People’s champion

How often have you heard folk talking of the greatest ever player? Many times
no doubt. I have been fortunate enough to have watched several of these
outstanding players including George Best, Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit,
Michael Platini, Eric Cantona, Kenny Dalglish and Liam Brady. But without
doubt there is only one that I can honestly say was out of this world - Diego
Armando Maradona.

No article about Napoli, Argentina or world soccer could be written without
mentioning his name. He’s done it, seen it, sniffed it, worn the T-shirt,
made the video, recorded the song, retired and made so many comebacks that
even Elvis Presley’s manager would be proud of the publicity.

What Diego meant to football in Naples is something almost too complex to
explain. He was the symbol of the 80s. Without ever seeing him, or knowing a
Neapolitan at that time, it is impossible to conceive what he meant for the
inhabitants of that sprawling, almost third world city.

He was loved immediately on his arrival. He was every mother’s son, everyone
’s brother, every girl’s boyfriend. He was the man who would show the rest
of the world that Napoli could and would teach everyone else how to play
football. Apart from his calcio skills, his social importance was of enormous
benefit to people’s self esteem and he soon became the idol of the people.

Naples is not a rich city and the slums, where he was put on the same
pedestal as the Virgin Mary, were atrociously poor. However Diego, unlike so
many of the greats, helped people forget their problems. He alleviated the
pain and misery that walked hand in hand down the flapping, washing
line-strewn back streets. He was the people’s champion. He was seen as a ‘
liberator’ for many, somebody who could give them an aim in life.

Neapolitans are famous for their spontaneity, for their happy-go-lucky
approach. They have to be, otherwise they would die of hopelessness. Once you
are aware of this passion that beats inside them then you can appreciate how
and why the citizens went bananas over him. He was a hero for everybody.

To think it all started in a run down slum in Lanus, a small city in the
province of Buenos Aires. Born on October 30, 1960, he was given his first
football as a three-year-old by his uncle Cirilo. At eight he was the star of
Estrella Roja Red Star, where a scout for Argentina Juniors, Francisco
Cornejo claimed: "He came from another planet. From the start he seemed able
to do whatever he wanted to do with the ball. He dribbled better than the
others and he showed such sharp control when stopped or turning. He could
also hold the ball on his head or his left foot for ages."

A year later Diego and his pals started their own team, the Little Onions.
They were so good Argentina Juniors signed the whole team up en bloc as one
of the club’s junior sides. Ten days before his sixteenth birthday in 1976
he made his first team debut for Argentina Juniors as a sub. The following
week he made his full debut against Newell’s Old Boys. In February 1977, he
made his full international debut against Hungary in a friendly.

Then two years later in 1979 he was captain of the Argentina Youth team that
won their version of the World Cup. A year later saw the first of many
records broken when was sold for ￡1m to Boca Juniors. In 1982 Barcelona came
in with another record fee of ￡5m and took him to Spain. At that time
Spanish football was particularly brutal and he came in for some of the
barbarous treatment that saw him unable to play without pain killing
injections later in his career. One particularly notorious assault by Andoni
Goicochea saw the world’s most expensive player sidelined for four months.

So when Napoli came in with a ￡5m offer in 1984 he jumped at the chance to
get away from Spain. In Naples, a team that had won nothing for all their
devoted support, he was welcomed like a returning king. It was the third time
he had broke the world transfer fee and in his first season he played 30
matches. His 14 goals led Napoli to eighth position as Verona won the title.

In 1986 he led his country to a World Cup final. Argentina, inspired by
Diego, beat Germany 3-2 and he was voted player of the tournament. A year
later he inspired Napoli that elusive first Scudetto, a title no club from
the south had ever won. And they completed a superb double by lifting the
Coppa Italia. By now he was God in Naples and could do no wrong.

The following season the club came second, three points behind Milan after a
disastrous run when they lost a five-point lead. In 1989 they came second
again, this time to Inter. But they did win the UEFA Cup.

However, the following season the club won their second title. It was a real
feat considering that previously the title appeared to belong to a cartel of
northern clubs. Diego and Napoli symbolised the poor forgotten south against
the wicked oppressive north. David had beaten Goliath for the second time.

It is impossible to describe how much Diego and those title wins meant to
Neapolitans, football fans or not. Perhaps a few figures can give some idea
of how much football and Diego meant to the city. In his first season some
67,000 season tickets were sold. In 1985-86 the club had more than 70,000
season ticket holders. Wedding rings, cars and family heirlooms were sold off
to buy tickets. Over 15,000 fans hit the road to Turin for a title showdown
with Juventus that year.

