A great player who has clearly struggled with life over the past few years www.wigantoday.net/news/crime/fo ... -1-8846919

A great player who has clearly struggled with life over the past few years www.wigantoday.net/news/crime/fo ... -1-8846919

What a sad state of affairs I wonder what is driving him to steal, There are so many ex-professionals with little companies I can't see why he couldn't find work there, it is a bit of a sad way to go, I hope he can sort himself out.

This is a very sad story to read. Does anyone know if the RFL actively work with players to help them plan for retirement from the game?

Regards

King James

No and why should they. Dependency culture none sense. Malcolm Alker will have earned a fair wedge from RL through the years, more than many.

They didn't turn to crime and nether do 99% of the population.

It's not sad he's a low life he was carrying a blade by the sound of it ffs. What about the staff he terrorised?

Get a grip man being a RL player doesn't excuse anything.

Paul Jackson was a guest of the HGSA this week and he said the RFL didn't want to know when the players set up a union years ago and that once they leave the game they are on their own compared to the NRL where the governing body looks after players for 5 years after they leave to help pay for stuff like injuries etc....it is sad when these people who were heroes to some were working for little more than the man in the factory etc but were willing to put their bodies on the line every week for entertainment.

Comparing how the game is run over here with the NRL is like comparing chalk and cheese. They're world's apart. Not that it's an excuse but I expect they have more money over there to put into player welfare. Question - how long is the RFL expected to provide "support" (whatever that means) to ex players? Alker is long retired.

It comes down to choice. Like Vasty says we all change jobs, lose jobs, change environments, fall on hard times etc etc but 'armed' robbery or robbery of any form just isn't acceptable. If found guilty there is no excuse

On another point above I wish my former employers had looked after me for 5 years. The best I've heard is when we laid some staff of in France the employer is obliged cover 75% of the salary for at least 12 months(or similar before the pendents come marching in)

Isn't this something the clubs, as a responsible employer, should be leading? I know several clubs insist that all junior players undertake some form of college course whilst they're in the youth teams (I believe it's part of the academy criteria now), and open this offer up to the first team players.

As the people who work with these players every day (and in the case of Malcolm Alker, saw him every day for the thick-end of 15 years) and should know them well enough, I'd suggest that it is more incumbent on the clubs to prepare their employees for life after playing, whether that is a life in rugby or elsewhere, than the RFL.

I get the sentiment that Vasty expresses - and there's no excuse for the sort of actions that Alker is accused of, but I also think that there is an argument for better player welfare. Whilst what Alker did isn't acceptable and won't gain much sympathy, I also think it's worth remembering how other players have found the transition from rugby to regular life difficult, suffered mental health issues, and been driven to irrational actions as a result.

Sport isn't like most professions. Most professions don't take impressionable (and often not very bright) teenagers or young men, provide the promise of a "dream" career playing sport for a living, and encourage them to focus their efforts on a narrow and limited career at the expense of developing other skills and qualifications which may have more longevity. Most of us also won't be effectively forced into a career change in our mid 30s, (if they're lucky) where we'll have to start at the bottom rung of the ladder.

Whilst things have got better, I think there's a duty there to help players deal with that transition from rugby to civvy street. The armed forces has similar problems, and it causes all manner of socio-economic problems.

People are right to look at the NRL as the standard to aspire to. The sort of support that somebody like Alex McKinnon received should be the norm, not the exception.

Instead of feeling sorry for Alker who is scum and deserves to go to prison what about the people who were there at the robbery who were probably frightened to death there the real victims

I don't see anyone feeling sorry for Alker.

We don't know if better post-career support for Alker from either the RFL or Salford would have prevented this but, let's for arguments sake say that it would have helped. It means that Alker doesn't do something incredibly desperate / stupid, the people working in a Wigan fast-food restaurant don't have the trauma of facing an armed robber and the taxpayer doesn't have to foot the bill for another man in prison. Surely everybody wins?

Perhaps. But as we know most clubs have no money. There would have to be a directive from the RFL that some of the central distribution is ring-fenced for this at the very least. The support offered should also be the same for all clubs or you'd get some paying lip service.

What support are we talking about anyway? Careers advice? Psychological support? If the latter what do we actually mean? It can't just be a signpost to NHS Mental Health services.