Why Kevin Sinfield is not featured on New Year Honours list 2026 as fans demand knighthood
Demands have resurfaced for Leeds Rhinos legend and fundraising star Kevin Sinfield to receive a Knighthood following the release of the New Year Honours list for 2026.
Those who have followed his career and his work raising millions of pounds to support research into Motor Neurone Disease have long felt that ‘Sir Kev’ should receive the official title.
The calls have re-emerged after his name was left off the list for 2026; a year that saw him complete the gruelling 7 in 7: Together challenge, raising over £1m for MND charities.
It was Sinfield’s sixth endurance challenge, having been inspired by his former Rhinos team-mate Rob Burrow, who died in 2024 having lived with MND for four and a half years.
Sinfield, 45, addressed the crowd after completing his latest challenge at Headingley, his home ground throughout his glittering rugby league career which included seven Super League titles.
He said: “To the MND community and the people we’ve met en route, all through the last week, all through the past five years, to everybody we’ve met – you’re an absolutely beautiful community.
“We’ve got to keep fighting for the MND community.”
The latest figure means he has now raised more than £11million for MND charities.
Why hasn’t he received a Knighthood?
Sinfield has not been without recognition for his immense work both on and off the rugby pitch over the years, having received an MBE in 2014 for services to rugby league and then an OBE in 2021 for both his contribution to the sport and charitable fundraising.
In the 2024 New Year Honours he was awarded the CBE for services to motor neurone disease awareness.
However, despite the ongoing calls for him to be knighted, he has not been featured in this year’s New Year Honours list as protocol dictates that an honour cannot be upgraded within a three-year period. This means that the next opportunity Sinfield will have to be knighted will be in a year’s time, which seems increasingly likely to happen.
A ‘major injustice’
Various calls have been made from across the rugby league world and beyond for protocol to be overridden in the case of Sinfield.
A number of readers have described it as a “disgrace” to not see his name on this year’s list and there have also been calls from prominent figures down the years such as Piers Morgan and Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who said that “now is the time”.
A petition was set up earlier this month that has nearly received 100,000 signatures.