Former Tiger Kirk Dixon talks about the importance of having something to fall back on when your career finishes.
The former Castleford Tigers winger, who was forced to retire last year, was speaking ahead of this year’s State of Mind round. Dixon advised players to have something to fall back on, saying: “I think you have to plan for the future, that’s massive,
“It can be taken away from you so quickly, one minute you can be a professional rugby player, the next you’re not it happens that quickly,
“You get injuries in a contact sport, there are always going to be injuries and career threatening injuries as well and I think you have to plan for that future, you’ve got to get an education or some sort of qualification behind you because if you finish and you’ve not got something to fall back on, you’re going to be struggling,
“I had a week of downtime before I went back to work and I could feel myself getting into a bit of a mess really, a bit of depression hanging over me and what ifs and I’ll never play rugby anymore, all sorts of things go through your head, so if you have something you can fall back on and attack it straight away then I think that will bode well for people.”
He also praised the Castleford Tigers and his family for supporting him once he got the news that he couldn’t be a rugby player anymore, adding: ““I’ve got a really good family network behind me. My mum and dad and my wife were really supportive, they backed me and my decision, obviously they wanted me to be safe and make the right call, and ultimately I think I did,
“And the club stood by me as well, they kept me on their insurance for a year after I retired just in case I had any complications with it and they looked after me in that respect, so I was looked after pretty well to be fair.”