Sport has the ability to divide us like almost nothing else on this planet and little sums that up better than the near 130-year feud between rugby union and rugby league.
But occasionally, when it matters, sport can unite us against a common cause like almost nothing else – and how that was proven here on a wet and grey Sunday afternoon which brought the two codes together like never before.
Ever since the split of 1895, when league broke away from union, the two sports have never felt so together. The devastating news of Doddie Weir’s and Rob Burrow’s motor neurone disease diagnoses in recent years sparked a push among both sports to try to find a cure, and that was strengthened when Ed Slater was diagnosed in 2022.
Burrow tragically died in June but one of his last acts was to devise this game with Slater, a hybrid match called the 745 Game – the numbers Burrow, Slater and Weir were synonymous with wearing in their careers – amalgamating the two rules of the codes like nothing this country has seen.
For the league lovers, it was 13-a-side with play-the-balls instead of rucks. And for union, there was the scoring system of five points for a try and lineouts were held when the ball went into touch. It didn’t quite put the great split of 29 August 1895 behind us but it didn’t matter. This was about something far more significant than sport and outcomes on the field.
That was evident before a ball had been kicked in Leeds. Burrow’s passing at the age of 41 rocked this city to its core, producing an outpouring of grief which underlined the mark he left on the sport he loved as one of Leeds Rhinos’ greatest players and reflected his tireless fundraising after being diagnosed in late 2019.
Despite fairly miserable conditions, a crowd of more than 10,000 supported the first edition of a game that its organisers hope can be repeated annually to continue the fight against MND. Legends from both codes including Danny Cipriani, Billy Twelvetrees and Danny McGuire were playing for teams named after Burrow and Slater.
The real human side of why this game was being played was emphasised pre-match. Slater’s daughters, Edie and Flo, led out the union team, Burrow’s daughters, Macy and Maya, walked out with the league legends and Jackson Burrow and Frank Slater, the sons of the two heroes, delivered the ball.
To imagine what they are going through at such a young age is inconceivable, which is what made this feel like such an important occasion. “How often do we all get into one place and there’s no rivalry or division,” Cipriani said. “We’re all here for one cause and it’s great to do this. The love we all have for Ed, Rob and Doddie is incredible.”
One of Burrow’s closest friends, the Leeds icon Barrie McDermott agreed. “There’s no animosity, no tribalism,” he said. “We’re here to support rugby.” The action itself was light-hearted, with Burrow’s team winning 33-21 and the biggest roar came when the union side opted to start a rolling maul in the second half, bringing rousing boos from the partisan league crowd.
McDermott was then comically sent off in the closing stages for a pantomime brawl with Doddie Weir’s son, Hamish, which raised a laugh from all those in attendance. But the thing raised that mattered most was the tens of thousands of pounds to support those living with MND.
The two rugby codes will never unite fully again, that much is certain. But if they can do so on this day every year to continue the tireless work started by Weir, Burrow and Slater, then that will mean so much more than the result of any game.
