1986, that was my first encounter with Maradona. Of course not personal but via our homes' Sanyo "Black and White" TV, during the World Cup hosted by Mexico. Interestingly, the "Hand of God" saga I didn't get to watch Live (for some reason I cannot recall for now, besides it's not like I had a premonition that it was going to happen), until months later during one of the Saturday Sports show on NTA, but I saw the final Live and like many people I knew, supported Maradona's Argentina as they soared to victory against the (West) German machine. Afterwards I only followed news about him, without watching much of the Italian league, because at the time there was no means to follow live matches, though I used to follow the English football league on radio, through BBC on shortwave at the time, as a Leeds supporter, ever before I became a Liverpool fan.


While we couldn't watch Live league matches, we had our table soccer as kids, which besides the name, meant we could also play it on the floor. Either on the floor of Leke's veranda, which was smoother than mine, or on the carpeted floor of Muyiwa's parlour with his elder brother, Sherif bullying us to win all his games, when we made their home the turf. We made players of soda bottle tops (aka "counters" whose surfaces we beat in to make them more stable on the ground, and not easily turn over when hit by other "players" or even the "ball" (shirt buttons). The players weren't complete without the numbers, which we cut out of calendars or almanacs. Even when my team wasn't Argentina, my No.10 was always Diego Maradona, and you can then have others like Buruchaga, Valdano and the likes make the team. We used names from players that were involved in the '86 World Cup because they remained popular for a long time, and Maradona's name remained ever present till my set outgrew table soccer.


His exploits at Napoli I pretty much read about In sports magazines, and the praises showered on him by the likes of Segun Aderiye, Yinka Craig, Oyatogun amongst others on NTA WEEKEND SPORTS program, where glimpses, and sometimes full matches were broadcast, though not live. It was also via the same means that I watched the European Cup final which he helped Napoli win, by that time he'd become a phenomenon, though very much hated and derided by the British press who found it hard to forgive him for his hand of God gimmick, but no one doubted his brilliance and mastery of the game in his second goal in that quarter final against England, when he masterfully moved the ball from midline through a maze of England players, to end up netting the goal, in what has been described as the goal of the decade, to goal of the century, and most probably the best goal during a World Cup tournament. It would seem that Maradona had taken revenge, on behalf of Argentinians for the loss inflicted upon them by the British in the Falklands War of 1982.


In the Italia '90 version of the World Cup, even though I wasn't supporting any particular team, any Argentina game was one I paid particular attention to, and though Maradona wasn't outstandingly exceptional like he was in '86, he still managed to guide his side to the final, a repeat of the last final, only that this time around it was won by West Germany. 1990 was the year things were beginning to change in Nigeria, in terms of media, private radio stations were coming up, and soon after private TV stations. Sports program was now not only shown on weekends only, but all day, and with the advent of Cable TV, most of the private TV stations simply rebroadcast what was been shown on foreign TV stations, most times with their logos blocked out, as DBN TV in Lagos was notorious for doing back in those days.


Documentaries and news about Maradona, amongst others started filtering in. His brushes with the law, his use and or abuse of banned substances, and the likes, crises in his private life, career, and everything about him. In the HBO documentary that premiered last year, he was even described as having two personalities, vis Diego and Maradona, the former being the milder, while the latter the extreme in the spectrum of the opposite. Eventually, it world appear that for the latter part of his life, it was the Maradona personality that took overall control.


In 1994, Nigeria made its entrant to the World Cup, and it indeed started well with our trouncing of Bulgaria by three goals to nil. The next day in school, we all Bulgarianized our names, to names like Ijimkov, Adekov, Kazikov, and I was Madukov for that while. Our second game was against Argentina, and Maradona made the team list. We lost that game, after which it made the news that Maradona tested positive for Ephedrine and was disqualified. In those days without social media, it was also rumoured that Nigeria was awarded the match against Argentina, but that turned out to be false. We beat Greece, but couldn't go beyond the second round. There were signs in our game against Argentina that all wasn't well with him any longer, it was later speculated that he was getting into so much trouble with the law, because the mafioso from who he hitherto got some backing, have not only deserted him, but were intentionally making life difficult for him, by setting traps for him, into which he willingly fell.


Misdemeanours continued to trail his career, until he gave it up, and a few years later, tried his hands at coaching, including Argentina, and some clubs in Mexico and the Middle East before and after that respectively; for which he hardly made a success of. In spite of all the negative press, Maradona was not denied his godlike status in Argentina, even in Naples, where he had led them to two domestic league cups, and a European title. Even when he seemed to divide loyalties in Naples, and among Italians before his penalty knocked out Italy from progressing further in the World Cup they hosted in 1990, he was later forgiven, though it felt like he exacted his pound of flesh from the Italians for the way he was treated when he first arrived to play for Neapolitans.


Funny enough for the several other World Cups Nigeria qualified for and to, we got grouped with Argentina, and while Maradona was not there in the team, he was in the stands taunting our team and supporters, and going haywire each time the brilliance from our boys caused his side some trouble. In all of those times, Nigeria never defeated Argentina in competitive matches, rather his excesses was endured by the Nigerian supporters because, well he was Maradona, so much so that at some point he had to call up a female Nigerian fan


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3G5jNKm0zQ

to have a dance with him at the last World Cup in Russia, at yet another Nigeria vs Argentina match. It was his face only that could suggest to you that that was Maradona in that instance, as he'd become overweight and a far cry from what he used to be. Truly, for his age, no one expected him to be what he used to be, but again it was clear even without one being acquainted with news of and about him that something was amis.


Of course, the negative news continued to dog him, and was a tad disconcerting to those who loved him and have been following his career. This time, not of his indiscretions, excesses or indulgences, but of health challenges, obviously as a result of his life's choices. Maradona lived life to the fullest (for lack of a milder word for extreme), and his body paid a huge price for it. In the early days, it seemed like his genius required that he lived thus, that such brilliance wouldn't be satieted only if allowed some excess or the other, as it is with many a genius, for which it would appear that he couldn't help himself. Interestingly, those who followed him seemed to understand that, and did give him a leeway, such that it would seem that nothing he could've committed, would've been so enormous to deny him forgiveness by his fans worldwide.


I'd come back home tired last Wednesday, had dinner and slept off. It was when I woke up to start my routine vigil as an insomniac that my wife informed me of Maradona's passing. Now, my wife is not a football fan, nor a fan of any sports for that matter, she cannot even pretend to like it, even if it is to save her life, yet she must've seen the urgency when it hit her in the face online, or on TV (I was too shocked to find out how she got to hear the news), that she must've considered it to be news I'd probably like to hear. That was how I got to know Maradona, the legend, has passed. You can easily feel the devastation in the voices, tones, even wordings of greats in the sports and elsewhere who have paid tributes to this man, and pictures from Argentina, where three days of mourning was declared for him speaks volumes as to his greatness, this when you consider that this is the Covid-19 era, where a lot of restrictions is in place. Maradona isn't the type of man who will need a monument to be remembered, the way politicians are wont to force their immortalisation on us. He is already seared into our hearts, and will never be forgotten.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://noticias.perfil.com


MARADONA: LEGENDS NEVER DIE https://madukovich./2020/11/28/maradona-legends-never-die/