It has not been a good week for sporting heroes. While David Beckham has been trashing his image and reputation by trousering millions for promoting a World Cup in Qatar, a country where workers are treated like slaves, women are oppressed and LGBT people aren’t really allowed to exist at all, back home the bloated ego of Cristiano Ronaldo – net worth £367 million, being topped up annually by a basic salary of £27 million – whinges and whines at his terrible treatment by everyone who has ever crossed his path. It’s grim and depressing stuff to witness. While it’s brand Beckham that’s suffered the bigger hit, because most of us saw Ronaldo the preening narcissist he always has been, at least partly overshadowing his greatness as a footballer. Are there no more heroes?
Well, yes, actually. Tucked away behind a TV paywall, our white ball cricketers, a far more diverse bunch than the majority private school red ball team, have won another T20 World Cup. Where the England Rugby League side slipped up in the semi-finals of their World Cup, the astonishing Wheelchair team won their World Cup. And let’s not forget the England Lionesses who are European Champions. Lots of heroes there. But my hero today is Kevin Sinfield.
Sinfield is a Rugby League legend, one of the greatest players of all time. Now he coaches Leicester Rugby Union but has never forgotten where he came from or who his friends are. This week he has completed seven ultra marathons in seven days in an attempt to raise £777,777 for MND organisations and charities. All those sevens, a tribute to his Leeds Rhinos teammate Rob Burrow who wore the shirt and now has this awful disease, and Sinfield has ruined it all – sort of – by sailing past £1 million.
I’m sure Kevin Sinfield is comfortably off given how hard he works and how good he has been at his jobs but instead of boring the nation with tawdry stories of tittle-tattle and idle gossip, he decided to make people’s lives better, specifically those suffering from MND, their families and to help fund research to defeat this awful disease. In other words, he’s done it for no reason other than out of compassion for others. There is no relentless self-promotion and indeed self-pity.
He probably wouldn’t want or expect any kind of honour or award, but what kind of country are we where we routinely knight and ennoble people just for doing their jobs and then hand out minor trinkets to the real heroes? Previously, I felt Beckham would be a deserved recipient of a major gong, but no more. His work for Qatar rules him out at least in my eyes. But Sir Kevin Sinfield? Of course. At the very least.
Sinfield’s donation page is still open for donations so why not slip him a few bob, in the certain knowledge that it will directly help people now and in the future? There are always more good people than bad and SInfield represents the very best of us.
