Sad story in todays Yorkshire Evening Post about Dale Laughton whos life has gone down the drain after his rugby career ended.

He said finishing his rugby career was like somebody 'cutting his legs off', he tried setting up a building company renovating houses but it couldn't replace rugby, he started drinking and ended up on drugs. He spent £53000 on coke last year and lost his house, his wife and his kids. Now he's facing jail after being convicted of possession.

I always liked Laughton but we signed him too late in his career after his back had already gone. When he was at Sheffield Eagles he was a good prop. Sad to see what can happen to some ex pros when their career ends and they are largely forgotten about.

sorry but i can't feel sorry for anyone who has snorted all their cash up their nose and their wife has left them. We are all big boys and girls in the wide wide world and we need to live by our mistakes.

i did like him as a player though

His back wasn't that dicky when he chased after Edmonson to whallop him.

That's a bit mean BFC. In hard times some people lean on drugs, some on drink. I feel very sorry for him personally.

Shows how much passion he had for the sport in a way.

That seems a lot of money to spend on fizzy pop

It seems almost impossible to spend £53k on coke, but there you go. That is a BIG amount of cash.

It is suprising how many ex pro's end up in trouble.
For some it is like leaving the military, they struggle to adapt to a 9-5 job, A lot end up setting up business on their own as it provides a similar sort of freedom.

I suspect that the education process of junior players has improved to assist them if they don't make it or when their playing days come to an end.

I have the greatest admiration for anyone who has played RL and in particular the highest level. I just wish that there was enough money in the game for them to not struggle financially but you will always get "life's gamblers" who will take a chance no matter if they are comfortable or not.

i'd read one of them 60 second interviews/sidebar jobs they have in rl world rag last year, he was saying how he'd attempted to help out back at sheffield with aston, and found that although he had the passion he had trouble conveying to the players instruction. Sounded very despondant over it, like i say, possibly 12 months ago.

I think some of these pros get into depression the same way that guys who come out of the military do. They miss being part of a team unit with their mates around them (closer than most people who work office jobs) are, and find that their identity and sense of self worth has gone because they used to be something that they were proud of and now they are nothing.

Laughton was a miner before he turned full time professional, so he's found that the two professions he's trained for in his life he now can't do, even if he has a business its something which takes a lot of adjustment.

Some ex players fall on hard times and are fortunate to get the support of their ex teammates and in some cases the league public, like Mike Gregory and Steve Prescott, then things like this come up with Laughton and you wonder how many other ex pros are out there silently suffering with nobody in RL knowing. Remember that winger at Warrington in the early Nineties, Neil Kenyon, who committed suicide a while after his career finished.