Malcolm Alker (4 November 1978 – 14 January 2024) was an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played as a . He spent his entire professional career with the

Salford City Reds The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

, making over 350 appearances between 1997 and 2010. He also served as the club's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

for many years.

Background

Malcolm Alker was born in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England.

Career

Alker started his junior career with Orrell St James before moving to

Wigan St Patricks Wigan St. Patricks is an amateur rugby league football club based in the Scholes area of Wigan, Greater Manchester. The first team plays in the National Conference League Division One . In 1986, the club was one of ten founder members of the BA ...

. He joined the

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

in November 1995, and he made his first team début in 1997 against the

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Championship (rugby league), Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their forme ...

. In 2000, Alker captained Salford City Reds for the first time at the age of 21 in the absence of regular captain Darren Brown. Alker played his entire professional rugby league career at Salford City Reds. He represented

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Alker reached his testimonial year with Salford City Reds in 2006. His

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

took place during the 2007 pre-season against the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

, which the Warriors won 20–15. In January 2009, Alker was stripped of the club captaincy following a breach of club rules during their pre-season training camp in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

. He was re-appointed captain two months later. In August 2010, Alker announced that he would be retiring at the end of the season, but would remain at the club in a coaching role. In March 2011, it was announced that head coach

Shaun McRae Shaun McRae (born 21 December 1959) is a rugby league coach, who is a former director of rugby at Hull F.C. after a spell with the Salford City Reds. Career Shaun McRae, nicknamed 'Bomber', was born in 1959 and began his rugby league coaching ...

would be taking

sick leave Sick leave (or paid sick days or sick pay) is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because sic ...

, with Alker jointly taking charge of coaching duties alongside fellow assistant

Phil Veivers Phil Veivers (born 25 May 1964) is a former Scotland international rugby league footballer. He played for the Southern Suburbs, St. Helens and Huddersfield as a . He is the brother of Australian international rugby league captain Greg Veivers ...

and Director of Football Steve Simms during his absence. In April 2011, Alker filed a complaint against Salford after being dismissed from a training session. After failing to come to an agreement, the club announced that Alker would be "taking time away from the club to undergo surgery on his neck".

Personal life

In 2012, Alker released his autobiography, ''The Devil Within''. In the book, Alker admitted use of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

and banned growth hormones during his playing days. Alker was sentenced to four years imprisonment on 12 January 2018 for the

armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

of a

KFC KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...

restaurant and a

Tesco Express Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

store in

on 31 October 2017. Alker died on 14 January 2024, at the age of 45.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Salford profileSuper League profile
* ĎŔ�
"My life in rugby league: Malcolm Alker"
interview at ''TotalRL.com''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alker, Malcolm 1978 births 2024 deaths 21st-century English criminals England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Lancashire rugby league team players Rugby league players from Wigan Rugby league hookers Salford Red Devils captains Salford Red Devils players Wigan St Patricks players British sportspeople convicted of crimes