“My mum and dad were quite young when they had me. They did their best but it wasn’t the greatest. I was in a lot of fights at school.
“I was just trying to survive. There were knives and guns knocking about, I walked home from school when I was 6 and got shot.
“I walked home, crying. My mum asked me what happened and I never told her. I just kept things hidden, that’s what always happened.”
But, there was a turning point early on that helped Long in his early development.
“I was a scallywag so my parents made a good decision at 7. My uncle had a farm in New Springs, the other side of Wigan, and we got a caravan and lived there for two years on the farm.
“I loved it, it was brilliant. I just got up in the morning, got eggs from the chickens. There was a lot of land, there was freedom.”
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