Leeds Rhinos icon pays emotional tribute after late colleague honoured with top rugby league award
A Leeds Rhinos legend has paid tribute after a former colleague was named as the latest recipient of one of rugby league’s top honours.
The 2024 Glen’s Spirit of Super League award goes to Sky Sports broadcaster Bill Arthur, who died in July, aged 68, a decade after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. His last match commentary, following a career in broadcasting and journalism stretching back more than 40 years, was the 2023 Betfred Super League Grand Final between Wigan Warriors and Catalans Dragons.
Arthur’s contribution to the sport will be celebrated at next Tuesday’s rugby league awards night in Leeds when his family receive the honour, alongside his former Sky Sports colleague and ex-Rhinos star Barrie McDermott.
The Glen’s Spirit of Super League award was introduced in 2019, to recognise those who epitomise the values of the sport, with a strong emphasis on sportsmanship and community. McDermott said: “It will be an honour to join Bill’s wife Cherry in accepting this award. I consider myself very fortunate and privileged to have worked with him so closely for so long and to have called him a friend as well as a colleague.
“He was a wonderful support to ex-players like me when we started working for Sky and he had an amazing ability to ask the tough questions that sometimes need to be asked while remaining liked and respected by everyone in the game. He was a champion for our sport both in the heartlands and most of all the outposts and for me that’s why he embodied the spirit of rugby league.”