The world we inhabit has changed massively just in the last 16 years, Rix was involved with the daughter of a family friend whereas now with all the social media this kind of link is more rare now and it's more likely to be a stranger as such, this is as you say where grooming has come into the equation now and with all the recent cases involving Asian gangs and teachers attitudes I think have harden even more so. Rix was able to return to his job as an assistant manager but was banned from working with any under 16's and placed on the offender register for 10 years and I think has struggled to work with the stigma attached, I would doubt that AJ will ever play again, you only have to consider the reaction of fans to Chad Evans when various clubs thought about employing him.