His undisputed popularity was of course based on his footballing skills. But
his fame could not have been possible were there not parallels between his
outrageous style and that of the city’s. He was skilful, a joker, cunning, a
lover of the dramatic and was forever in the company of friends and family.

Banners in the legendary Curva B displayed such metaphors as: ‘Napoli raise
your eyes and look at the sky, it’s the only thing greater than you.’ ‘The
immensity of the sky is not enough to express our love for you.’ ‘The
Blues, you’re Beethoven’s tenth.’ ‘After God, Diego and Napoli, Long live
the south.’ My personal favourite was a banner displaying all the playful
contrivance of the irony of the club and the city’s position in the grand
order of things in Italy: ‘Children of the sun snatch the Championship from
the children of the cold.’

As an outsider used to the thinly disguised self-congratulatory slogans of
English stadiums, these self-mocking slogans were all the more original.
Responding to the outright racism of the northern fans and the typical
banners of theirs that said things like ‘Welcome to Italy Neapolitans,’ the
Napoli ultras replied: ‘Milan, Turin, Bergamo…is this Italy? It’s better
being Africans.’

All this joy was down to one man, Maradona and no matter what the media would
have you believe Diego made a lot of people very happy. He was great player,
incomparable. "Pele was the supreme player of his era; Maradona is the
pre-eminent player of his time. You cannot compare them. Such greatness does
not submit to comparison.," said Cesar Luis Menotti, former manager of
Argentina.

However, it all started to go wrong. But not before Maradona led Argentina
back to the 1990 World Cup final only to be beaten by a cynical Germany 1-0.
In 1991 he failed an Italian FA dope test and was banned for 15 months after
the test proved positive. Diego and his fans claimed it was a plot and a
revenge for the goal that knocked Italy out of the 1990 World Cup. Although
at the time it seemed paranoia, with the serious problems today surrounding
the very same lab where the test were made after Zdenek Zeman’s accusations,
maybe Diego had something after all.

He left his beloved Napoli after falling out with the management and in 1992
attempted a comeback in Spain with Seville but the following year he was
given the sack by the club. He moved back to Argentina and tried again with
Newell’s Old Boys and was restored as captain in the World Cup play-off
games with Australia.

Argentina squeezed through but in the 1994 finals he was sadly found positive
after another drugs test after the second game in the finals. He was
subsequently banned again but still refused to accept his fate and defied the
world again with his snarling grin into the cameras after scoring his last
ever World Cup goal.

In October 1995 Oxford University gave him an honorary Master’s degree with
the title Master Inspirer of Dreams. And that is probably the best place to
leave Diego, a man more than any footballer before him, who really
represented the people who he played for.

Diego, just pure magic

I was lucky enough to watch Diego for two whole seasons in Naples. With my
father-in-law being a Neapolitan, it wasn’t too hard to get tickets even
when they were sold out! For one game in 1987-88, against Fiorentina, I was
sat level with the halfway line opposite the main stand.

Halfway through the game goalkeeper Galli flung the ball out to Diego. He was
15 feet away from me when he started his run. With a momentary glance over
his shoulder, he allowed the ball to fall on the Achilles heel of his right
foot. He then flicked the ball up his back and over his head as a poor
deluded Fiorentina defender came steaming in.

Catching it again on his left thigh, he pushed the ball up over the head of
the defender, side-stepped him, caught the ball on its way back down. Before
it could touch the ground, he volleyed it to one of his teammates running up
through the middle. Breathless and breathtaking, it all happened in one
movement lasting perhaps two or three seconds. He then ran forward to reach
the penalty area, received the ball back and unleashed a powerful,
unstoppable exocet into the top corner. Pure magic.

STAR RATING 9/10 A brilliant performer who single-handedly turned sleeping
giants Napoli into a world force and raised the spirits of their down-trodden
fans. Although now sadly in the headlines more for his off-field activities,
his sheer footballing genius will never be forgotten.

Diego Armando Maradona
Born: Lanus (Argentina), 30/10/60
Ht/Wt: 5.5 ft 12st 5lbs
Position: Striker/midfielder
Clubs: Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Seville, Newell’
s Old Boys, Boca Juniors
International record: 90 games 33 goals
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