Mike Tindall has revealed that his father, Phil, has died aged 79, following a battle with Parkinson’s disease spanning more than 20 years.
Zara Tindall’s husband, 47, declared the news on today’s edition of his podcast, The Good, The Bad & The Rugby.
“Unfortunately, my dad passed away last week,” the former England rugby international told listeners.
He expressed his gratitude to Otley Rugby Club in West Yorkshire, where Phil once led the side as captain.
“Big shout-out to Otley Rugby Club. They played Chester on the weekend, and they did a minute’s silence to my dad, who was captain in ’72, ’73,” he said.
Footage of the tribute was recorded and sent to Mike, who also read a dedication printed in the match-day programme.
Phil Tindall was a gifted rugby player with deep roots in the Yorkshire town where Mike grew up.
He first turned out for Otley’s senior side at just 17 during the 1963-64 campaign, operating at fly-half and centre before assuming the captaincy nearly a decade later.
Mike Tindall has revealed that his father, Phil, has died aged 79, following a battle with Parkinson’s disease spanning more than 20 years
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YOUTUBE: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE RUGBY
Mike shared a characteristically wry anecdote about his father’s misfortune on the pitch and off it.
Phil broke his leg the week before marrying Mike’s mother Linda in 1969, forcing him to hobble down the aisle in a cast.
“He got married in 69, broke his leg the week before, went down the aisle in a cast. I mean, it sort of all went wrong. He had to retire at 27,” Tindall recalled.
Phil’s diagnosis came in 2003, the very year his son was helping England lift the Rugby World Cup.
Mike Tindall’s father, Phil, was an esteemed rugby player himself
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GETTYThe disease became a deeply personal cause for Mike, who has served as a patron of Cure Parkinson’s since 2018, channelling considerable energy into fundraising and raising public awareness of the condition.
As recently as May, he offered a stark assessment of his father’s deteriorating state.
“My dad is not doing great at the moment,” he said. “Parkinson’s is brutal and there is no let-up from how it attacks the body and changes people.”
After more than 23 years living with the illness, Phil had become “a shell of what he once was,” his son said, explaining that witnessing such decline fuelled his determination to support the search for effective treatments and a cure.
Phil Tindall was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2003 – the year his son won the Rugby World Cup
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GETTY
The father and son shared an exceptionally close bond, with Mike having previously described Phil as “an absolutely unbelievable father” in earlier interviews.
Mike has even credited his father’s guidance and knowledge of the sport as instrumental to his own achievements on the pitch.
The toll of Phil’s illness on the wider Tindall family was profound and long-running.
By the time Mike married Zara in 2011, his father required a wheelchair for portions of the day.
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