Keith Smith used to suffer from.
Not wanting to get on the pitch at the start and again at half time.
Don't think anxiety was talked about back then but apparently Keith used to be a nervous wreck.

Everyone gets it to varying degrees but if you can play RL 200 times in front of thousands of people you can live with it. Lots of actors and players etc often puke up before a performance but they still do it because the reward outdoes the pain. The more they puke the more they are up for the game and the better they often are.

There are exceptions, I shouldn't think Paul Gascoigne was ever nervous, to daft, or Eric Cantona, supremely arrogant and self-confident but most do.

I myself struggle in front of anyone who isn't family or friends and even then......

It`s not made up Poptart, Lee suffers big time with anxiety and panic attacks, not just rugby related, in day to day life so that quite obviously will and has had some effect on his work no doubt. His problems were well documented a few years back when he had to be rested for a period of time after pulling out of a game with what he thought was a heart attack which turned out to be a panic attack.

Anxiety issues can obviously be triggered at any stage in life, he had already played around 150 games by the time he started having the anxiety issues so the 200+ games argument doesn`t really mean that much in that context.

It`s obviously something that needs to be managed from a player welfare perspective and from what I hear as a club we offer great support to players in this, but FWIW I think Lee will go really well for us.

You mean he’s a nervous person, so what, that’s a million miles away from a genuine disability.

I’m sorry and I accept some of the recent stuff regarding mental health but this is ridiculous nonsense. At the end of the day it’s a mans game, it’s not meant for fragile people like me. If you can’t hack it then don’t do it. It’s not like the money is all that great.

It’s getting pathetic this making everyday human emotions into massive issues, we all suffer anxieties it’s part of life and part of nature.

I’d love to know when it became part of the norm that everyone is guaranteed their every issue catered for. We are no longer a caring nation imho but a feeble one if pre match anxiety is now considered an excuse to not play a game.

Get real and let’s hope heart surgeons or policeman at riots don’t take the same attitude. Jeez I despair, does that mean I’ve got anxiety issues, you bet I have.

Just simply relaying the truth, did anyone ever refer to it as a disability? Can`t find where anyone said that. I wonder if Stu Dickens will take the same attitude towards him upon approach, I sincerely hope not.

Imagine if the likes of Tom Holmes, on the brink of suicide was told by the Welfare team at Fev, it`s a mans game, not meant for fragile people.

FWIW as well, there will be plenty of Heart surgeons and policemen that have had to take time of off work due to mental health issues, so you can hope all you want, it happens.

then you're another that looks a bit silly - and a smple google would have prevented it.
- and despite your comment you really are dismissing anxiety if you can say aww well he played 200 games so he cant be affected by anxiety. There are plenty of ways to become informed on the issue. I suggest you try some.

From the past, remember the late and brilliant Keith Smith has serious anxiety issues. Anne others can remember.

Disgusting way to think and to post it on here too!

The fact we have people in our own sport that have attempted to/taken their own life due to anxiety, stress and depression, some of which being a direct result of playing and we still have people who come out with statements like this.

I don’t understand what the issue is with someone struggling? I’d sooner see Lee sit on the bench all year and conquer whatever troubles him than have someone playing through something like that, regardless of how little it may be.

The bottom line is everyone is different, everybody is effected by different things so to diminish someone’s anxiety simply because he plays in “a man’s game” is the issue, that’s the part that is pathetic.

Oh, grow up you sad bandwagon jumper.

In the last five years, I've had a good friend lose his life to cancer, I've had cancer myself but worse I spent three nights on a ward, whilst the man opposite slowly died in agony of the same cancer as my own but he did do with dignity and bravery. I also work with a young lady who lost her husband of only six months due to a road accident, she never moans, complains, or feels sorry for herself and has never missed a day's work, something I wouldn't begrudge her.

Yet people like you dare to tell people like me that they should feel sorry for a Rugby player with stage fright, only a fool would be so naff.

A young man who kills himself has issues way beyond that of being an RL player. There is no pressure in pro sport that is enough by itself to trigger suicide, it has to go way deeper than that.

Nobody makes them play the game, the monies are not so wonderful you couldn't pass it up so if he doesn't like it then he doesn't have to play.

On the other hand young parents struggling on minimum wage with a poorly child whilst living on a sink estate, they have problems, but most don't kill themselves or claim stress as an excuse for not carrying on, they just get on with it as countess generations have.

People like you make me sick, you have no idea about life and real pressure. Take a sabbatical to Afghanistan, see if you feel quite so sorry for a Rugby player who gets nervous before a game.

Finally, at this level, it is a man's game and it's ludicrous to argue otherwise. You wouldn't see a doctor who couldn't stand the sight of blood or a plumber who was scared of water, so why on earth do you think it's in any way right to have a sportsman/entertainer who is scared to play in front of a crowd, your whole argument is idiotic.

If Gaskell has these issues then he has my sympathy and my advice would be to pack the game in. He's not doing himself any favours nor is he giving the speccies what they deserve for their hard-earned cash. The fact that he's played over 200 games leads me to believe it's a very small issue being blown out of all proportion by a Hudds troll who found a gullible audience in yourself. Finally, and I don't care if this shocks or offends, but I don't pay my season ticket money for the club to support a player who can't play for any reason other than injuries or genuine tragedies. I pay my taxes and my NI for the NHS to do that.

No reason to be unkind, be supportive to a point but at the end of the day go be an electrician if playing the sport you get paid to play reduces you to a wreck ALLEGEDLY.

I remember him just getting peed off with the constant knuckle he was receiving week in week out. Similarly Keith Slater. Remember in those days the players were part time so didn't totally need the hassle.

And I sympathise for you and whoever else goes through traumatic things in life. I don’t see why it’s any different?

To claim its stage fright, sat in the position you’re in is naive and you know it is.

Listen to Andrew Fifita’s story, Preston Campbell, Reni Maitua. All specifically confirm they attempt to take their own lives due to Rugby League and the pressure that comes directly from representing a professional sports team. You won’t like to admit it but you don’t know everything, take some time to educate yourself on something that is all so relevant in these times.

I don’t understand your comment on people like me making you sick, have I not gone through difficulties in life similar to the ones you list? You’ll claim probably not because it suits your agenda but again why is it any different for Gaskell to feel something, just because you label him as “only a pro rugby player”.

Where does it say he didn’t want to play in a crowd? “ It was later discovered that it wasn’t a heart issue, but a panic attack brought on by stress following a death in his family”. Again, why any different to the average person? It’s only a job, as you confirmed earlier, not even a very well paid one.

This one needs locking.

Vastman your views are prehistoric and neanderthal -esc.

Terry Newton probably suffered with anxiety and depression. Do you think telling him to take a sabbatical to Afghanistan would have been appropriate.

You are so far off here it's laughable.