Too Many Reasons to Live
Winner of the Sports Book Awards 2022
The updated edition of the huge Sunday Times number one bestselling inspirational memoir from rugby league legend Rob Burrow on his extraordinary career, his incredible friendship with fellow Rhino Kevin Sinfield, and his battle with motor neurone disease.
‘A pocket rocket of a player and a giant of a character . . . He [was] one in a million and his story is truly inspirational’ – Clare Balding
I’m not giving in until my last breath – Rob Burrow
Rob Burrow was one of the greatest rugby league players of all time. And the most inspirational. As a boy, Rob was told he was too small to play the sport. Even when he made his debut for Leeds Rhinos, people wrote him off as a novelty. But Rob never stopped proving people wrong. During his time at Leeds he won eight Super League Grand Finals, two Challenge Cups and three World Club Challenges. He also played for his country in two World Cups.
In December 2019, Rob was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, a rare degenerative condition, and given a couple of years to live. He was only thirty-seven, not long retired and had three young children. When he went public with the devastating news, the outpouring of affection and support was extraordinary. When it became clear that Rob was going to fight it all the way, sympathy turned to awe.
Written with honesty and humour, Too Many Reasons to Live is the story of a man who resolved to turn a terrible situation into something positive. It is about the power of love, between Rob and his childhood sweetheart Lindsey, and of the life-changing bond of friendship between Rob, Kevin Sinfield, and their Rhino teammates.
Far more than a sports memoir, this is a remarkable, awe-inspiring story of boundless courage and infinite kindness.
Rob Burrow was a former professional rugby league footballer who spent sixteen years playing for Leeds Rhinos in the Super League, before retiring in 2017. An England and Great Britain representative, he spent his entire professional career with Leeds. At five foot five, and weighing less than eleven stone, Burrow was known for many years as ‘the smallest player in Super League’.
Despite this, he was one of the most successful players in the competition’s history, winning a total of eight Super League championships and two Challenge Cups, being named on the Super League Dream Team on three occasions, and winning the Harry Sunderland Trophy twice.
On 19 December 2019 it was publicly revealed Burrow had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND). The BBC followed Rob for a year for their documentary My Year with MND. It was watched by over two million people. His autobiography Too Many Reasons to Live was a Sunday Times no. 1 bestseller. Together with Kevin Sinfield, he wrote an illustrated gift book, With You Every Step: A Celebration of Friendship. Rob died in June 2024.