Maradona In Action With His Superhero Suit V Scotland At Hampden Park In 1981.
The death of Maradona reverberates around the world, even the iconic All Blacks
paying tribute yesterday in a rugby match against of all teams Argentina in the
Tri-Nations League Match. They placed a All Blacks shirt with Maradona's name on the back of the shirt, placing it in front of them before
starting the Haka, the war cry of the All Blacks.
Part of our past has left us,many of us including me grew up watching Maradona and got a glimpse of him
whenever we could, this was in the time when players were like Gods who visited
us from the heavens through a portal called TV and altars of worship were built
around a wall poster.
A glimpse it was, a precious moment in the 90 minutes to
catch him before he disappeared back to the heavens. It was not like now,with a
deluge of Tweets, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube postings, Satellite TV etc to
give us more and more of the superstar, till we knew what their grand father ate
for breakfast.
There was no internet or mobile technology at that time when
Maradona was at the peak of his powers. The debate for who is the greatest between Pele and Maradona is
still on, though FIFA did not want to offend anybody and named both as the joint
players of the century, Pele though was also named as the athlete of the century
by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and scored a thousand over goals
and won three World Cups, though he did it with great players around him unlike
Maradona, the counter argument can be that Pele also had great opponents and at
that time the ball was not like what it was in the 1970s or 80s so-much lighter
or the boots for that matter, but there can be counter-arguments by both sets
of fans and even a neutral could find it hard to stay neutral here.
The fact that Maradona was caught for taking drugs in the 1994 World Cup and was involved
in the drugging of Brazilian players in their World Cup match against Brazil in
1990, which led to some Brazilian players getting drowsy and eventually losing
the match makes the argument and the winning of Pele the best ever more easier.
It does not help that Pele has a degree in physical education and went on to be a
minister, while Maradona was ejected from the 1994 World Cup for taking drugs,it is like Pele the King v Maradona the Prince of darkness.
There was a
period when they were at each others' throats though we do not know who fired
the first salvo, it became often and the media were used like mortar to voice
it. It finally stopped and both made peace, the debate then moved on between
Maradona and Messi and Maradona claiming Messi has no personality. That debate
went on like a house on fire and still burns today among fans and many still-
especially Argentinians try to wash down the embers of fire like a house down to
the ashes and firemen finally putting it down.
The point is Maradona was someone a average man could relate to, he was not a sports man, yes you would not want
to point to a kid and say that is who you should strive to be, but on the
flipside, if a kid, a teen or a adult had fallen to the dark side and went into
drugs and you needed him to pick himself up, you could point to him, because every time Maradona fell even after his playing days, Maradona fought back,
surgery or rehabilitation and from Mexico to the Middle-East he still wielded
power and was engaged as a manager for various clubs from both these regions.
Maradona was like a character out of the Hindu scripture, The Bhagavad Gita.
He was a rebel of the game, yes terrible life off the field, I think we would not
have it any other way though, from the same country of Che Guevara, ultimate
representation of the rebel. Maradona even has a tattoo of Che on his right arm,
Argentina's and Maradona's defeat of England in the 1986 World Cup was revenge
on the Falklands war and up yours to Thatcherism, how the win could not have
been more sweeter for Argentinians, with an unfair goal...(hand of God) and
virtuoso goal in the second, two contrasting styles that put England to bed like
a rebel who first slices a soldier who still lingers on trying to fight (first
goal) and then thrusts the dagger in for the final finish (second goal) in the
2-1 finish of England.
The fact that he cheated England out of the World Cup,
was even more sweeter and could not have rewarded Argentinians more in regards
to the Falklands war.
It would not have been great if Argentina won it fair and square, the fact that Maradona did it in two totally opposite ways to kill England off, was what made Argentinians celebrate it and talk about it till today and made it so hard for England to swallow it. For Argentina and Maradona, it was a win that was not just on a football scoreboard, but on a Geo-political
one, this is where it mattered most, the lead here made it so-much sweeter and he became the icon of anti-establishment and a voice for Latin America and the left, only here they could not shoot Maradona and cut of his hands like the CIA
did to Che Guevara, but to pour scorn in every imaginable way and by using the
media.
When Maradona landed in Scotland in 2008 when managing Argentina, he was
cheered on, not just for his stunning performance at Hampden Park against
Scotland in a friendly in 1979 that announced his arrival to the elite stage of
football, but because of his "win" against England in the 1986 World Cup in
Mexico. England were the most bitter rivals of Scotland, if you need any example
of Geo-politics, google these two nations too.
Let us not forget his time in
Italy in Naples, when he single-handedly took Napoli to domestic
trophies and a European trophy, for those who remember Napoli, Napoli were
like... the Burnley of Italy at that time (no disrespect to Burnley). To be fair
he was later joined by two great players from Brazil in the form of Careca and
Alemao, their escapades captured in beautiful words by John Ludden in the book
titled ; Once Upon A Time In Naples.
