When news first broke that Princess Diana had been tragically killed in a car accident in Paris in the early hours of August 31, 1997, one of the first responses from a nation numb with grief was to cancel sport across the United Kingdom.
On the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death, the story of how a rugby league match was allowed to go ahead that day thanks to the efforts of Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson can finally be told.
Virgin founder Richard Branson.Credit:AP
“And it’s some story,” says Barry Maranta, one of the founding fathers of the Brisbane Broncos and chairman and part-owner of the London Broncos at the time.
The Brisbane Broncos had taken control of the London Crusaders in 1994 and, by August 1997, they’d become a force in the Super League competition.
A Broncos match at The Stoop in London on a Sunday afternoon provided entertainment traditional sports like football and rugby did not.
“We had cheerleaders, singers, bands,” Maranta recalled. “I’d brought the principles of American football to rugby league. Nobody else in UK sport was doing that.”
The club was also well-supported by London newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch, who bankrolled the Super League in the UK and, that season, in Australia.
A year earlier, Branson had attended a match at the insistence of some of his Australian employees.
As someone who made a fortune shunning “The Establishment”, who flatly refused to wear a necktie, he instantly fell in love with what he saw.
Sport as entertainment was his kind of sport. He declined an offer to join the Manchester United board and became a director at the Broncos instead.
Maranta was woken in the early hours of August 31, 1997, by his wife, Lyn, who was calling from Australia with the news of Diana’s death.
Portraits of Princess Diana outside the gates of Kensington Palace in London on August 29 last year. August 31 marks the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in a Paris car crash. Credit:AP
Sports immediately started to cancel their fixtures as the nation, indeed the world, struggled to make sense of it all.
By lunchtime, the Premier League had cancelled the only match scheduled that day between Liverpool and Newcastle at Anfield.
The problem for the Super League was its competition was about to play its final round of the home-and-away season, including first-placed Bradford meeting the second-placed London Broncos at a sold-out Stoop.
Indeed, 2500 fans from Bradfield were already on the train making their way to London from the north.
Frantically, Maranta called Branson who then reached out to Home Secretary Jack Straw, who allowed the match to go ahead but under the strictest of conditions.
“There were no cheerleaders, no bands, no music,” Maranta said. “And then, out of nowhere, Richard decided he would provide a eulogy.”
Branson had been a close friend of Diana, and his words just before kick-off were among the first public comments on the day of her death. Cameras and reporters from every major news outlet converged on The Stoop to cover the moment.
With the crowd standing in solemn silence, he read out a heartfelt letter that Diana had written to him when he had rolled his car while driving near his farm in the English countryside some years earlier.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could write that letter to Diana?” he asked the crowd.
The match, played before a crowd of 9166 people, was a cracker.
Former Australian international and Queensland Origin star Tony Currie coached a Broncos side featuring Tulsen Tollett and Shaun Edwards in the halves, and Terry Matterson and recently appointed Manly chief executive Tony Mestrov in the forward pack.
Bradford, coached by former Canberra and Penrith mentor Matt Elliott, fielded a team that included Danny Peacock, Graeme “The Penguin” Bradley, Robbie Paul, Brian McDermott and current Catalans coach Steve McNamara.
The Broncos also featured flying England winger Martin “Chariots” Offiah who had been selected at the insistence of Branson himself despite concerns about Offiah’s defence in such an important match.
“You can’t drop Martin Offiah!” Branson protested to Maranta earlier that week. “He’s the fifth-sexiest man in Europe!”
As it transpired, the fifth-sexiest man in Europe scored the match-winning try on full-time, handing the Broncos a 28-24 victory.
“I told you we had to pick him!” Branson declared.
A week later, Branson phoned Maranta and asked, “Why shouldn’t I buy this team?”
Maranta was keen to return to Brisbane and agreed for Virgin to take a majority share in the club.
“Two years later, they made the Challenge Cup final against Leeds,” Maranta said. “And Richard walked out onto Wembley, no blazer or tie.”
Branson sold out of the club in 2002 but his involvement on that terrible day, 25 years ago, remains strong in the memory of those involved with the London Broncos.
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