Prince William honoured sports hero Sir Kevin Sinfield in an exclusive interview aired on BBC Breakfast on Monday, October 26. The Prince of Wales paid tribute to the rugby legend's ability to bring communities together following the completion of his latest challenge to fight Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
Prince's Praise for Sir Kevin
Host Sally Nugent said: "The Prince of Wales has praised Sir Kevin Sinfield's ability to bring communities together following the completion of his latest challenge to fight Motor Neurone Disease." She continued that the prince told her that his decision to award Sir Kevin a knighthood "was probably the easiest decision anyone had to make".
In the interview, Prince William said of Sir Kevin: "It's a proper way of caring, it's not just caring for the sake of it. It really is deep caring. That lack of ego is really important in a world where everyone wants to show how amazing they all are." He added: "I think Kevin does it very quietly, very subtly and just doesn't want to be the centre of attention but ultimately has a huge impact. I think that's a really important lesson for the world to realise you don't have to, you know, be all social media everywhere, loud and whatever - there's a lot of other ways you can show leadership that still delivers the important things we care about."
Community Impact and MND Fundraising
Sir Kevin has raised more than £13m for Motor Neurone Disease following the diagnosis of his late friend Rob Burrow. What started as a run for his friend and teammate has grown into a movement to support a whole community of people affected by MND.
Prince William continued: "What I see the most is his ability to bring people together and be that glue - I liken it to the fabric of communities and what Kevin does is he can bind and glue communities together by being that leader. He takes a lot of responsibility on and he takes other peoples' worries, concerns, anxieties and he owns it and he'll carry communities and he will make sure people are as happy as they can be. And the more Kevs we have in this country, the better."
Latest Challenge and Documentary
The Prince and Princess of Wales recently surprised Sir Kevin as he completed one of his marathons - he recently completed seven ultra marathons in seven days. During the interview, the prince also said of Sir Kevin: "I don't know how he keeps going, I'm worried about his knees, I'm worried about his hips. The guy is just a machine." He added: "He's a top bloke, really nice guy, good, honest, kind, decent northerner and I love that about Kevin, that there is no ego with him. He is what you get."
The interview aired ahead of a new BBC documentary, Thank You Sir Kev, which is on BBC One on Monday, October 26 at 8pm and on BBC iPlayer.