Maradona captured the essence of football at its most visceral or primal way, he
played it like a typical street footballer, something even Messi cannot do,
Messi is more like a freak in nature, a brain that has a chip implanted that
knows when to move right and left leaving players in their wake. Maradona was a
trickster, he battled and conjured tricks like a street magician, each time a
player trying to wrestle the ball away from him, Maradona would find a way to
beat him, they would multiply in numbers, but Maradona still found a way and
this was when referees were not giving much protection, compared to now where
strikers are treated like endangered species.
When Johan Cruyff the Dutch
Football maestro passed away a few years back, the world took notice, but not in
the gargantuan proportions that we are seeing now, Pele though older to Maradona
maybe might not even reach this massive footnote in history like Maradona when
he eventually leaves planet earth and why the bias towards Maradona being
better? Maradona was entering the age of the TV revolution, something Pele and
other greats did not face much, TV though present, radio was still king,
footballers were not always on the TV, only World Cup matches were big then in
the early 1970s and before.
So the spotlight was not shining on them much and
even if it was, it was somuch easier to handle media for the players compared to later years.
The first colour telecast was the 1970 World Cup in Mexico and still many people
did not have TVs at that time let alone colour a TV. But every year the sale of
TV was growing exponentially especially after the 70 World Cup, as black and
white prices were coming down, sales of TV were picking up all around the world. More jobs were
created, more journalists, more broadcasters, more coverage, more shows etc. In
Maradona's time TV sales were increasing each time, colour TVs were becoming a
vogue, Cable TVs were popping up slowly, but surely. More spotlight..more
newsrooms, add to this newspapers and magazines were popping up everywhere. The
pressure was also mounting on Maradona, no excuse I suppose for his involvement
with drugs, but this was a kid from the ghetto who only knew one thing, how to
caress the ball on a green patch laid out for thousands to watch and not knowing
how to handle the spotlight. Add the transfer to mafia controlled Napoli in the
heart of Naples, you cannot imagine what Maradona was going through, he
only knew one language too and his whole world was wrapped around in such a
small sphere.
It is rumored that the Mafia got him to Napoli because they could
control the matches and ask him to lose. Still with all that he won trophies
with Napoli. Fact is Mafia did control Napoli at that time.
Perhaps this with the possible threat to the family got to him and this after his disastrous
Barcelona transfer and almost career threatening injury. He only knew one thing,
playing football, Maradona also had people around him whom he trusted too much
and did not have a strong hand of influence, perhaps in this time and age of
super-agents, Maradona might not have fallen into this trap, hindsight is the
most beautiful thing in life. What we cannot deny is ; he was a marvel with the
ball, In this age of academies and straight jacket football, is it any wonder
that we only have two greats like Godzilla v King Kong in the form of Messi and
Ronaldo fighting each other with majority of mediocre players around them?
Pele
had great players and opponents too, but Maradona also had great players as
opponents in the form of Rumenigge, Francescolli, Platini, Zico, Matthaus,
Laudrup, Bryan Robson, Dalglish, Romario, Hugo Sanchez, Falcao, etc Pele's
generation of fans are also far less compared to the ones living now like me who
got to see Maradona, so this biased lens is what is driving "The Maradona is the
world's greatest". There are many angles to look at and some will say that Messi
is even greater than Maradona. The point here is not that, but the joy and hope
Maradona brought to many of us world wide when he played and the stand still of
the world when he was in motion with the ball and the rest of the opponents
looking like rag dolls around him when trying to get the ball, is something we
cannot bring back or create, the novelty of that, that innocence which Maradona gave us, nobody after that can, no matter how good they are.
Though we are glad that academies can still produce great footballers like Ronaldo and Messi and it gives us hope, the raw and
primal spirit of Maradona who was spotted by a scout playing football in a
wasteland is something we still yearn to hear, he was not
preciously wrapped like Messi was from Newell's Old Boys to Barcelona at 13, but
late, starting at Argentinos Juniors his first proper professional club. Before
Argentinos Juniors, at age eight he joined Las Cebollitas (“The Little Onions”),
a boys’ team that went on to win 136 consecutive games and a national
championship. He signed with Argentinos Juniors at age 14 and made his
first-division debut in 1976, 10 days before his 16th birthday.
From there he moved to his beloved Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla, Newell's Old Boys
and finally back to Boca Juniors.
How these clubs will treasure and savour the
fact Maradona played for them, even Sevilla the Kings of Europa League
will probably milk to the best and can even have a room or museum dedicated to
the sole season he had at Sevilla. Maradona was a "player" a maverick and wore
his heart on his sleeve, he was not the typical clean shaven sports man with
kool Ad of him on TV, his name plastered on products.
He was the guy a mother would not want their daughter dating (truth be told rightly so) he was the under
dog and boy did he speak for them, but even this narrative is nothing if his
ball playing ability was not heavenly as he showed to the world countless times,
this together with his imperfect life not harming anyone though, but himself,
made him the champion of the under dog, the boxer who gets up again and again to
fight, he was probably a angel who fell to earth accidentally and instead of
playing with planets and the stars setting them to orbits and controlling them
with his feet, he fell down hard not knowing where he came from and mistook a
ball as one, here on earth he took the mantle of the warrior, he has now
returned to heaven, the fallen angel taking his rightful place among the planet
and the stars, RIP Maradona and thanks
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