Take a photo of a barcode or cover
persephonexxvi 's review for:
Too Many Reasons to Live
by Rob Burrow
I'm a life-long Castleford Tigers fan so trust me when I say it's not easy to read parts of a story from the perspective of the person who inflicted some of the misery on your team, getting to see what might have been from the side that celebrated rather than the side left wondering what might have been!
But my suffering as a fan is small potatoes compared to what Rob Burrow and his family have faced through the last couple of years. I think it says a lot about the rugby league community that despite our team rivalries, we'll always look after our own when it comes down to it. Rob mentions that so many fans of other teams have gone on to pass on their well-wishes, give him money, even do their own ridiculous challenges to raise awareness for his cause.
So this isn't really about sporting rivalries, and it's not really about us fans, though naturally Rob does mention the fanbase and community as you can't NOT when you speak about rugby league.
But mostly it's about a man recently retired from the pinnacle of his career being given the worst possible news. Then using that news as fresh motivation, refusing to give up and determined to surround himself by the things that make life worth living rather than sit and wait. I think that's the most inspiring part of this book, even for someone reading it who hasn't been given a shorter life expectancy, you realise that there are so many things in life that get in the way of making it count. By his own admission Rob knows he's in a privileged position (surrounded by family, lots of mates, some money - though rugby league players are not premier league footballers!) but I don't think that matters. Being told you might only have a couple of years to live is a great leveller. How you react to that isn't related to bricks, fancy cars or other material things.
I was already well aware of MND but have learned so much more about the process one goes through when diagnoses and also how criminally underfunded research into this is in the UK.
I live in Scotland and am married to a Scottish rugby union fan so it was also heartwarming to read a bit about Doddie Weir. Both he and Rob and countless others like them are doing their best to raise awareness and funds to combat this horrendous disease. Hopefully in the future folk will reward their efforts and find a cure.
4.5 stars for me because unless you are very familiar with rugby league it can become a list of matches and competitions ("we won this, we then lost this, we then won this when nobody expected us to") and that might be a struggle for newcomers. However, definitely worth a read anyway as the love and care all the contributors have for one another shines through.
P.S. Definitely the only thing Leeds Rhinos I'll ever willingly buy!
But my suffering as a fan is small potatoes compared to what Rob Burrow and his family have faced through the last couple of years. I think it says a lot about the rugby league community that despite our team rivalries, we'll always look after our own when it comes down to it. Rob mentions that so many fans of other teams have gone on to pass on their well-wishes, give him money, even do their own ridiculous challenges to raise awareness for his cause.
So this isn't really about sporting rivalries, and it's not really about us fans, though naturally Rob does mention the fanbase and community as you can't NOT when you speak about rugby league.
But mostly it's about a man recently retired from the pinnacle of his career being given the worst possible news. Then using that news as fresh motivation, refusing to give up and determined to surround himself by the things that make life worth living rather than sit and wait. I think that's the most inspiring part of this book, even for someone reading it who hasn't been given a shorter life expectancy, you realise that there are so many things in life that get in the way of making it count. By his own admission Rob knows he's in a privileged position (surrounded by family, lots of mates, some money - though rugby league players are not premier league footballers!) but I don't think that matters. Being told you might only have a couple of years to live is a great leveller. How you react to that isn't related to bricks, fancy cars or other material things.
I was already well aware of MND but have learned so much more about the process one goes through when diagnoses and also how criminally underfunded research into this is in the UK.
I live in Scotland and am married to a Scottish rugby union fan so it was also heartwarming to read a bit about Doddie Weir. Both he and Rob and countless others like them are doing their best to raise awareness and funds to combat this horrendous disease. Hopefully in the future folk will reward their efforts and find a cure.
4.5 stars for me because unless you are very familiar with rugby league it can become a list of matches and competitions ("we won this, we then lost this, we then won this when nobody expected us to") and that might be a struggle for newcomers. However, definitely worth a read anyway as the love and care all the contributors have for one another shines through.
P.S. Definitely the only thing Leeds Rhinos I'll ever willingly buy!