Rugby star Kenny Logan tells Rob Burrow how dyslexia affected his game

Rugby union legend Kenny Logan has told how he would "blag" his way through team meetings as he struggled to read and write.

The ex-Wasps and Scotland international revealed how his playing days were affected by severe dyslexia.

He said: "I used to come out of team meetings exhausted before I even started training."

Logan opened up about the condition to motor neurone disease (MND) campaigner Rob Burrow in his latest podcast.

Logan, 51, and his TV presenter wife Gabby, 50, are the latest guests on the BBC's The Total Sport podcast.

Called Seven: Rob Burrow, the podcast sees the Leeds Rhinos rugby league star, who has MND, and his wife Lindsey interviewing seven sporting greats and asking seven questions. In each episode, Burrow communicates via a computerised voice he banked before he lost the ability to speak.

Asked by Burrow about the biggest hurdles he had faced as a professional sportsman, Logan - who won 70 caps for his country - described how dyslexia found its way into his game.

He said: "I really struggled with learning moves and the more professional it got the more people were putting documents in front of me, laptops in front of me, the more I was panicking because I was seeing these words and I couldn't understand them and [I was] having to blag myself through.

"It was really tiring. I used to come out of team meetings exhausted before I even started the training because I was not brave enough to tell anyone I couldn't read or write so that was really hard for me."

During the podcast, tributes are paid to another Scottish rugby international, Doddie Weir, who died at the age of 52, on 26 November 2022, six years after being diagnosed with MND.

Burrow described Weir, who was capped 61 times between 1990 and 2000 and raised millions for charity, as his "MND hero".

Logan added Weir was "a true warrior" who "liked a laugh", while former gymnast Gabby Logan added: "He [Weir] helped to take the wider conversation about MND to a wider audience."

The couple also spoke about Logan's prostate cancer diagnosis in February 2022 and their decision to undergo IVF.

On cancer, Logan described how he felt "guilty" because, unlike MND which has no cure, doctors were "really confident they could fix me".

"I just took a leaf from the likes of Rob and Doddie - be very focused, be very confident, be very positive towards what you've got and keep your mental state really strong, and that's what got me through it."

Telling of the "ignorance" the couple encountered while going through IVF treatment to conceive their twins, Lois and Reuben, who are now aged 18, Gabby said: "A lot of my friends, even, didn't know how it all worked.

"I think there was a certain stigma and a lot of women felt a certain amount of shame. As a woman, you feel it's something you should be able to do."

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].