Goodbye Rob

Thousands line streets to say farewell to inspirational great

- JEREMY ARMSTRONG

HE enjoyed the adulation of the crowds throughout his life and, for one last time, in death.

Thousands of people turned out yesterday to pay homage to Rob Burrow, the rugby league legend who touched the hearts of the nation through his battle with motor neurone disease.

They broke into spontaneous applause all along the 12-mile route taken by his funeral cortege from Leeds, where he played almost 500 times for the Rhinos, to Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

There, Rob's widow Lindsey, 41, and their children Macy, 12, Maya, nine, and Jackson, five, joined a private funeral service.

Rob's best friend and former teammate Kevin Sinfield flew 11,500 miles from the Lions tour of New Zealand for the service.

Kevin, 43, helped raise £15million for MND research, with work starting on a £6.8m centre in Rob's name at Leeds hospital last month.

Other ex-Rhinos at the service included Jamie Peacock, Ryan Hall and Jamie Jones-Buchanan.

Scrum-half Rob, who died on June 2 aged 41, wore number 7 on his shirt so yesterday, 7/7, was named Rob Burrow Day and chosen for his funeral.

As the funeral cortege passed Featherstone Lions Rugby Club, where Rob started out his rugby life in the junior ranks, young players stood side by side, their arms around each other's shoulders.

Clive Tennant, 68, the club's former chairman, said: "He was always outstanding, he just shone from a very early age.