In February, it was announced that the player of the match award at this year’s Super League Grand Final will be renamed after Burrow, the first player to win the trophy twice, in 2007 and 2011.
Tributes flooded in from the rugby league world, with Super League leaders St Helens calling Burrow “a hero in every sense of the word” and Wigan Warriors saying that “his legacy will live on through those whose lives he touched, and his story will continue to inspire all”.
A tribute to Burrow from the Rugby Football League said: “Since December 2019, his courage and humanity – allied to that of his family, friends and former Leeds Rhinos team-mates, led by Kevin Sinfield CBE – has transcended sport.”
The Prince of Wales, who presented the CBE to Burrow and Sinfield at Headingley in a January visit this year, paid tribute on X.
The prince wrote: “A legend of Rugby League, Rob Burrow had a huge heart. He taught us, ‘in a world full of adversity, we must dare to dream.’ Catherine and I send our love to Lindsey, Jackson, Maya and Macy.”
The MND Association, for whom Burrow became a patron in 2021, said it was “incredibly grateful to Rob and his family for helping to raise awareness of MND, and funds for the association, by sharing the details of their journey and by inspiring so many people both within the MND community and the wider public”.
“In doing so much, he inspired support from so many,” the charity added.
“It is testament to the strength of feeling people have for Rob that the support in his name has never wavered.”