Bonner retires

Last updated : 20 January 2006 By The Chairman
32 year old Mark Bonner has taken medical advice and retired from football. He was told that he could suffer a more serious injury if he risked playing on. Bonner had to undergo surgery with bone taken from his hip and grafted into the bone which had completely snapped and is now held together by a plate and nine pins. Bonner has been at Boundary Park for just under two years.

He said, "I snapped the ulna in my left forearm at Port Vale, had it pinned immediately and, after five or six weeks, the pins came out. However, the plate came loose and it had to be repinned so I had a bone graft off my hip to help it stick together and then there were further X-rays. The surgeon told me that plates and pins are high risk, so if it breaks again, I wouldn't be able to use my arm very well afterwards. At my age, I didn't want to play for another two years with the threat of a disability so the surgeon's advised me to pack it in. I knew it was a bad break to start off with, but I was hoping it would recover in time. It was a bit of a shock but I've come to terms with it. I'm glad it happened at 32 and not 21 so I've at least had 16 terrific years in football."

"I can look back on a lot of happy memories. When I went back to see the surgeon for my last check-up he told me it was better that I didn't play again because if I fell on my arm I could end up with a permanent disability. If anything happened I could find myself in the position of not being able to use the arm. I have a young family and I didn't want to take that risk. Unfortunately, retirement has come sooner than expected but I was left with no option."

Bonner will now make a big career change and go into a retail furniture business based in a warehouse near Chorley. He went on, "I'm setting up my own company retailing furniture which is something I've been looking into over the past two years. We'll be retailing from a place in Chorley and I've got good contacts with manufacturers that have been built up over five to 10 years."