WAKEFIELD’S Super League match against Celtic Crusaders was last night postponed following the death of one of their reserve players.
Leon Walker, 20, who was in his first season with Wakefield, is thought to have suffered a heart attack during the Wildcats reserves’ match against their Crusaders counterparts at Maesteg in the afternoon.
Eye witnesses reported the player going awkwardly into a tackle, getting to his feet and playing the ball before then collapsing.
Attempts were made on the field to revive him and the match was abandoned after 63 minutes while he was airlifted to the Morriston Hospital in Swansea, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The Rugby Football League took the decision to postpone the Super League match between the two clubs, which was due to be shown live on Sky Sports.
Initially no reason was given for the decision, other than “unforeseen circumstances”, because the player’s parents had not been informed.
Last night Wakefield chairman Ted Richardson said: “This is a tragic loss for all involved within rugby league.
“Clearly everybody at the club is devastated by this news and all our sympathies and prayers are with his family at this time.”
The second row or loose forward joined Salford from Leeds amateur club Churwell Chiefs and during his three years with the Manchester club earned representative honours at academy level with Yorkshire and England in 2007.
The death is the latest in a series of tragedies to hit the Wakefield club in the last 10 months, with prop Adam Watene dying of a heart attack during a weight training session in October, aged 31.
