MALCOLM ALKER’S father has revealed the tragic circumstances around the Salford hero’s death.
Alker sadly passed away in January of this year aged 45, and at an inquest at Bolton Coroners’ Court into his death, his father, Malcolm Alker Snr, claimed head injuries from playing the sport were the root of his son’s issues, according to the Manchester Evening News.
The 45-year-old was referred to a London specialist who revealed that Alker had suffered a brain injury causing mental health issues in the process and ‘suspected dementia’.
Alker’s father explained how his son’s playing records revealed that, on one occasion, he was knocked out during a game but continued playing, but that more is now known about the long-term consequences of concussion in sport.
“I just think he was slipping further and further because of his brain problems,” Mr Alker told the MEN.
After retiring, Alker suffered from depression and collapsed at his home in Wigan in January. The 45-year-old was subsequently taken to Royal Bolton Hospital where he went into respiratory and cardiac arrest with a coroner concluding he died of multiple organ failure.
Alker, who was born in Wigan, made his debut for the club in 1997, making 292 appearances between then and 2010, spending his entire professional career with the club.
Named captain in 2000 at the age of 21, he also represented Lancashire in 2002, and he played for England in 2005.
During the latter stages of his playing career he suffered from depression and in his autobiography ‘The Devil Within’, released in 2012, he admitted to taking cocaine and growth hormones while playing Rugby League.
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