Lawrence Bruno Nero Dallaglio is one of the great characters of the sporting world and one of the great rugby players of all-time. When he comes onto the pitch his supporters cheer, while the opponents jeer.

Dallaglio looks every inch an emperor as he surveys the cheers and the jeers. In a match against Perpignan, the crowd was fanatically behind the French side and at the outset booed Lawrence, who was playing for Wasps. But after a great game of rugby, the same crowd stood, applauded and sang Dallaglio’s name!

Behind Lawrence is a loving family. His mother Eileen is from the east-end of London and his father Vincent is from Torino in Italy. Eileen’s mother was from Cork. Vincent (Vincenzo) lived through the Second World War in Turin where food was in short supply. Eileen is the ninth of ten children. She remembers as a little girl a lot of laughter and the singing of Irish songs in the family. While her son Lawrence’s greatest memory is of growing up in a loving and caring family, full of hugs and kisses. He had an older sister Francesca who was a wonderful person. He describes her as the first person who believed in him and gave him courage.

As a child, Francesca showed talent as a ballerina and at the age of ten she won a scholarship to learn dance and ballet. Lawrence tells how as a young boy he used to love to “try and run with the gangs”. His mother Eileen would arrive, lecture "the gangs" on their behaviour and bring the embarrassed Lawrence home, where she and Vincent would try to talk some sense into him. When Lawrence was in the dog-house, Francesca would come to him to soothe his pain and tell him how much she loved him and believed in him and how much Eileen and Vincent really cared.

This gift of believing in people was a great trait of the young Francesca. When one of her friends was taken into care and was extremely lonely and despondent, Francesca brought Eileen to visit her and later brought both Eileen and Vincent. She even suggested to her parents, who were working hard to keep herself and Lawrence in education, that they adopt her friend.

Times were hard – but love won the day. The Dallaglios had a new daughter. The love she received turned her life around and she is now a successful professional and happily married. Francesca knew what she was doing!

Francesca’s career looked like taking off in ballet. She was the pride and joy of the family. That Saturday evening, 19 August 1989, there was a party on a pleasure boat called the Marchioness. Some time between 3-4am in the morning the father of Francesca’s boyfriend, John, rang her parents’ house to say there had been a collision on the Thames and the Marchioness had sunk.

Francesca was missing. She was later found among the dead. Eileen went into shock from which she says she did not recover for 15 years. Vincent tried to be stoic to keep the others strong, but when they saw what had happened to Francesca's body at the hands of the coroner he had a mild heart attack. There were many inquests, hearings and legal battles that followed the collision in which 51 young people lost their lives. Eileen intends to tell the story of how she, as one of the families, suffered at the hands of the justice system. It’s a story of faith which will give courage to all who seek justice.

Lawrence was devastated by the death of Francesca. He was angry that at 19 she had died so young. She had so much to offer as a person and professionally as a ballerina. He wondered at the fairness of life. He confesses in his book, In the Blood: My life, that he closed down internally and kept the sadness to himself. He felt it made him a little cold.

In 2005, his relationship with his wife Alice and his children looked like it was breaking down. He was injured on the Lions tour. When he came home, in an effort to make up with Alice, he agreed to get counselling. While doing so he was asked why he hadn’t visited Francesca’s grave. This gave him the opportunity to talk about his feelings of anger and deep grief. Once he did this he began to heal. It is this part of his book which in my opinion, is the most beautiful. He was reconciled with Alice and the kids.

When Eileen was feeling very broken in her battle for justice to get the truth about the boat’s collision, she confesses she lost courage once. But she says she always found great solace in her faith and would also go to the 8.30 Mass every morning in her parish church. But one particular day she felt she was beaten. She came home after Mass and knelt to pray in Francesca’s room. She apologised to Francesca and told her she was beaten.

A letter from Francesca’s drawer fell to the floor. Eileen picked it up and found a poem that was very special to Francesca. She read the following:
“There are times in every life when we feel hurt and alone.
I believe these are really badges of growth.
We struggle to find the security of what was.
In spite of ourselves we emerge on the other side
with an awareness, a new understanding, a new strength.
It’s almost as if we have to go through the pain and the suffering
in order to grow and reach new heights.”

Eileen got off her knees with faith and courage renewed. She continued to campaign for justice and in the end, due to changes in the law, many other potential accidents were averted. It is estimated about 400 lives have been saved because of the new safety laws that came in. Francesca’s flame lives on in so many people.



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