Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has said it is a “major injustice” that no rugby league player has ever been knighted.
Sir Lindsay said he has raised the issue with Sir Keir Starmer, and said “now is the time” to knight the former professional player Kevin Sinfield who has raised more than £10 million to combat motor neurone disease (MND).
Sinfield, currently a coach with the England rugby union team, was a star of the other code playing more than 500 games for Leeds Rhinos and representing England and Great Britain.
Another former star of the sport, Sinfield’s friend Rob Burrow, passed away from complications of the disease at the age of 41 in June last year.
In 2024, Sinfield received a CBE, an honour that ranks below knighthood, for his services to the MND community.
During Business Questions in the Commons on Thursday, Labour MP David Baines, who is chair of the rugby league all party parliamentary group, thanked the Speaker for being a “great champion for the greatest game”.
He said: “This year rugby league celebrates its 130th anniversary. In all this time, no one from the sport of rugby league has ever received the highest honour of a knighthood or a damehood.
“Not one person in 130 years, despite having many worthy recipients and candidates fought for such honours, including the likes of Billy Boston, Alex Murphy and Kevin Sinfield.
“Does (Commons Leader Lucy Powell) share my dismay and frustration and surprise at this oversight, and can she advise me on how best to raise this and who with, to ensure that our great game and some of the outstanding individuals who represent it receive the recognition that they deserve?”
Ms Powell said Sir Lindsay would share some of Mr Baine’s’ views on the subject, adding that she “can’t comment on individuals’ right to get an honour” but it is “a surprise that they’ve not been honoured in the way that others have”.
She added: “I too, think that Kevin Sinfield has been the most incredible ambassador, not just for sport, but for charity (fund) raising, and he certainly would be somebody I think we should all consider.”
Sir Lindsay said: “I have also raised it with the Prime Minister, because there is a major injustice and the stigma against rugby league where not one person has ever knighted, but … on behalf of what (Kevin Sinfield has) done, I would have thought now is the time and we wait no longer.”
Sinfield’s most recent challenge, Running Home for Christmas, in December 2024, raised more than £1,016,000, according to his donation page.
