Rugby league pays tribute to Rob Burrow on Challenge Cup final day
The former Leeds Rhinos great died last week at the age of 41 after a battle with Motor Neurone Disease.
Rugby league rose to remember Rob Burrow with a series of moving tributes before and during Challenge Cup final day at Wembley.
Burrow’s name and image adorned a large banner outside Wembley Park tube station along with his famous quote about being “a lad from Yorkshire who got to live out his dream”.
Throughout the day in north-west London the rugby league statue outside the stadium, which hosted its first Challenge Cup final in 1929, was adorned with club scarves and other tributes to the former Leeds number seven.
Burrow, who played in seven Challenge Cup finals for the Rhinos, winning the trophy twice, died last Sunday at the age of 41 after a four-and-a-half year battle with Motor Neurone Disease, during which he helped raise millions of pounds for charity.
Burrow’s shirt number was projected onto big screens inside and outside the stadium, and the hashtag #onerobburrow was regularly displayed on the electronic advertising surrounding the pitch.
An impeccable minute’s silence was observed prior to all four finals on the day, as well as a minute’s applause in the seventh minute of each match. As a further tribute, the men’s final kicked off at precisely 3.07pm.