Kevin Sinfield’s book achieves amazing accolade

It won’t have escaped your notice that Kevin Sinfield has written and launched his book The Extra Mile.

The legendary Leeds Rhinos skipper who has been an inspiration in Rob Burrow’s fight against Motor Neurone Disease.

Quite rightly, Sinfield’s book has now been confirmed as a best seller.

As announced by Century Publishing, the book is a number one Sunday Times Bestseller.

We are delighted to share that Kevin Sinfield's The Extra Mile is a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller 🎉

Thank you to all our amazing colleagues and wonderful readers for your incredible support in making Kev's autobiography a bestseller. pic.twitter.com/nCTsasDc0E

— Century Publishing (@centurybooksuk) May 31, 2023

Sinfield has now explained why he wrote the book.

He stressed that he didn’t want to “kiss and tell” as he wanted to respect the dressing room he captained for so long.

“Yeah, it’s funny because the last three and a half years since Rob being diagnosed have shown me that I need to take some more risk and make myself a bit more uncomfortable,” Sinfield explained on Leeds’ YouTube Channel.

“Rob going through what he was going through gave me a whole host of perspective. I never wanted to do a book about just rugby.

“I never wanted a kiss and tell. I never wanted to share dressing room stories about lads I’ve played with and think the world of, and going through 13 years as a captain and kept everything as quiet as we can and that inner sanctum type stuff, to then finish playing and go right everything’s out there, I didn’t want to do it.

“I thought if I’m going to do it I’ve got to tell the truth but needed a bit more than the rugby stuff and yeah I suppose in many ways the last three years there’s  been a fair shift in my life, and a lot of that has been inspired by Rob.

“It was Rob’s idea to write the book, and I am glad I’ve done it. At times it was tough going through some of those older memories, some of those tougher memories, but also really rewarding as well a  times when you’re talking about some of the great times and the friendships and some important moments in my life.”

He went on to add:

“I wanted a book that was different to what I’ve been on the shelves before. When I say that, that’s not to disrespect any other sports person or rugby player, not at all. I just felt if I was going to do it, it needed to be different.

“I’m not the type of guy who will share some of those dressing room stories; I don’t want to, I don’t think it’s fair, so it had to be different. I think what people have done in the last 3 and a half years for the MND community, who are beautiful by the way.

“They’re the toughest people you’ll ever meet, they’re the best of us, they’ve got spirit, they’ve got humour, and Rob is right at the forefront of that. But if I was going to do the book and be absolutely all in, then it needed to be about other things than rugby.

“I think to understand where we’ve got to this last couple of years and what the team were able to do with the challenges you needed to understand my life as a youngster, the rugby stuff and then what has happened since then.”