**Denis Betts has been there, done it and got the winners’ medals to prove it – but on Saturday at Wembley he will break new ground.**
As head coach, the legendary former Wigan player will lead the club’s women’s team into their first-ever Challenge Cup final appearance against arch-rivals St Helens.
Betts, 55, graced Wembley on numerous occasions for club and country and is universally regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation.
Here, the Salfordian tells **Love Rugby League** about his remarkable life story.
**Raised in Salford, a prospect at Manchester United**
Betts grew up in Salford Precinct in the heart of inner-city Salford and was a promising footballer in the Old Trafford youth ranks.
“I’m from Clarendon on Liverpool Street and The Willows wasn’t far away,” said Betts.
“I lived in a social housing council estate towards Manchester before they built the M602 and would walk down to Old Trafford. I used to sneak into the Stretford End as a kid.”
Had things turned out a little differently, Betts might have made the grade professionally as a footballer.
“I played for Manchester United’s B team with lads like Mark Robins, Russell Beardsmore, Gary Walsh and Clayton Blackmore,” he revealed.
“Mark’s the same age as me and it’s good to see how well he’s done in football management.
“He played for Oldham Boys, I played for Salford Boys, but he was a lot better than I was. I was also a centre forward and I remember Mark getting an apprenticeship at United.
“But I was playing rugby league as well and a few clubs were interested in me… Leigh, Wigan and Leeds.
“I actually got offered an apprenticeship by Blackburn Rovers but I chose rugby league and I never looked back.”
**Gravelly voice explained**
Betts jokes that he has a voice “for late-night radio” but his dulcet tones are a legacy of an injury he sustained whilst playing rugby league.
“I was elbowed in the throat and got Hypotonia (low muscle tone) on my voicebox,” explained Betts, a formidable competitor during his playing days.
“It was typical of the game then and the medics told me what had happened and said ‘rest it, don’t do anything’.
“But I played the following weekend because it was only a sore throat.
“I then got hit the following week and it went on for about three or four weeks – I just kept getting hit in the throat and ended up with a voice for late-night radio.”
**Playing career**
Betts won six league titles, seven Challenge Cups, three Premierships and two World Club Challenges as a player in a total of 367 appearances for Wigan.
Ahead of this weekend’s trip to the national stadium, Betts recalled: “I played in two World Cup finals at Wembley – in 1992 for Great Britain and 1995 for England.
“Both were against Australia and we lost both narrowly.
“In 1992, John Devereux missed a tackle that cost us the game… not that I’m bitter about it or anything!
“But I played in eight Challenge Cup finals with Wigan at Wembley, winning seven and losing just once to Sheffield Eagles in 1998.
“I was there with the squad in 1988 for the final against Halifax, then played against St Helens in 1989 before playing in the following seven.”
Betts then had a spell in New Zealand with the Auckland Warriors before returning to Wigan in 1998 and then retiring in 2001 to take up a coaching role with the club.
He won 32 Great Britain caps during a hugely distinguished playing career.
**Coaching career**
Having begun his coaching journey in the youth ranks at Wigan, Betts worked his way up to become head coach before being moved sideways when Ian Millward was appointed.
Betts then switched codes to join rugby union outfit Gloucester in 2006 as a skills coach before leaving in 2010.
“I absolutely loved my time at Gloucester,” he said. “It was a really working-class environment and the fans are very similar to rugby league fans.
“It was a great time for me to learn and develop under Dean Ryan, a fantastic head coach and leader who I learnt so much from.
“Bryan Redpath was another exceptionally talented coach, and Carl Hogg was a real master of his craft. It was just brilliant.”
After leaving Kingsholm in 2010, Betts took charge of Widnes Vikings later that year and stayed there until May 2018.
He also worked on the England coaching staff under Wayne Bennett and held roles at Newcastle Thunder before returning to Wigan – a club he holds close to his heart.
**Becoming women’s head coach at Wigan**
Betts took up his role at Wigan at the start of last season and also helps his wife Gaynor to run the village Post Office, shop and café in Newburgh, a sleepy village in West Lancashire.
He is part of a formidable brains trust at Wigan which includes Kris Radlinski, Matt Peet, Shaun Wane, Sean O’Loughlin and Tommy Leuluai.
Betts, a father of five girls, said: “Here at Wigan, you’re constantly bumping into people with so much experience.
“Shaun Wane has been there and done it all, Tommy and Lockers recently finished playing and were the best of the best in their positions, and Matty Peet is just an encyclopedia of coaching.
“He’s fearless in wanting to draw on as much around him as much as he wants to lead himself, so it’s a really exciting club to be around.
“Matty is really interested in the women’s team and what’s going on – he treats us absolutely as equals at Robin Park.
“That’s been a massive boost to the girls and the team’s development.”
**Mouthwatering Challenge Cup final**
Wigan’s women’s team has never reached a Challenge Cup final, so Saturday’s showdown with a St Helens side who have won the trophy for the last four years is an intriguing clash.
It will be the first time the men or women’s teams from Wigan and Saints have played each other at Wembley since it was rebuilt.
It will also be the first time the women’s teams from the great rivals have faced each other in any major final, so history will be made.
“It’s a final that we really wanted – all the way through,” admitted Betts.
“I hoped that if we had an opportunity to get to the final that it would be against St Helens.
“Their recent record in the competition is testament to the quality within their group and it’s always nice to test yourself again those kind of sides.
“Our biggest challenge this year was being consistent and now we’ve got to chance to face a Saints side at their best in a stadium where they’re proved they’re the best.
“It’s a really great challenge and experience for our side, which is really young and has virtually no Wembley or Challenge Cup final experience whatsoever.
“Our half-backs are barely 18, our full-back is 19 and we’ve got wing-centre partnerships which are 19 and 20 so it’s a really young, inexperienced group. Yet we’re really excited about the challenge.”
Betts attended last year’s Challenge Cup finals at Wembley, when St Helens women’s team beat Leeds Rhinos and Wigan beat Warrington in the men’s final.
“It was the first time I’d been to Wembley since it was rebuilt,” he said. “I really enjoyed the day and thought ‘it would be great to get Wigan’s women’s team here’.”
This weekend, he will get his wish.