Rob Burrow Strictly Ball a huge success with a surprise winner

Last night was the Burrow Strictly Ball.

The event was the latest in a long line of fundraisers which have taken place since Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in December 2019.

Since then, we’ve seen a special testimonial fixture, Kevin Sinfield run seven marathons in seven days and 101 miles in 24 hours and even a race horse named after the brilliant scrum-half.

This all helped enable The Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease with £1.87 million already raised for the vital centre and to give it an extra boost in terms of funding Rob’s sisters Joanne and Claire birthed the idea of the Burrow Strictly Ball. Four hundred tickets were sold for the event which was expected to raise £100,000 and took place last night.

It was a huge success with some famous faces taking to the dancefloor including former footballer Brian Deane and Super League Champion and Rhinos forward Barrie McDermott also participating. Leeds Hospitals Ambassador Dr Amir Khan also partook. Meanwhile, Leeds Rhinos Women star Danika Prim and BBC Look North’s Tanya Arnold took on the role of comperes.

Whilst BBC Breakfast’s Dan Walker, who featured on Strictly Come Dancing, was a judge along with dance partner Nadiya Bychkova.

In a surprise twist, it was Barrie McDermott who won the competition who has now gone onto jokingly claim he has now retired from dancing going out on top.

I would like to announce my official retirement from competitive dancing I’m happy to go out at the top @Burrow_strictly was amazing but never again! No offence Robert but the next you ask me what I’m doing on a future date I’ll ask WHY before I accept the invite…. 💙💛 pic.twitter.com/rpoxoDgabX

— Barrie McDermott 🏉 (@RLBarrieMc10) March 20, 2022

Congratulations to @RLBarrieMc10 the winner of @Burrow_strictly 🕺 and all the fabulous dancers and judges on the night!
What an amazing evening 🤩🤩🤩 pic.twitter.com/yGxKV7pZy2

— thegoodracingco (@thegoodracingco) March 20, 2022

The event was a huge success and Burrow’s sisters were certainly happy by the end of it and were pleased to see the former Leeds star smile.

Sister Joanne told Yorkshire Evening Post: “To see the smile on Rob’s face was brilliant. It was such a special and fun night.

“Everyone who took part were such good sports and so dedicated to raising as much money as possible for the Leeds Hospitals Charity to build a new Rob Burrow Centre for MND.”

What a night #BurrowStrictlyBall @Villaboycey @RLBarrieMc10 @sallynugent #BBCBreakfast @LDShospcharity @Rob7Burrow pic.twitter.com/OgBMVOcNLI

— Richard Frediani (@BBCFrediani) March 20, 2022