We will remember – former colleagues vow Rob Burrow’s legacy will live on

Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington has promised the club and rugby league in general will ensure Rob Burrow will never be forgotten.

The Rhinos, Burrow’s only professional club, confirmed the former scrum-half had died on Sunday aged 41 following a lengthy and high-profile battle with motor neurone disease.

And as fans continued to gather outside Headingley Stadium on Monday to pay tribute to Burrow, Hetherington told the PA news agency: “Now’s the time to start considering what else we can do to recognise his legacy at both Leeds Rhinos and the game in general.”

Burrow’s family attended an emotional groundbreaking ceremony for the Rob Burrow Centre for MND at Seacroft Hospital on Monday after he and former team-mate Kevin Sinfield had helped raise millions of pounds.

Hetherington added: “So poignant isn’t it that that should be happening today?

“I’m delighted that that process has been accelerated to such an extent it’s now going to get done and that in itself will be a permanent memorial and reminder of Rob Burrow.

“Of course what he’s done with Kevin Sinfield, and others, to promote the awareness of MND, has been inspirational as well. It has brought it to everybody’s attention.

“All sport has come together and it’s been a marvellous campaign in that regard and it’s been promoted by sportspeople and Rob has been at the heart of that.

“So yes, while it’s a very, very sad day, it’s a very significant one as well.”

Burrow won eight Super League titles during his career with the Rhinos and following his retirement in 2017 and his MND diagnosis two years later, he came to the attention of a wider audience.

Another former Leeds team-mate, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, said he was now driven to ensure Burrow’s legacy will live on.

“He transcended rugby league, everyone in the north of England and the whole of England, we (will) remember what he’s done and why he’s done it and make sure it’s a legacy he’s left, a life fulfilled,” Jones-Buchanan told BBC Breakfast.

Jones-Buchanan said he visited Sinfield’s house on Sunday and knew from seeing him that the worst had happened.

He added to the PA news agency: “I’d gone to pick something up, he’d found out about 45 minutes before. When I saw his face, I could tell.

“He was struggling, really struggling… He’s an emotional guy is Kev. The overwhelming thought for me was how important it was for me to spend those moments when I got back home with my wife and kids so I just turned my phone off.”

Sinfield told the BBC that Burrow’s death will leave a “massive hole”, adding: “I wish he could have seen the outpouring of love.

“I think we all lose special people but it’s very, very rare you lose someone who’s so special to so many different people.”

Born in Pontefract, Burrow progressed through Leeds’ academy despite his 5ft 5in frame to debut in 2001 and establish himself as a great of the sport.

Silverware would follow with a maiden Super League title in 2004 alongside national-team honours with England for the first time.

An illustrious career was fully under way and Burrow was a key figure for Leeds during a trophy-laden spell where they claimed World Club Challenge glory in 2005, 2008 and again in 2012 alongside two Challenge Cups.

The scrum-half announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2017 season in July of that year and enjoyed a fairytale finish after Leeds beat Castleford 24-6 in the Grand Final at Old Trafford.

Burrow made the decision to go public with the disease on December 19, 2019 and during the next four-and-a-half years would earn the adulation of the nation with his fundraising efforts for MND.

Motor Neurone Disease director of services and partnerships Sally Hughes told the PA news agency: “It is a sad day, but it’s also a day to recognise Rob and his family’s contribution to raising awareness of MND.

“And also the contribution he’s made to changing lives really around raising funds for research, improving care for people living with MND.

“He’s changed the conversation by sharing his very difficult struggles. People with MND have told us that Rob sharing his story publicly has meant they don’t have to explain what MND is anymore.”

Burrow was awarded an MBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list for his services to rugby league and the MND community.

He would feature in an award-winning BBC documentary, ‘Rob Burrow – My Year with MND’, which provided a look behind the curtain of his battle and the impact on his wife Lindsey alongside his three children.

Later in 2021, Burrow and fellow MND sufferer Stephen Darby were part of a group which went to Downing Street to urge the Prime Minister to inject more cash into finding a cure. It was a bid that would eventually prove successful after the Government agreed to make £50million available for research.

Close friend Sinfield had picked up the fundraising baton from Burrow by this point and would help raise millions with numerous challenges, which included the remarkable feat of running seven marathons in seven days.

In May 2023, Sinfield carried Burrow over the finish line at the inaugural Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon after pushing his friend for the 26.2 miles.

Burrow’s MBE was promoted to a CBE in the 2024 New Year Honours.