Hull KR to honour Roger Millward on 2017 home shirt

Hull Kingston Rovers have revealed plans to pay tribute to club legend Roger Millward on next season’s replica home shirts ahead of their official unveiling later this week.

The shirt, produced by the club’s new kit manufacturer XBlades, will be revealed on Friday afternoon and includes a number of special design features in honour of Millward, the Rugby League Hall of Famer and most successful captain and coach in Rovers history, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

His death at the age of 68 sparked a flurry of tributes from across the sport for the man affectionately nicknamed “Roger the Dodger” and having previously retired the iconic number 6 shirt worn by the ex-Great Britain international, the club can now reveal further plans to ensure his legacy will live on into 2017 and beyond.

All adult replica home shirts next season will have the number 6 sublimated onto the back of the shirt as part of the design, whilst Roger Millward’s name will feature as part of the finer detail on the inside of the collar.

Across the lower back of the shirt, there’s also a quote from Roger about his adoring fans: “Never forget the people who love you – the supporters.”

Speaking to www.hullkr.co.uk, Hull Kingston Rovers chairman Neil Hudgell said: “Following his tragic passing earlier this year, it was always our intention to incorporate a tribute to Roger on our home shirt next season and we discussed some of our ideas with Roger’s family.

“His comment about the importance of the supporters is more poignant now than ever given the way they have backed the club in recent months and I’m confident in saying that we expect the final design to be popular with the fans.

“Whilst we appreciate that sublimating the number 6 onto the back of the shirt will prevent adult supporters from having their own name and number printed onto the design next season, we felt it was an appropriate and fitting way to pay tribute to Roger.

“Retiring the number 6 shirt earlier this season was one way of paying our respects to our best ever player, coach and captain, but we didn’t want the number 6 to just disappear overnight. We want there to be a legacy to inspire the next generation and we could think of no better way of doing that than by having every supporter proudly wearing the number 6 on the terraces next season.”