It was that off-field revolution that was truly ground-breaking and it took only a small leap of faith to conclude that the game

It was that off-field revolution that was truly ground-breaking and it took only a small leap of faith to conclude that the game as a whole could benefit from the same philosophy.There was general approval when Deakin was appointed marketing director of Super League (Europe) in 1997, with a brief to bring the same flair to bear on all the clubs in the competition, but it proved the most frustrating time of his career in rugby. During his short time at SLE, he felt marginalised, but he was about to make a more radical move.Deakin’s reputation had spread well beyond the confines of rugby league and, after just two months at SLE, he was head-hunted by rugby union. The Saracens’ owner, Nigel Wray, was an admirer and took him to Vicarage Road to try to enliven the club the way he had Bradford. Union was trying to adapt to the changed world of professional rugby, with the attendant need to generate more revenue.

Although the ground at Watford was a very different place from Odsal, Deakin had much of the same success in generating an exhilarating match-day atmosphere, even persuading a large proportion of the crowd to wear the fez which he made the club’s trademark.Where Saracens led, other clubs followed, but rugby league had always been Deakin’s first love and he yearned for a club of his own in that code. That club, in 1999, was Warrington, where he became chief executive. Again, Deakin’s promotional flair was in evidence, but despite high-profile signings like the Australian scrum-half Allan Langer, supporters’ awakened expectations were not translated into success on the field.Deakin also failed to engineer a ground-sharing scheme, under which Sale rugby union club would move in with Warrington at a new stadium in the town. After just one season, there was another twist in that saga when Deakin left Warrington to become chief executive at Sale.

It was as though neither code of rugby could, on its own, offer sufficient scope for his restless energies.Sale, with the league convert Jason Robinson as the keynote player Deakin had always believed a club needs, achieved great success with him at the helm, before he returned for a second stint with Saracens.When he was diagnosed with a brain tumour, Deakin moved back to the north to be near his family. For all the breadth of his rugby experience, he once defined his perfect rugby day as watching Oldham St Anne’s with his brothers. Through all his varied adventures in the two codes, he preferred to describe himself as “a grass-roots rugby league man”.Peter Deakin was also remembered on the other side of the world. When Smith heard of his death, he dedicated his Parramatta side’s victory in the World Sevens in Sydney that weekend to his former colleague at Bradford.