Joe Makin Interview: 'I don’t quite know how I’ve got to 400 games but I have!'
Hull Ionians' Joe Makin is into his 16th National League Rugby campaign
©John Ashton
Joe Makin has wanted this week to feel like any other.
But chances are, it probably hasn't.
On Saturday, when Hull Ionians visit Macclesfield in National Two North, Makin is set to run out for his 400th appearance for the club.
“I'm not going to lie, it has been on my mind for a while!” he laughs, when asked if he’d been thinking about the milestone over the summer. “I’ve only played for one club in my senior career. It will be a special moment, something I’ve been striving towards.
“I’d rather win first [on Saturday] and then celebrate the occasion afterwards, but it is a special moment.
"Not many have reached 400 National League Rugby appearances. It is pretty special for me and something I’ve worked towards for probably 16, 17 years. I don’t quite know how I’ve got here, but I have!"
Makin is right. Very few have achieved 400-plus National League Rugby appearances, but the club captain's loyalty and consistency is truly admirable.
Joe Makin is set to lead out Hull Ionians on Saturday away at Macclesfield. Photo Credit: John Ashton.
According to all-round Hull Ionians man and statistician Brian Norman, Makin has only had one prolonged spell on the sidelines in a career that spans 16 seasons; a three-month lay-off due to a knee injury at the start of the 2015/16 campaign.
Since the beginning of the 2022/23 season, the lock forward has played 79 of the last 80 games and has been on the pitch for an average of 78 minutes per match.
“I would say I have had two major injuries [Makin also missed one month at the start of the 2016/17 season] and it was when I did both knees which I had operations on," he says.
"I’ve tried to look after myself. The lads might say otherwise, but I’ve trained, gone to the gym, and had luck on my side! I’ve seen plenty of friends fall away through injuries or commitments, but I’ve had a good run of it."
And it is a run which began in 2009, when Makin initially signed for The I’s on loan from Doncaster.
Even though he will go down in the National League Rugby 'Hall of Fame' for his achievements, rugby didn’t seriously appear on Makin's radar until he was 17.
"I went to Hall Cross Comprehensive [in Doncaster], which was big into rugby union," he explains. "I was really a footballer. My Dad and brother were into football, so I played on Sundays and rugby on Saturdays.
"I didn’t start playing for a rugby club until I was 17, with Rossington Hornets. Friendships brought me to Doncaster, and a stroke of luck happened where Doncaster wanted to create an academy, which took over their Colts, and I was fortunate to be in that group."
But Makin's journey to becoming a 'truly great Hull Ionian’ hasn’t taken place entirely in Yorkshire.
"Not many people know this, but I was actually sent on loan to Milan when I was 18! I was doing pre-season with the first team at Donny and their scrum coach at the time, Massimo Cuttitta, who was a famous Italian prop, his twin brother Marcello was a coach of Amatori Rugby Milano.
"I was randomly having a wee in the toilet and he [Massimo] said whether I fancied playing for them?! I just said yes and next thing you know, I’m on a plane to Milan!
"When I came back, I was sent on loan to Hull Ionians and signed full-time the following year. I went to university in Hull, bought a house, and now I’m part of the furniture.”
And within one season, Hull Ionians' longest-serving captain was handed the proverbial armband aged just 20.
"To be honest, it was daunting," Makin reflects. "There were quite a lot of experienced guys there at the time who had been at the club for some time, and I’d only really known them for a year.
"I think my first game as captain was away at Kendal [in National Two North] and we won in the last minute. I vividly remember blagging my way through the team talk! I’d captained junior sides but never a men’s side. I was thrown in at the deep end."
But since that day in October 2010, Makin has delivered hundreds of team talks, and it is perhaps those leadership qualities - combined with his unwavering loyalty to Hull Ionians - that have earned the 35-year-old the recognition he richly deserves.
He has skippered Yorkshire, earning 30 caps for the county, and he also represented England Counties between 2016 and 2019, leading the side on tours to Romania and Georgia.
To top it off, Makin also pulled on the iconic black and white shirt of the Barbarians in the summer, featuring in two commemorative matches against Durham University RFC and Glasgow Academicals RFC, respectively.
