Children in full rugby kits play cheerfully in front of the Featherstone Lions rugby club near Pontefract as adults sporting bright jerseys drink, eat and chat joyfully. The atmosphere is more like a festival than a day of mourning. Then a hush falls over them as Rob Burrow’s hearse appears in the distance, carrying the rugby legend on his final journey home. As the cortege nears, rapturous applause breaks out for a local man who was an inspiration for so many.
Burrow, who died aged 41 in June after battling motor neurone disease (MND) for five years, was a rugby league hero. At the entrance to Mill Pond stadium, where he began his career, a sign reads: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
An apt quote for a man who beat the odds throughout his short life.
At 165cm (5ft 5in), Burrow was one of the smallest players in Super League history, but he was a giant of the game. Playing as a scrum half or hooker, he made 500 appearances for Leeds Rhinos and represented Great Britain, England and Yorkshire. Over a glittering career, he won eight Super League championships and two Challenge Cups.
He also made the Super League Dream Team three times and won the Harry Sunderland trophy twice. Burrow spent his entire 17-year long career with the Leeds Rhinos, where he scored 196 tries, kicking 157 goals and five drop-goals.
Susan, 65, who has travelled from Doncaster to say her goodbyes, says Burrow was one of her favourite players to watch. “He was unbelievable. He could change a game.”
Alfie came from Leeds with his dad, Andy, and says Burrow’s career is a massive source of inspiration for him. “What he did, how we played, for his height it’s just amazing,” says the 14-year-old, who plays as a full-back and would like to play professionally one day.
“It wasn’t just for what he did in rugby. It was what he was doing outside of rugby. [He’s] just one of them special people.”
Andy agrees. “He was just an inspiration. He had lots of courage. Such a small player. He just got on with it. He scored some fantastic tries.”
Andy was shocked when Burrow announced in 2019 that he had been diagnosed with MND, a degenerative disorder that can severely limit motor function. Burrow was given two years to live and used the time to raise millions of pounds for MND-related charities.
“I think you just expect athletes, sports players to be able to live for ever and be fine,” Andy says. “And, you know, I think they originally gave him a two-year diagnosis, and he’s lived almost five years. He’s a fighter, so yeah, so it was sad and sad today, but it’s just good to come and show our respect.”
When discussing his diagnosis, Burrow said: “As an athlete, you are used to injury, and then you recover and carry on as before. With MND, I couldn’t do that. But I did decide immediately that, like an athlete, I would tackle the challenge head on and carry on competing like I had before.”
Five years later, he and his friend and former teammate Kevin Sinfield had raised more than £15m for MND charities. For his success on the rugby pitch and services to the MND community, Burrow received a CBE in the New Year’s Honours in 2024.
Thousands of people gathered to watch Burrow’s cortege, over which a celebratory atmosphere prevailed. “You need to celebrate what he achieved,” says Paul, a former Lions player. “We can’t mourn. It’s got to be a celebration.”
Building work on the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease in Leeds, for which he had already raised £6m, started the morning after his death.
Burrow is survived by Lindsey, their daughters, Maya and Macy, and son, Jackson, and by his parents and two sisters.
• This article was amended on 12 July 2024. Rob Burrow twice won the Harry Sunderland trophy, not the “Harry Saunders trophy”. And Featherstone is near Pontefract, rather than in Pontefract.
