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When Wigan Warriors selected two players to represent them at a Wembley photoshoot before the Challenge Cup finals on Saturday, they could not have chosen more different characters.
Liam Farrell, the men’s captain, is a veteran who has played for Wigan in five Challenge Cup finals, winning four. Leading his team out at Wembley to face treble winners Hull KR will be a big deal but he has been there before. Representing the women before their final against St Helens was a student who works part-time in the coach’s cafe. By the time Jenna Foubister had started primary school, Farrell had played 100 senior games.
Farrell is quiet, calm and friendly; Foubister is exuberant and understandably excited. But 35-year-old Farrell and 19-year-old Foubister have much in common. Both came through the world-class system at their home-town club, took sports-science degrees and have hugely impressive CVs featuring England honours. Foubister combines studying at Edge Hill University in Lancashire with training three nights a week and working in a cafe owned by Denis Betts and his wife Gaynor; Farrell’s degree from the University of Central Lancashire sits alongside his 10 Super League Grand Finals and six winners’ rings.
As captain of such a successful club, does Farrell ever tire of the big stages? “If we weren’t involved in the final, we’d be complaining. It’s an exciting time: fans booking their trips, my wife getting the family and close friends down here to make a weekend of it. It’s all about the result, but you’ve also got to have a good time.”
Wigan’s Wembley takeover begins on Saturday morning during the schoolboys final, which will be contested by two teams from Wigan: St Peter’s and Deanery. Foubister cannot wait for the day to begin. “When the men won their semi-final, we knew there would be a big Wigan fanbase at Wembley and I hope lots of them come early to support us,” she says. “It’s going to be a great day and, if we win, a big party.”
Wigan women are coached by Betts, one of the club’s great players and a former coach of the men’s team, which cements the connection between the teams. What has he done for Foubister? “Oh, the absolute world. When he first brought me in from the academy I thought he was very scary. But obviously that’s just his voice. He’s a teddy bear really. He’s set standards and taught me things that I’d never have thought about. He’s brought my game and confidence levels on a whole lot, and the whole team’s as well.
“Denis has five daughters around the age of us players, so he knows how girls work. He’s very considerate. At first, when some of the girls cried, he said ‘I don’t know what to do!’ But he’s such a comforting coach. And he can’t shout at us – literally, he can only growl!”
Wigan have a tremendous habit of winning finals. They rarely lose two on the bounce, a prospect Matty Peet’s men face after their defeat by Hull KR in the Grand Final last October. “There’s a rich history of getting to finals and winning them – I think it’s 21 Challenge Cups now,” says Farrell. “There’s a bit of outside pressure, an expectation from fans in the town to win. There’s also a strong mentality at the club of Wigan lads, who have grown up watching us win finals, wanting to reproduce that themselves.”
Wigan academy graduates account for 20% of all Super League players, a stunning statistic. Add those produced elsewhere who have played for Wigan and that number rises considerably. What makes Wigan special? “The grassroots rugby,” says Farrell, nephew of Andy and cousin of Owen. “You go to an amateur club on a Sunday morning and it’s thriving. There are so many lads and girls playing rugby league. They want to grow up to be their heroes, whether that was Sean O’Loughlin, Sam Tomkins or Andy Farrell or now Jack Farrimond, Noah Hodkinson, Zach Eckersley, all players from Wigan. So they can see a pathway through.”
“The club put a lot into the youth system,” adds Foubister, who won the quadruple and made her England debut last year. “They are very supportive in the way they shape players for the future. One of the academy coaches I had later turned around to me and said: ‘I was giving you a hard time so when you came to the first team you weren’t shocked by the expectations they had for you.’ We didn’t expect what happened last year but we worked hard for it.”
Wigan have jumped ahead of the curve when it comes to providing for their female players. The women’s team have sole use of the revamped Edge Hall Road site, rather than having to share Robin Park with the men, and the club were quick to develop a girls’ academy. “It is a privilege having our own ground,” says Foubister. “We can go up whenever we want and have the freedom to train, whereas at Robin Park you got slotted in at a certain time. Sometimes we had to wait for the lads to get out of the gym, which could make you feel a bit like second choice. But they have given us our own platform and it’s paid off.”
Whereas Foubister’s career is just taking off, Farrell’s has bridged several generations. Among his old England colleagues are a Super League chief executive (Jamie Jones-Buchanan), Sky Sports pundit (Jon Wilkin), departed legend (Rob Burrow) and expected knight (Kevin Sinfield). Three of his first Wigan teammates now coach him as Peet’s assistants: Thomas Leuluai, Paul Deacon and Sean O’Loughlin. Farrell typifies a club that seems a magnet for loyalty.
“Before I even signed, there were opportunities in rugby union, but I just wanted to play for Wigan,” says Farrell. “There’s been a handful of times I could have moved, a couple of opportunities in Australia, but it was never the right time. I’ve no regrets. I’ve always wanted to be a one-club man. When the time comes for me to retire I won’t be taking up any offer to go elsewhere.”
As Farrell’s career enters the final phase, Foubister aims to become a hero herself in the “close, homely town” she loves. “The men have a lot of history behind them, but the women’s team has to build a history of our own now,” she says. “My dad took me down to watch Wigan at eight or nine, and I said: ‘When I grow older, I’d love to do what these men are doing.’ We’ve definitely increased our fanbase and the town is so supportive. Now I walk round and see little girls in Wigan shirts with our names on the backs, even mine. It’s lovely to see. It makes my day. Little girls are looking up to us for inspiration.”
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