As the glory fades....

An interesting feature by the BBC on what happens to post-career boxers: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/8051701.stm In the light of problems encountered by retired boxers including Frank Bruno and Price Naseem Hamed, as well as other retired sports people (e.g. former footballer Warren Aspinall, who tried to commit suicide immediately post-career) there are some interesting, important and sensitive issues raised by the BBC's coverage. When in sport there is so much emphasis on identifying and recruiting new talent, and then on creating and managing competitive, successful teams, why is it that there is considerably less emphasis in some sports on the post-career phase of sports people's lives? Or is it the case that some athletes don't think carefully enough about this phase of their careers? Perhaps such athletes are sometimes not as well advised as they should be by their representatives? Is there a prominent role to play for athlete representative associations and unions? Should there be structured programmes in place that help retired athletes to manage their post-sport careers, their business affairs and/or their personal lives? Or are the cases of Bruno, Naseem et al. exceptions rather than the rule?