‘Simply the best’: Rob Burrow’s wife shares moving tribute to rugby player after his death

Published

11 months ago

June 4, 2024

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Rob Burrow’s wife has paid tribute to her rugby player husband who died last week aged 41 after a battle with motor neurone disease (MND).

In a moving tribute, his wife Lindsey said the former Leeds Rhinos player was “simply the best”.

It came as Burrow’s final message before he died emerged: “Whatever your personal battle, be brave and face it. Every single day is precious. Don’t waste a moment.”

Burrow, who began fundraising and campaigning to raise awareness of MND after his diagnosis, added: “I hope one day we find a cure and we live in a world free of MND.”

The message was played as part of the BBC documentary There’s Only One Rob Burrow.

Rob Burrow’s final words

I hope one day we find a cure and we live in a world free of MND.

By the time that you watch this I will no longer be here.

I’m just a lad from Yorkshire who got to live out his dream of playing rugby league.

As a father of three young children I would never want any family to have to go through what my family and children have since my diagnosis.

I hope I have left a mark on the disease.

I hope it shows to live in the moment.

I hope you find inspiration from the whole story.

My final message to you is, whatever your personal battle, be brave and face it.

Every single day is precious.

Don’t waste a moment.

In a world full of adversity, we must still dare to dream.

Rob Burrow, over and out.

His wife said: “Although we knew this day would arrive, I am somehow still feeling at a loss for words that our loving, kind, caring husband and father has departed,” she said in a statement.

“I was incredibly proud and fortunate to call Rob my husband.

“I am unbelievably proud of the campaigning he’s done to raise awareness and the millions of pounds that have been raised in his name for MND charities.

“I would like to thank the Rugby League community and everyone for their outpouring of love and support since Rob’s diagnosis. I truly appreciate every message of support, and fundraising that has been done,” she added.

“My priority is to make Rob proud, and to bring our three children up as Rob would want and ensure their happiness and wellbeing.

“We will continue to keep Rob’s legacy alive. We will continue to ‘bang the drum’ and do our best to try and help others.

“We take comfort from how much people’s love and continued support meant to Rob through his most vulnerable times.

“He was simply the best.”

Meanwhile, a ceremony to mark the breaking of the ground of the Rob Burrow Centre for MND at Leeds’ Seacroft Hospital went ahead as planned on Monday at Burrow’s request, with his family saying he “would be looking down and smiling”.

Burrow’s close friend and former teammate Kevin Sinfield attended the ceremony, along with Burrow’s parents Geoff and Irene Burrow, and his sisters Joanne Hartshorn and Claire Burnett.

The family said Burrow would have wanted them to be there as construction work started on the state-of-the-art purpose-built care centre.

Mrs Burrow told reporters: “I said this is what Rob would want and I think he’d be proud that we all pulled ourselves together and got the strength to come, and we’re doing it for Lindsey and the kids.

“He’ll be looking down on us and he’ll be going ‘thumbs up’. We’re so proud to be here and it’s amazing what you can achieve.”

Mr Burrow said: “It’s amazing what a little man can achieve. You can achieve big things.

“As Rob says, in a world full of adversity you must dare to dream. We’re dreaming of when this opens.”

Burrow’s rugby league legacy will be the focal point of Saturday’s Challenge Cup final day at Wembley with a series of tributes lined up in his honour.

A minute’s silence will be staged before both the men’s and women’s finals while a minute’s applause will also take place in the seventh minute of each match – Burrow wore the number seven shirt for Leeds – as well as the schools and 1895 cup finals.

Burrow spent his entire rugby league career with Leeds Rhinos and helped them win eight Super League titles.

In 2019 – two years after his retirement – Burrow revealed his MND diagnosis and began fundraising and campaigning to raise awareness of the disease and to improve care and research.

Before his death, Burrow spearheaded a £6.8m charity appeal for Leeds Hospitals Charity, where he received care, for a centre for those with the disease living in and around the city.

Since Burrow’s death was announced on Sunday evening, the appeal has received around 1,000 donations.

He was also made an MBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list for his services to rugby league and the MND community and was promoted to a CBE in the 2024 New Year Honours.

UK

Liverpool win Premier League title to equal Man Utd’s record

Published

3 hours ago

April 27, 2025

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Liverpool win Premier League title to equal Man Utd's record

Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.

Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.

It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.

However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.

In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.

The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.

But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.

“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”

Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.

He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.

Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”

Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.

Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.

Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.

It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.

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UK

Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

Published

9 hours ago

April 27, 2025

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Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.

The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.

A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.

The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.

They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.

A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.

Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.

There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.

More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.

Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.

Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.

“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”

The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.

The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.

UK

Kemi Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform after next week’s council elections

Published

13 hours ago

April 27, 2025

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Kemi Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform after next week's council elections

Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out forming coalitions at a local level with Reform after the council elections next week.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the Conservative leader did however categorically rule out a pact with Nigel Farage’s party on a national level.

“I am not going into any coalition with Nigel Farage… read my lips,” she said.

However, she did not deny that deals could be struck with Reform at a local level, arguing that some councils might be under no overall control and in that case, “you have to do what is right for your local area”.

“You look at the moment, we are in coalition with Liberal Democrats, with independents,” she said. “We’ve been in coalition with Labour before at local government level.

“They [councillors] have to look at who the people are that they’re going into coalition with and see how they can deliver for local people.”

She added: “What I don’t want to hear is talks of stitch-ups or people planning things before the results are out. They have to do what is right for their communities.”

A total of 23 councils are up for grabs when voters go to the polls on Thursday 1 May – mostly in places that were once deemed Tory shires, until last year’s general election.

It includes 14 county councils, all but two of which have been Conservative-controlled, as well as eight unitary authorities, all but one of which are Tory.

Ms Badenoch has set expectations low for the Tories, suggesting they could lose all the councils they are contesting.

The last time this set of councils were up for election was in 2021, when the Conservative Party was led by Boris Johnson who was riding high from the COVID vaccine bounce.

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