The tribute Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow deserved – Total Rugby League

GEOFF BURROW’S tears said it all. He wasn’t the only one.
There was hardly a dry eye at Headingley on a night of laughter and cheers, glories revisited, but mostly lots and lots of tears.
In short, it was exactly the kind of tribute Rob Burrow deserved and the kind of night the Rugby League community – and the Leeds Rhinos community in particular – needed.
Tributes of all kinds have been paid to Rugby League’s greatest hero in the three weeks since his death, from the initial stunned grief on social media, to the pilgrimages that left a sea of ​​color outside Headingley, to at the collective moment of sport at Wembley. .
But inside the earth he made his home, with his people, came the most moving night and a truly cathartic experience.
Leeds, along with Sky Sports, deserve an enormous amount of praise for their treatment of the club’s first home game since Burrow’s death.
From the hour-long tribute to the parade of former teammates, to the performance on the field and the final send-off for his family, everything hit the right notes – and was all the more poignant for it.
The tone was the ideal mix of grief and celebration. After all, what a life he lived and what an impact he had, in so many ways and on so many different people – but what a tragedy his death, at the cruel hand of motor neurone disease and at the cruel age of only 42.
The first floor went to Kevin Sinfield, whose name will forever be twinned with Burrow’s for their world-conquering feats on the field, but more so for their world-inspiring friendship.
“We all lose special people, but it’s very rare to lose someone so special to so many,” he said in a pre-recorded message. How disappointed he must have been that he couldn’t be here, instead being in Japan as a coach with England. But he had already caught the mood of everyone present.
Brian Carney hosted for those on the ground and on television, but was wise enough to give the floor to Barrie McDermott and Jamie Jones-Buchanan, long-time teammates and two of Burrow’s fiercest friends, who they showed their underrated skills as broadcasters. to keep things moving.
There were plenty of Burrow’s comrades lined up to pay their own tributes, from Keith Senior to Danny McGuire to Danny Buderus – sharing impressions and memories that everyone already knew but wanted to hear once more .
Of course, his legacy extended far beyond rugby. Cath Muir, the artist who lived with MND for ten years and remarkably designed the special shirt worn by Leeds using the same eye gaze technology that Burrow used to communicate, said: “It became a great inspiration for me and for the whole ensemble. The MND community.”
That this meeting fell on Global MND Awareness Day and was already set to be Leeds’ designated MND round was cruelly ironic but ultimately perfect, helping to give the occasion ever greater purpose .
£10 from each of the special shirts sold – and they were everywhere you looked in the stands – went towards Leeds Hospitals Charity’s appeal to build the Rob Burrow Center for MND in the city. Donation buckets around the ground were buzzing with change as Sky viewers were encouraged to give to the MND Association, for which Burrow, alongside Sinfield, has helped raise millions in the hope that those diagnosed with the disease in the future will have prospects better than him.
Then came his father, Geoff, such a familiar figure now as all the family have come out to the public in recent years, but so brave to do so now. He couldn’t hold it together and McDermott reached in for a hug – everyone on the ground wanted to do the same.
Hearts pounding, tears flowing, opera singer John Innes kept the atmosphere charged until the last pre-match tribute – a group of dozens of former players stood behind the current ensemble for a minute’s silence.
Then the match. An irrelevance, on a night like this. Surely if Leigh had won he would have been dismissed as such. But Leeds’ victory – and the manner of it – made it as much a part of the tribute as what came before.
It was clear from the outset that this was no ordinary game for these Leeds players, many of whom have been much maligned in a poor start to the season that cost manager Rohan Smith his job just days before.
With heightened excitement and a higher purpose, they threw themselves into everything, driving with more aggression and struggling with more desperation. This was a game they felt they simply had to win.
Brodie Croft left the show after both first-half tries that set the Rhinos on their way to an 18-10 win, releasing much of what had been bottled up in loud celebrations.
He later said of his second, when he ran the length of the field: “I’ve never scored a try that far. Honestly, it felt like an out-of-body experience, as weird as that sounds. I felt there was someone else with me in it.”
Leigh manager Adrian Lam felt equally strongly about the game: “It looked like they (Leeds) had a bit of extra help from the top.”
Chev Walker, a former team-mate of Burrow’s who took over at Rhinos, said: “It’s exciting for everyone. He touched so many people. He did it when he was alive, he went all the way through his struggle. His spirit was there tonight.”
After the match, all that was left were the tears – Croft’s post-match interview with Sky just as raw, while Burrow’s Lindsey lat was overcome when he was brought onto the pitch with two of their children, Maya and Jackson, for a final video. montage and a guard of honor from the players.
It’s just the kind of night it was – one to bring out every emotion and say goodbye to the hardest.

First published in League Express Newspaper Issue 3,436 (24 June 2024)

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