Prince William surprises Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield with CBEs

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, Prince William met Rob Burrow and family alongside Kevin Sinfield during the royal visit to Headingley Stadium in Leeds

The Prince of Wales has surprised rugby league legends Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield by awarding them with their CBEs during a meeting in Leeds.

Prince William met the pair at Headingley Stadium – the home of Leeds Rhinos and where both men used to play.

Burrow and Sinfield were awarded CBEs in the New Year Honours list for their motor neurone disease fundraising.

The pair have raised more than £15m for charities since Burrow was diagnosed with the disease in 2019.

Kensington Palace said the prince was recognising their “outstanding efforts” to raise funds and awareness of motor neurone disease (MND).

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, The prince spent time chatting to the pair about their rugby league playing days together

Burrow, a former scrum-half who spent his entire professional career with the Rhinos, was diagnosed with MND two years after retiring from the sport.

Since then, he has campaigned alongside friends and family to fundraise and generate awareness of the disease.

Sinfield has completed a series of epic endurance challenges, including his latest fundraiser which saw him complete seven ultra marathons over seven days.

His target was to raise £77,777, but thousands of donations helped him to reach £2.7m.

Playing alongside each other from 2001 to 2015, the pair won seven Grand Finals, two Challenge Cup Finals at Wembley and three World Club titles together.

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