Rob Burrow is in a league of his own

What a privilege the other night to see Rob Burrow, the Rugby League legend, win Autobiography of the Year at the Sports Book Awards at the Oval. Burrow is one of the most successful players in the history of League, although only 5ft 5in and less than 11 stone in a sport populated by big men battering each other. Now he is confined to a wheelchair, ravaged by motor neurone disease, yet radiating huge warmth with a permanent wide smile. He was greeted with a long standing ovation, and made a moving speech using an eye-activated computer device with his own voice.

Sportspeople do not have to be the best of us, but it can be overwhelming when they are. And to see a man, once the embodiment of health and fitness, so reduced but still so warm and human was deeply humbling. As a player, Burrow’s agility, speed, strength and courage made him an icon of the sport, representing Leeds, England and Great Britain. He needed all that courage after he was diagnosed in 2019 at the age of 37. His book, Too Many Reasons to Live, is totally devoid of self-pity, and if you can read it without a tear in your eye you are made of stronger stuff than me.

Lord’s is still not, at time of writing, a sellout for the first Test. Which is a pity as it’s England under Ben Stokes for the first time taking on the world Test champions, New Zealand. Stokes is one of the few players in the world who can empty the bar when he goes out to bat. So it looks pretty tasty in every way apart from one: the ticket prices are astronomical – £120 for most seats, with only a tiny handful of reductions for kids.