A West Yorkshire council have raised the idea of naming a train in the region after rugby league legend Rob Burrow.
Rugby League have already moved to honour one of the sport’s most iconic players with the Super League Grand Final Man of the Match award renamed from the Harry Sunderland Trophy to the Rob Burrow Trophy.
That change came following the death of the Leeds Rhinos legend and Motor Neurone Disease (MND) campaigner in June last year with Burrow having been first diagnosed with MND in December 2019.
During the four-and-a-half years that he fought the condition, Rob Burrow helped raise awareness of the condition an indescribable amount with his bravery and honesty in living with MND also helping fundraise millions.
At the heart of that fundraising was his former Leeds Rhinos teammate Kevin Sinfield whose various challenges saw over £10 million raised, helping fund the building of the Rob Burrow Centre for MND which is expected to be completed later this year.
Now, further calls to honour the rugby league legend have been made.
Calls made to name train in honour of rugby league legend Rob Burrow
Credit: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
It has been suggested by Scott Haslam, a councillor for Featherstone, that there should be a regional tribute to Rob Burrow with Haslam raising those points at a Wakefield Council meeting.
That is according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service and the BBC with Haslam stating the case for the Leeds Rhinos legend to have “some form of testimony” to honour him.
Haslam argued: “The people of Featherstone, I believe, would like to see some form of testimony to Rob Burrow.
“Is there scope to honour Rob’s legacy, in conjunction with his family of course, perhaps in the naming of a locomotive that would honour him across the district, West Yorkshire and the wider community?”
Burrow played for Featherstone Lions before joining Leeds Rhinos with his funeral procession heading through Featherstone where thousands of people lined the streets to honour their local hero.
Haslam’s proposal was taken on board by Darren Allsopp, the regional stakeholder for Northern, who explained that trains are typically not named due to the number of requests but he welcomed further discussions.
