LEIGH Centurions prop Chris Parr has been given the devastating news that his career is over at the age of just 28.

Parr, signed on a free transfer from Rochdale almost a year ago, has been told to quit by medical experts.

Parr was in the process of negotiating a new contract to stay at Hilton Park when told by specialists that he risked permanent disablement if he played on with a neck injury he first suffered early last season.

He was hurt on his full debut at Dewsbury last February - a tackle that Leigh claimed was illegal.

So incensed were Leigh officials by the incident that they later cited the Dewsbury player involved but RL officials later found there was no case to answer.

But Parr is in no mood to let the matter drop and is considering taking legal action now his career has been ended by the injury.

"The lad is absolutely distraught," says Leigh coach Ian Millward.

"It took him three months to get back on the field after that and then in only his second game back he badly dislocated his shoulder against Hull KR. He was only just coming back to full fitness when the season ended.

"But he's continued to have problems in the upper neck region and again visited a specialist who has confirmed that there is some vertebrae damage and to play any form of contact sport could put his spinal cord at risk.

"Put bluntly, if he carried on playing rugby he risks being disabled.

"It's a massive blow for us and that's just another reason why I want to bolster our pack strength."

Utility back James Arkwright and loose-forward Andy Fairclough have both agreed new 12 month deals but Arkwright will miss the start of the season while he recovers from knee surgery after his season was cut short by injury.

Kieron Purtill, Dave Whittle and Phil Kendrick, who have all had close season surgery, are expected to be fit for big kick off.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.