“In a world full of adversity we must still dare to dream,” was Rob Burrow’s message, embossed on the players’ shirts as they entered the pitch for the women’s and men’s Challenge Cup finals. The death of the former Leeds Rhino was mourned and his life celebrated in equal measure at Wembley to show his legacy will live on in rugby league and beyond.
Burrow’s No 7 was daubed on the halfway line above the message #OneRobBurrow, which was also on the Rhinos shirts, as he was honoured in a competition he won twice as a player for Leeds where he spent 17 years, playing 492 matches. It was not only his ability on the pitch that made Burrow, who died last weekend at the age of 41, a hero but also his determination to raise awareness of motor neurone disease and money to help prevent others suffering as he did after being diagnosed with the condition in 2019, two years after retiring.
