James Mitchinson

WELL DONE WEDNESDAY: IN AWE OF HIS HUMANITY 

I must confess, I know very little about rugby league. I can admire the skill, the physicality, the fierce brutality of the players, the athleticism and the rivalries but amidst the chaos of a game I must admit that the rules of engagement evade me. 

But, then, this newsletter isn’t about sport. Not really. It’s about a man. A man who appears hewn from granite. Herculean doesn’t go far enough. I am, of course, talking about Sir Kevin Sinfield. One of rugby league’s most decorated players: Super League, World Club Challenge, Challenge Cup … a multiple champion.  

And, yet. His greatest ever achievement may be yet to come if he gets his way. I don’t quite have the words to describe that which motivates him, because it doesn’t feel quite right to say that he is inspired or motivated by the untimely death of his dear friend Rob Burrow, who passed away two years ago following a years-long battle with motor neurone disease. 

Since Sir Kevin lost his dear friend, he has made it his business to honour his ‘little mate’ as he refers to the man he also once described as ‘pound-for-pound the toughest player I ever played with.’  Honour him by sacrificing his own body in physical challenges that defy human capabilities. His latest, seven ultramarathons (a marathon that is longer than 26.2m, sometimes much longer) in seven days, saw the efforts of him and his team reach a contribution of £13m for the MND community, including research into defeating it. So impressive was his undertaking that the Prince and Princess of Wales made it their business to drop in on one of his runs to cheer him on. 

And that is what I mean by ‘his greatest achievement may yet be to come’ because if the scientists, the medics, the academics, the clinicians … the entire community that is searching for answers as to how to beat MND, if they get close to or even over the line of finding a way to stop this hateful disease it in its tracks then Sir Kevin will require elevation from Sir to Saint. 

In typical fashion, he offers so much of the credit to his team. His humility is beyond endearing. Not least in one conversation where he recalled the visits he had to see Rob when Rob was in the throes of the darkest hours of his MND. ‘He smiled when he saw me, and he smiled when I left. No matter what, I always got a smile.’  Even as he said it, you could feel that what he meant was: ‘yeah, ultramarathons are tough but imagine raising a smile in the circumstances Rob did. That’s true courage; true grit.’

And, so, it feels too flippant to call this one the Well Done Wednesday. That which Sir Kevin has done cannot be appreciated with mere words. The same, it has to be said, goes for the entire rugby league community, which has rallied around the cause, around Sir Kevin and his team and, crucially, around Lindsey Burrow, Rob’s wife, and their children. 

So, even if, like me, you know very little about the sport that is rugby league, there is plenty to admire about those who do, for theirs is a community that can teach us all how to live our lives a little better, with compassion and courage in equal measure. 

Well done, Kev. Rob would be proud of you. We all are.

James

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Write to me - it’s nice to hear from you all: james.mitchinson@iconicmediagroup.co.uk

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