Malcom Alker's tragic death was 'down to brain injury suffered playing rugby league', devastated dad says

The troubles and early death of former Salford Red Devils captain Malcolm Alker were down to a brain injury suffered during his playing career, his father told an inquest.

Alker suffered depression after retiring from a stellar career in rugby league and was blighted by mental health troubles, booze and drugs. After collapsing at his home in Ince, Wigan, in January, he was taken to Royal Bolton Hospital where he went into respiratory and cardiac arrest.

A coroner concluded he died of multiple organ failure which 'on the balance of probabilities' was down to 'combined drug toxicity'. The father-of-two was just 45. He spent his entire professional career with the Salford City Reds and was the team's captain for a number of years, first in 2000 aged just 21.

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Yesterday (Thursday), at an inquest at Bolton Coroners' Court into his death, his father, Malcolm Alker Snr, pointed to head injuries he suffered during his play days as the cause of his son's troubles.

Mr Alker Jnr fell into depression after he retired from the sport and he went to a specialist who concluded he had suffered 'lesions' on his brain caused by 'impact' injuries to his head during his playing career, according to his father.

In a statement read out in court, his father Malcolm said Alker, who had three brothers, grew up in Billinge, Wigan, where he was good at sports and 'loved' rugby, going on to a glittering professional rugby league career where he spent 16 years at Salford Red Devils.

After he retired from professional rugby, he went into the building trade, helping out his joiner father and qualifying as a bricklayer and HGV driver.