Everything you need to know about Leeds Rhinos tributes to Rob Burrow: legends present, crowd record..
Rob Burrow after his last game for Leeds Rhinos in 2017, winning the Grand Final for an eighth time
Friday evening will certainly be an emotional occasion at Headingley, as Leeds Rhinos play their first home game since the passing of the iconic Rob Burrow.
During his career, Burrow helped the club win eight Super League Grand Finals, three League Leader’s Shields, three World Club Challenges and two Challenge Cups. He also made a staggering 492 appearances in the famous Blue and Amber.
Following his diagnosis with MND in 2019, Burrow and long-term friend Kevin Sinfield have helped raise over £20 million for MND charities and also raise crucial awareness for the disease.
Leeds have laid on a number of tributes in Burrow’s honour at tonight’s game, and here is a full breakdown of what we can expect to see at the game.
Biggest league crowd since 2009
With tonight’s game against Leigh representing the first game at Headingley since his passing earlier this month, a capacity crowd of 19,700 is expected. This will also be the Rhinos biggest crowd for a standalone single Super League game since they faced St Helens in the 2009 Super League season. That day, they recorded a whopping 19,997 attendance.
Leeds also pulled in a huge crowd for the friendly against Bradford Bulls in 2020, where the likes of Rob Burrow, Kevin Sinfield and Kylie Leuluai all graced the Headingley turf one final time; however, this was not an official Super League game.
The iconic South Stand is already fully sold out, and only a handful of tickets remain in the other three stands.
Former team-mates expected
Plenty of Rob Burrow’s former teammates will be in attendance the game tonight. Ali Lauitiiti, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Kylie Leuluai and Danny Burderus are just some of the Headingley heroes returning tonight to pay tribute to their former teammate.
Unfortunately, Kevin Sinfield will be unable to attend due to his commitments with England rugby union in Japan.
What fundraising is going on
There will, of course, be some fundraising around the ground during the evening. £10 of each sale of the limited-edition shirt will go towards the Rob Burrow Centre for MND, and £1 from each sale of the limited-edition programme will also go towards the centre as well.
Various bucket collections will be dotted around the ground too as usual.
The kit
The game not only marks the first home game since Burrow’s passing, it also falls on MND Awareness day. To honour both events, the Rhinos will don a special tribute shirt tonight.
Designed by artist Cath Muir-who also has MND-and approved by Burrow before his passing, the shirt is in the MND-related colours of blue and orange and also features a picture drawn by Muir of Burrow and Sinfield. It also has a drawing of a blue cornflower, which represents a symbol of hope within the MND community.
The kit, which is available to buy via the club shop, will also help raise funds for the Rob Burrow Centre for MND in Leeds.
Tributes
Whilst the game itself doesn’t get underway until 8pm, the club have laid on a considerable number of tributes to take place throughout the evening. The U18s will get things underway as they take on Huddersfield at 5:10pm, and the matchday ticket will cover entry to this game as well.
From 7:00, the main tributes for Burrow will get underway. There will be interviews with some of Burrow’s former teammates, clips on the big screen and performances on the pitch.
When the players walk out, an RB7 mosaic will be seen in the East Stand.
There will be a minute’s silence prior to kick-off, and on the 7th minute of the match there will be a minute’s applause. The club also ask attending fans to arrive as early as possible, and to be in their positions at 7:00 when the tributes begin.
More information on the tributes can be found here.
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