Sean Long of Hull FC announces his retirement with immediate effect
Sean Long of Hull FC has confirmed on August 10, the end of his 17-year rugby career, as is heading out for his retirement at 34.
He is counted amongst the brilliant Super League star players who boast many honours under their belt.
Long joined in with the St. Helens back in 1997 and has won various acknowledgements all along. His profile boasts the highest points earned during the Super League season for his franchise in the year 1999 and 2000.
After serving 12 glorious years at Saints, he sealed a two-year deal with Hull FC, but his run over there was not as successful as it was with his former franchise, as he started having injury inflicted seasons.
Suffering from a dislocated shoulder against Hull KR clash this June, Long was kept out of the games and now with this call made, that injury inflicted encounter is marked as his last encounter as a scrum-half.
According to Long, his decision of forgoing the playing career was not an easy one for him. This was not how he had imagined winding up his career, which had become more of a compulsion than a choice for him.
While speaking about his retirement move he said, “I’m disappointed I won’t get to see things through at Hull, especially with a new owner coming in, but there is no deal on the table and I cannot afford to sit around waiting.”
He confirmed that he is not going to be away from the world of rugby, as he is only going to switch his role from being on-field to shouldering off-field responsibilities. Nonetheless, it was not entirely spilled out what his coaching destination was.
It has been speculated that it is the Salford Reds that is trying to take up Long on board.
Lee Gilmour of the Huddersfield Giants stated, “He was the best. When I was with Bradford, the three reasons I joined Saints were to play with Paul Sculthorpe, Keiron Cunningham and Sean Long but probably Longy more so. He put me through so many gaps and,
over the last 15 years, there’s probably not been a better half-back with such a good footballing brain.”
While speaking about the injury faced by Long, in 2006, when Willie Mason blew across his face, Gilmour acknowledged the resilience shown by the English scrum-half and lamented over the career ending injuries he had to face over last one and a half year.
Gilmour also shared that Daniel Anderson always reflected that Long would make a wonderful coach. He also added that it will be really exciting to see how quickly he will progress to be the head coach.
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