Rob Burrow remembered by Kevin Sinfield
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26 September 1982 – 2 June 2024. The rugby league star’s tenacity, humour and courage both on the pitch and as a campaigner raising awareness of MND are recalled by his great friend and former teammate. I first met Rob Burrow in the Leeds Rhinos academy, when I was 14 and he was 12. We were both very shy, training with a lot of rugby guys who were our heroes, and of course, Rob was so tiny.
![[Kevin Sinfield carries Rob Burrow over the finish line of the 2023 Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon, 14 May 2023.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e6de406115df33d3fa854a3da5710f1ac32d3ba1/0_0_2567_3500/master/2567.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
But he always had superpowers as an athlete, doing incredible things in a game where not many little guys get to thrive. It helped that he had superpowers as a person: unbelievable drive, determination and the heart of a lion. He was also so courageous, which, of course, we saw later on in his life.
![[Rob Burrow sat in a wheelchair at home in 2021.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e65b169ae3e38d7e32b52e6199006e8fc3686bff/0_58_8192_4918/master/8192.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
We became close when we moved training grounds in our late teens and got a new dressing room, finding ourselves sat next to each other, just by chance. When you sit next to somebody maybe 315 or 320 days a year, you really get to know them! He loved music and films – he’d always listen to Al Pacino’s speech from [the American football film] Any Given Sunday before a game to try to stay focused. And he was really funny and mischievous. I can’t mention some of his pranks.
But even in the toughest of moments, the heaviest of defeats, Rob found humour, which always helped the team. Rugby league has always been about everybody coming together in hard times. I don’t know if that’s about it being northern-dominated and working class, or about the tough times that society went through in the 1980s, or about it being very physically demanding, where you can get humbled by the opposition very, very quickly. It amplifies so many of the emotions that you get in life, so you have to rely on one another. You could always rely on Rob.
