El Diego
You seem to always remember where you were or what you were doing when certain famous people pass away. I was on my cousin’s stag pounding away limoncellos when I heard Muhammad Ali died. I came home from the park high as fuck to hear Michael Jackson died. I even remember when Princess Diana died, thankfully I wasn’t drinking or smoking weed at the age of 6.
I’m by all accounts, a football geek and have been most of my life and probably always will be (no matter how much Arsenal eat my soul away every year). There were only three names that I would hear growing up in the 90’s when I was on a playground/park playing football- Pele, Ronaldo and Maradona.
I never saw Maradona play, his pomp was before my time. Instead I only heard these mythical tales from elders about this diminutive Argentinian extraordinaire who was the greatest footballer they’d ever seen. It added to his legendary aura because in those days, there were no video archives accessible to me to just simply Google him. In essence, almost like a religion, I was seduced into having this blind faith from their doctrine and stories of a man who I had no idea about. There was also the other side of the story where I was told that Maradona was a joke of a man, who was the criminal and drug addict that cost England the World Cup. Just like Beckham did, Gazza did, Rooney/CR7 did, goal line technology did, Roy Hodgson did and Harry Kane squaring for Sterling did *rolls eyes*. For me Maradona is comparable to another one of my heroes growing up as a kid, Tupac Shakur. Similarly to Tupac, if you ask 10 different people what they think of Maradona, you’ll probably get 10 different answers. Both were flawed but their talent and brave maverick attitudes allowed them to transcend both their occupations into popular mainstream culture.
Off The Field Problems
It was only until 2005 when I bought his book, I read and began to understand his story. Rags to riches is essentially the perfect summary of Diego Maradona’s life. He was born into a really poor shantytown neighbourhood where he would often be called the ‘little black kid’ (for the colour of his hair by the way not his skin). By no means of his own, Maradona then became a God to the people of Naples in Italy by guiding them to two championships and European success. By the way for context this is like Maradona going to Burnley and winning them the league and Champions League. Italian football was the creme de le creme in these days and was the most physical too. He was getting lumps kicked out of him every week but still managed to persevere without complaints.
The fame and those riches however, do usually come at a cost and the life in Naples slowly began to suffocate him. Maradona lost control of his life there by partying, doing drugs, having affairs and getting too cozy with the Neapolitan Mafia. It really shows the importance of having strong support groups in professional sports to make sure athletes don’t go down this road again and especially anyone as gifted as Maradona was. Of course, Maradona was also a grown man, and was responsible for his own poor decisions which he had to live with, but it seems no-one really helped him through this. Partly also due to his masculinity issues which perhaps prevented him from seeking help because he was idolised as the hero to so many and didn’t want his family to worry. Maradona was so talented and yet he didn’t really have the tools to be able to deal with his stardom.
The Hand of God
On the International stage no player has ever come close to the heights of Diego Maradona. He single handedly won Argentina the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, a feat so impressive that it hasn’t been done since. The explosive quarter final with England lives in the memories of everyone who was privileged enough to be alive to watch it. Don’t want to harp on about politics but another subplot to this some people may not know is that England and Argentina were at war 4 years prior to this moment in 1986. Hundreds died on both sides, more so for Argentina who were forced to surrender. When geo politics and sport mix together it’s almost certainly going to end in controversy as did this one. Many feared it could lead to a really combustible situation with fans off the field which would transcend into the dressing rooms of the players. Thankfully that didn’t happen.
Argentina weren’t a good side either, but they managed to channel their energies and build the team around Maradona- their one great player. The first flash moment was the infamous ‘The Hand of God’ where Maradona who was only 5ft 5 scored a goal with his hand and out-leaped a 6ft 4 man in Peter Shilton to fist the ball into an open net. The referee hadn’t seen it and the goal was allowed to stand, much to the dismay of the English players. Cheating yes, funny because it happened to England? Also yes.
“It wasn’t revenge for the boys who fell during that war, because nothing could bring one of those lives back, even if we scored 7 against England. Those English players had not killed a single Argentinean, we knew that very well. But they were representing a nation that had killed Argentineans” (Diego Maradona, 2010).
The Goal of the Century
5 minutes later, Maradona once again was centre stage as he scored arguably the greatest goal ever in a World Cup. Picked the ball up near the centre circle and proceeded to pirouette, slalom and dance past half the England team who were trailing in his wake. The goal and commentary from Victor Hugo Morales still makes my hairs stand on end. I even put a stank face on sometimes and mutter “forget it”. In many ways it was the perfect juxtaposition of this remarkable player. One minute he’s knicked a goal through a handball which is against the rules. Then within the rules, he goes past everyone to almost prove the cheating doesn’t even make a difference. He’s so good he’ll score at any given moment anyway. Hand of God or not, Argentina we’re still probably going to win that game with Diego Maradona, no-one was stopping him that day not even Mike Tyson as he said in an interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaxnk-Si61Y
Overall though, Maradona’s passing this week hit me and others around the world harder than I thought. He transcended the sport of football and not many athletes are able to do this, I can only think of perhaps Muhammad Ali, Usain Bolt, Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer who will dine from this table too. Maradona was an inspiration because he struggled with drug abuse, infidelity and alcohol almost his whole life, there are millions of people around the world going through that too. To see the best footballer of all time go through it too almost brings him down from the unnatural demigod status he has in Argentina and Naples and prove he was just a normal bloke with normal common problems too. That being said, he lived his best life all the way until the end and who am I or we to tell anyone how to live their lives. His death will be mourned for a long time in Argentina, Naples and all around the world. It seems whichever God you believe in needs a №10 for a match up in the heavens this week and thought “Sod this I need Diego”. This isn’t just any footballer passing away. He was the hope, joy and inspiration to an entire nation (and Naples). He was misunderstood, chaotic and flawed but undeniably- revered by all.
Never will there be another Diego Maradona. RIP.
Leaving you with Manu Chao- Va Vida Tombola, you’ll see why..
KR
