Russell Crowe and Sam Burgess in New York in October 2012 / Pic: FilmMagic Source: The Daily Telegraph
Julie Burgess Twitter pic Source: The Daily Telegraph
NRL star Sam Burgess has shot down rumours that his single mum Julie is the new woman in the life of his Rabbitohs' boss Russell Crowe.
According to Burgess, his widowed 51-year-old mother and the newly single 48-year-old movie star are "just mates" - the seeds of friendship sewn more than three years ago when Crowe offered Burgess a South Sydney contract on the set of Robin Hood.
Mum Julie, an assistant school headmistress in Leeds, was there for the fawning introductions in 2009 and by all accounts, she, like her son, was utterly won over by the charm offensive launched by the actor to win her son's signature.
Despite Sam's assurances that the two have been "mates for a long time", there is plenty of evidence the Burgess family has captured Crowe's grizzled heart.
Having signed the talented forward, Crowe's regard for Burgess's brothers, Tom, George and Luke, saw him work to recruit them to his club. The brothers have since accepted South Sydney contracts.
While it is generally believed that Crowe's long absences from home, the result of back-to-back film shoots, precipitated the end of the couple's marriage (the couple have not commented on their split), it now seems that the increasingly lonely Spencer may have felt her husband had prioritised his football family over his real one.
Crowe's affinity and affection for the Burgess boys, to whom he has become a father figure, shone a light on his long absences from his own young sons, Charlie, 8, and Tennyson, 6. His sons have seen little of their father this year.
It's not hard to see why Crowe was touched by the Burgess family.
The four boys were left without their own father when their own dad, Mark, died in 2007 after a battle with motor neurone disease. A former league player himself, Mark was just 45 when he died. His death occurred the same year then 19-year-old Burgess made his debut for Great Britain in the Test squad against New Zealand.
Five months after inviting Burgess to the Robin Hood film set in Nottingham Forest to recruit him, the young football star played his first trial match for Souths.
It had become apparent to Souths insiders that Crowe and Burgess had laid a foundation for genuine friendship, so when Burgess cried on the sidelines after Crowe presented him with an honourary club membership for his late father, the stadium sat riveted when Crowe embraced the young Yorkshireman. Crowe said he'd done it to demonstrate to Burgess that Souths are "part of his family and he is part of ours".
It now appears this gesture was in response to an earlier one made by the Burgess family, after they offered the nomadic Crowe a taste of family life while he was working in England.
"Russell ... loves being part of our family, he likes to look after us," Julie Burgess told UK media. She, like her sons, is now moving to Australia.
Son Sam couldn't be happier: "It would be nice to get my mum over for a bit of sunshine."
Crowe has told associates he is coming home for Christmas and will celebrate it at his north coast farm at Nana Glen. The Burgess family have revealed they will be there.
It's believed that his boys to Spencer are also expected to be at Nana Glen.
The rowdy Burgess brothers should prove a welcome distraction for the young Crowe boys on their first Christmas in a broken family.
Crowe knows he has to make time for his sons.
In discussing his motives for selling his interest in South Sydney, he this week said: "It's pretty simple, I have to make more time for my family."
Two days later Tweeted: "I need to go home & be with my children. Cannot believe how f..... up my schedule has become this year."
While the football community absorbed the shock news earlier in the week that Crowe was withdrawing as an investor in South Sydney, an insider stated plainly what he believes to be behind the actor's decision to quit the club.
"He can no longer be the owner if his relationship with the Burgess family effectively makes him "dad" to four of the club's players. Now that would be a conflict of interest."
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