Back in 1998, Leeds was a very different city than the one you probably think of now. You could easily count the amount of locals who were nationally known on one hand, there was no indoor park, and Hyde Park was either still in its original wooden incarnation, or had just received its equally as appalling Scaletrix upgrade.
Most of the areas most promising kids vanished almost overnight (Leeds resident Wayne Hemmingway was actually name-checked by Baines in an early Sidewalk interview as his tip for great things) with only a handful of the then youth still skating today.
Two of the names which are probably most well known from Leeds in 1998 were relocated Huddersfield head Paul ‘Man’ Silvester, and Rob Burn, who rode for Blueprint for a brief spell during their early years. Whereas Paul is now regarded as a stalwart of the UK scene, Rob went AWOL not too long after he originally appeared, never coming close to fulfilling the promise that he displayed during his fleeting time in the public eye.
Aside from the Blueprint/PNC release ‘Anthems’ and a couple of occasional tricks on Yorkshire scene videos, this Viewfinder section is probably the most concentrated amount of Rob Burn footage that exists.