Leeds Rhinos England and Great Britain rugby league international Rob Burrow, who has died aged 41, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2019 and rose to increasing public prominence in the following years, raising money for MND charities and lobbied the government for funding for research, treatment and care facilities. He died of complications from the disease.
Before his diagnosis, Burrow had spent his entire 17-year playing career at one club, Leeds Rhinos, and was nicknamed ‘Mighty Atom’ because of his small stature – just under 165cm tall and weighing less than 70kg. he was by far the smallest player of his time. Burrow turned out to be a scrum-half or hooker in a sport where size and size are usually of paramount importance. Burrow won eight Super League titles, two Challenge Cups and three World Club Championships in 492 appearances for his club, scoring 196 tries and kicking 157 tries. goals and five drop goals.
He won two Harry Sunderland Trophies for player-of-the-match performances at the 2007 and 2011 Super League Grand Finals at Old Trafford, Manchester. His try in the final match was a microcosm of the art of attacking dummy-half, as he weaved his way through tackle after tackle on a dash to the line, and is regarded as one of the sport’s best scores. The 37 judges of the trophy that year were unanimous in their choice of Burrow. Earlier this year, the Rugby Football League announced that the Harry Sunderland Trophy would be renamed the Rob Burrow Award.
Burrow also played five times for Great Britain and was part of England’s 2008 and 2013 Rugby League World Cup squads. In 2007, he was awarded the George Smith Medal as player of the series after his 26 points helped Great Britain win New Zeeland 3-0.
Born in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, Burrow was the youngest of three children and the only son of Geoffrey, a secretary with the GMB union, and his wife Irene (née Bateman). He was educated at Airedale Secondary School, where his parents, struggling with his rambunctious nature, encouraged him to take up rugby at the age of seven.
As a junior he played for Castleford Panthers before switching to amateur open-age rugby with Featherstone Lions, where his speed and elusiveness brought him to the attention of scouts from the Leeds Rhinos Rugby League Academy.
He signed professional terms for the club in 1999 and made his Super League first-team debut against Hull FC in April 2001. By the end of the season he had been named Super League Young Player of the Year. He played regularly in the end-of-season Super League Dream Team during his career and was included in the Super League Dream Team Leeds Rhinos Hall of Fame in 2020. He had already had his ALS confirmed the year before, shortly after taking on a coaching role with the Rhinos.
Describing the shock of his diagnosis – he was initially given two years to live – Burrow said: “As an athlete you’re used to injuries, and then you recover and carry on as before. With MND I couldn’t do that. But I immediately decided that, like an athlete, I would tackle the challenge head-on and continue to compete as I did before.” His wife Lindsey, an NHS physiotherapist, whom he had married in 2006, became his carer.
Burrow had spent most of his career playing alongside Kevin Sinfield, his teammate and Leeds Rhinos captain, and it would be his relationship with his old friend that would come to define the latter part of his life and take him to a wider national level . attention. Together they raised more than £15 million for MND charities as Burrow, along with Sinfield, former rugby player Doddie Weir and footballer Stephen Darby, became the public face of people with MND.
He starred in the award-winning BBC documentary Rob Burrow: Living with ALS (2022), which told the story of his deteriorating condition and the impact it had on his wife and family, as he lost the ability to move and speak. His book Too Many Reasons to Live won Autobiography of the Year at the 2022 Sports Book Awards. He also co-authored two books with Sinfield: With You Every Step (2023) and Try: A Picture Book About Friendship (2024) – the latter written for children – celebrating male friendship and empathy.
In the meantime, Sinfield continued to raise money in Burrow’s name by taking on numerous endurance running challenges. In November 2022, he ran seven consecutive ultramarathons, culminating in Old Trafford. Before that, he completed seven marathons in seven days in 2020 and in 2021 he ran 100 miles in 24 hours from the home of rugby club Leicester Tigers to Headingley, home of Leeds Rhinos. Last year the pair created a lasting television image by completing the first Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon together, with Sinfield hugging his friend and lifting him from his wheelchair to carry him across the finish line.
Burrow was appointed MBE in 2021 for services to rugby league and people with motor neurone diseases, and elevated to CBE in 2024, as was Sinfield. They were presented with their awards by the Prince of Wales at a special investiture in Headingley, as Burrow was too unwell to travel to London.
Construction work on the Rob Burrow Center for Motor Neuron Disease in Leeds, for which he had already raised £6 million, began the morning after his death.
Burrow is survived by Lindsey, their daughters Maya and Macy, and son Jackson, and his parents and two sisters.