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.

I would certainly suggest that some sort of support with skills and careers post-rugby would be a good starting point. I realise that back in the day, when players used to hang up their boots and go and run a failed pub, the idea of careers and skills advice would have been alien but we've moved on from those days.

I said in a previous post, sport is one of only a handful of industries that arguably distracts young people from mainstream education and channels them down very specific, high risk (and in the case of RL, low-reward) path, only to spit them out at one of various stages. For those lucky enough to get into their 30s still playing the game, it's all they have known but unlike most of us at that stage in life, their career ends rather abruptly. How do those with mouths to feed and mortgages to pay cope without the sort of skills that the modern economy demands?

The work that some clubs have done with colleges and universities is definitely a step forward, and Alker played at a time when that sort of thing was perhaps in its infancy. I also agree that there does need to be some sort of minimum standard imposed, but it should be on the clubs to address in my view. We can't keep simply saying "we can't afford this" because we've already seen that this sort of inaction has a heavy cost.

just about every super league club have things in place to help guide players on what to do after there career is over, not alot any club could do if 5-6 years after a player retires he turns to armed robbery.

To true and the same can be for any person not just rugby league players he will be locked up I hope and that is one more scum bag of the street

Most players seem to have some forward planning now, like has already been said this is six years after he retired no excuses

that sort of player planning and welfare guidance has been on most clubs/players agenda since super league started.

that sort of player planning and welfare guidance has been on most clubs/players agenda since super league started so Alker would have been subject to that over his entire career.

Its about 7 years since Alker retired from the professional game, if after care welfare was available I would imagine there would be a time limit of a couple of years to adjust to a "normal environment". Sounds as though he could have been caught with a bad crowd to do something like that.

but be careful they will be calling you a Daily Mail reader next

It would be good and a sensible use of some of the money in the game (it wouldn't need a lot) to help players transition into a life outside of RL when their playing days finish. This goes beyond that though.

While the accusations are very serious they are still just accusations unless and until that Bolton jury decide otherwise.

On player welfare more generally, I think the parallel with the armed forces mentioned earlier is generally an accurate one.

Ultimately the individual bears personal responsibility, but putting programmes in place to help ease the transition... well it can't do any harm, and I can't imagine it'd be massively expensive to at very least raise awareness and outline options.

Well said....

Alker has been suffering from mental health issues for years by all accounts and it's sad that it has come to this. Horrendous for the victims and tragic for Alker as it will be difficult for him to come back from this. One of the best players to wear the Salford shirt in my near 30 years supporting the club and it's sad to see.

It's not about feeling sorry for Alker, it's about what the sport can do to give retiring players who may not have any skills outside of being a good RL player support so they don't end up in the same situation thus avoiding creating victims in the first instance.
As a sport we can't do anything after the fact for the victims, however we can try to give players avenues into education if they would want to do so, guide them on being money wise ready for retirement (which can happen at any point).
Nobody is saying they should have an extra leg up after they retire but help prepare them for when their careers come to an end, you do that and situations like Alker's are hugely less likely to happen, it also means that mental health problems and alcohol abuse are less likely.

I remember when I was forced to leave the Army for medical reasons, I had zero support, nobody to hold my hand, no advice, nada. But what I did have was a decent education before I joined up, had recognised professional qualifications in an industry that fortunately for me was looking for what I had to offer so found a job before I was eventually discharged. I'd already being blocked from getting a better job due to some cockwomble but I was far from institutionalised like many who find it really hard to get back into civvy street especially infantry lads (we're going back best part of 30 years so things have changed since)

I'm sure you'd rather see situations that are reported not to happen at all right and would approve of systems in place to try to avoid same?

And yes, I agree, some people will do wrong no matter how much help they are given, we have some current examples of that in RL circles. If the help/advice is already there and not taken/taken on board then there's not a huge amount more clubs/governing body can be expected to do, however rehabilitation can work in some instances. Giving people a purpose and getting their self respect back can make a massive difference in how people look at life and how they go about living it going forward that not only is better for the individual but better for society as a whole (i.e. they don't become a serial criminal)