When news broke that Princess Diana had been killed in a car accident in Paris, one of the first responses from a nation numb with grief was to cancel sport across the UK – but one game went on, writes Andrew Webster
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.
A Broncos match at The Stoop in London on a Sunday afternoon provided entertainment traditional sports like football and rugby did not. 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. 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.
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.
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