"Yeah, I scored on my debut for England Counties against France Fédérale XV in 2016 at Blackheath," Makin chuckles. "Quick little play off nine. If anyone asks me, I was probably 30 yards out, but it was probably more like two!
"Seriously though, I was fortunate enough to be recognised and to captain at those different levels [county and international], and many people don’t get the privilege to do that.
"I was then fortunate enough to play a couple of games for the Barbarians in the summer. That was quite a surreal experience. I don’t think I ever set out on this journey 16, 17 years ago thinking I would one day pull on a black-and-white strip of the Barbarians! That is a topper, and something that I will never experience again."
Makin jokes that his wife, Natasha, won’t allow him to collect and display any more playing jerseys around the house, with many now occupying "various cupboards and drawers." He hopes the clubhouse at Brantingham Park, Hull Ionians' home, might take one or two.
Over 16 years, Makin has experienced it all: promotions, relegations, last-gasp survival battles, and unforgettable wins.
"Apart from last year, I don’t think I’ve ever had a boring season! We’re either scrapping for our lives or fighting for promotion!"
Highlights include the 2011/12 revival, when Hull Ionians lost 14 of their first 18 games but turned things around after Christmas to stay in National Two North, followed by the subsequent title-winning season of 2012/13 - one of three promotions Makin has experienced.
Staying up in National One in 2016/17 with a last-day 46–21 victory at Darlington Mowden Park, and his 300th game away at Bournville in 2021, when Ionians came back from 38–12 down at half-time to win 46–43, also stand out in Makin's memory.
But the towering second-row has not only been a player during his time in East Riding. He has also been a coach.
After a few years working with the forwards, which by his own admission felt like a natural fit, he stepped up in November 2023 to take on the role of head coach.
When Head of Rugby Graham Steadman departed, Makin filled the gap, once again showing the same dedication and commitment to Hull Ionians that has defined his playing career.
"It was a real baptism of fire," he explains. "Reflecting on it, I probably took on a bit more than I could chew. I had quite a few work commitments at the time, but I took it on. It was a stressful six months.
"We went on a run of around 12 matches without a win, and in that stretch, there were five or so games that we lost by five points or less! Then we survived relegation on the final day. (The club only avoided the drop because the liquidation of Jersey Reds meant they finished as the best 13th-placed side in National Two).
"You don’t really realise until you do it, but being head coach is a completely different beast to captaining a side because you’re no longer just one of the lads. You’re making decisions, and sometimes you’re the most unpopular man in the room! It was hard work. I did it because I had to. It was a needs must for the club.
"Would I do it again? I don’t know is the honest answer. Maybe in an assistant coach or forwards coach role!"
However, as he looks ahead, hanging up the playing boots isn’t on Makin’s agenda just yet.
"That’s the question on everyone’s lips, if I’m retiring or what I’m doing next?" he laughs.
"I’ve seen Matt Riley (former Sedgley Park centre) has done 457 appearances and I’m slightly younger than him and Chris Wearmouth [at Tynedale, who reached 400 National League Rugby appearances in April].
"I’d quite like to have a crack at that [Riley's record] because I think he still holds the record for most appearances for a single club in either England or France in the pro era.
"As my Dad said to me at the end of last year when he was quizzing me around it, 'If you keep yourself fit, then the rest is in the hands of the gods.' That’s how I’ll go. One game at a time, see how I feel at the end of the year, and then go again.”
True to Makin’s character, chasing records isn't at the forefront of his mind.
Unbeaten Hull Ionians will arrive at Macclesfield (also undefeated) on Saturday having opened the season with a 22-22 draw at Fylde before following it up with a 35-19 derby victory over Hull last time out.
Makin is eager for the I’s to build on their encouraging start and even with 399 appearances under his belt, he remains as ready as he was back in 2009 to give his all to his beloved club.
"I don’t feel out of place," Makin concludes. "I don’t feel like I am letting anyone down and that is probably the key to it. If I start to let people down and start to look out of place, that is when I will pack it up. But at this moment in time, I don’t feel like that is the case."
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