Kirk Dixon: Castleford Tigers man forced to retire with neck injury
- From the section Rugby League
Castleford Tigers winger Kirk Dixon has retired because of a neck injury.
The 30-year-old scored 12 tries in 19 games in 2014 and passed the 1000-point mark for the club.
Dixon, who had a brief spell in rugby union with Northampton Saints, started his career with Hull FC before moving on to Castleford in October 2006.
Tigers chief executive Steve Gill said: "When a player has to quit the sport he loves through injury it is always going to be a sad day."
Dixon added: "I've had surgery to remove a disk and I've had an artificial disk put in there, and it was going to be at least a six months no contact rehab period.
"That would have taken up most of this season and prior to the surgery, I already had an idea that I might retire at the end of the 2015 season. But it has come to an end now and you simply cannot put a price on your health.
"It's certainly not the way I wanted to go out."