Star ‘outshone in match of his life’

18 Jan 2025

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)

MY DAD IS MISCHIEVOUS. 

HE’S GOT THIS NAUGHTINESS, 

THIS TWINKLE IN HIS EYE. 

HE LOVES TO MESS ABOUT.

   - Law’s daughter Diana jnr

MATCH  MADE IN HEAVEN: 

Denis Law returned to Aberdeen in December 1962 

to marry his sweetheart Diana Thomson.

December 11 1962 – it was one midweek match which Denis Law could not miss as he and his bride Diana Thomson tied the knot in Aberdeen.

 

Diana Thomson lived on Great Western Road, Aberdeen.

The day when one of Scotland’s greatest footballers married the love of his life in what would be regarded as a low-key ceremony by today’s standards.

However, there was a huge swell of excitement around the city for the wedding with crowds gathering to wish the happy couple well.

Granite City prodigy Denis, who went on to win 55 caps for his country and became the only Scot to secure the prestigious Ballon d’Or two years later, was the picture of happiness before and after the ceremony at Holburn West Church.

And, although hundreds of people swarmed round the main door of the church for what the Evening Express described as “Aberdeen’s wedding of the year”, the groom and his best man, Frank Sherrett, slipped unobserved into the building by a side door.

The paper reported on how the 22-year-old was “outshone in the match of his life” as it reported on the excitement which built up on a normally quiet Tuesday afternoon.

It added: “Denis might be known as a star Scotland player. But it was his bride, Miss Diana Thomson, who stole the limelight when she turned 30 yards of the city’s busy Great Western Road into a bridal path on her way to marry him.

“The crowd of women and youngsters started to gather more than half-an-hour before the ceremony – and extra police had to be called out to keep the traffic flowing.

“The ‘big match’ atmosphere was there as Miss Thomson, a 23-year-old former secretary, looking as ice-cool as her husband-to-be in big games, stepped from her home at 252 Great Western Road – just three doors away from the church.”

The occasion was very much a family affair with a notable lack of footballers among the 150 guests, although Archie Beattie, who had first spotted Denis’s talent in youth football, was on the list, while several Aberdeen players watched the proceedings.

The Evening Express said: “When they left the church, the newlyweds had to run the gauntlet of an even bigger crowd and onlookers surrounded the bridal car. It was an unforgettable day for the bride’s five attendants: the bridesmaids, Miss Isobel Leith, Aberdeen. Miss Diana Leith, Carlisle and Miss Hazel Chalmers, St Fergus. And the flower girls, Diana Creighton, St Fergus, and Denise Law, Aberdeen.

“The ceremony was conducted by the Rev A G H Grant and the reception followed afterwards at the Northern Hotel.”

Denis later revealed more about how he had encountered his sweetheart and why the couple had chosen to cement their union on one particular day.

He said: “I had only met Di in the summer at a dance hall in Aberdeen, where I was back home during the close season. I was smitten straight away; I knew she was special and I was very keen to see her again.

“She was not from a well-to-do family, but she had certainly enjoyed a much higher standard of living than my family, a few steps up the ladder with an inside toilet and hot water all the time. And we hit it off.

“A few weeks after meeting Di, I went down to sign for Manchester United at Old Trafford. I was reluctant to leave her for any length of time after that, so I decided I would return to Aberdeen after our games on Saturdays.

“It doesn’t sound too difficult, does it? Manchester to Aberdeen should just be an easy little journey.

“But that wasn’t the case back in the early 1960s; it was three flights to get there and another three to get back with British European Airways.

“It was all too much for both of us, so I thought the best thing would be if we were to get married. I asked her, she accepted, and I took her to Manchester.”

He added: “The reason December 11 was picked as our wedding day was because Di’s mother had got married on the 11th. So we were just following family tradition.

“It was the middle of the season, but (United boss) Matt Busby was one of those managers who liked his players to be married, because he felt that it meant you would calm down, leave the nightclubs and pubs alone, and live a cleaner life. 

“Matt looked after us when we moved and that was a great help to us both. We have been blessed in our lives and I am very grateful for everything that Di has done.”

***

Legend’s daughter game for a laugh

Family was always at the heart of Denis Law’s life.

He and Diana had five children – sons Gary, Andrew, Robert and Iain and a daughter Diana jnr.

Law and Diana spent more than 60 happy years together raising their family in and around the Manchester area.

Diana jnr continued her family’s connection to Old Trafford by working in Manchester United’s press office for a spell.

And she certainly inherited her father’s humour – as well as a passion for Scotland despite being raised in Cheshire.

When speaking about Scotland losing out to England in the two-legged qualifying play-offs for Euro 2000, she said: “I was at Hampden with my boyfriend when England made Euro 2000 thanks to Paul Scholes.

“I wore one of Dad’s long-sleeved Scotland shirts for luck, for all the use that was.

“It worked in the second game, though, and I’ll never forget being kissed by this guy wearing a kilt in the freezing Wembley cold after Don Hutchison scored the only goal of the game.”

Photographs of the family together always show a tight unit and, when Law was diagnosed with mixed dementia, he knew he could count on the support of his loved ones.

He said in 2021: “This will not be an easy journey, especially for the people who love you the most.

“I know the road ahead will be hard, demanding, and painful.

“I do understand what is happening and that is why I want to address my situation now while I am able, because I know there will be days when I don’t understand and I hate the thought of that right now.”