Maradona sport’s answer to Jacko
The King of Pop had not recorded for eight years, and it was the combination of his music and how he conducted his life that attracted such fascination.
For sheer profile and recognition around the globe, Michael Jordan, David Beckham and Tiger Woods have each garnered passionate support on every continent.
There may be a few skeletons jangling around in their cupboards but not one of them has managed to flirt with disaster like Jackson.
The sound of a police siren holds no fear and is, for each, associated with others being ushered out of their way.
Sporting hero of the 1960s George Best became a parody of his own fame, lacking the determination to climb back to the top.
When he eventually left us, those who mourned his talent all had long and selective memories.
There is only one who could claim to be up there with the great moonwalker and that is Diego Maradona.
Top of his profession as a player for over 20 years, he shared with Pele the title of FIFA Player of the Century.
Along the way, he was suspended for 15 months in 1991 for failing a doping test for cocaine, was sent home from the 1994 World Cup in the USA for using ephedrine, was reviled by English fans for his ‘Hand of God’ goal and yet was appointed head coach of Argentina last November.
That one promises to run and run.
Maradona is only a couple of years younger than Michael Jackson and was equally a precocious talent.
They both managed their careers with astute efficiency, in Jackson’s case, for example, dispensing with the services of Don King as tour manager in 1984.
Both reached global fame by filling in the gaps between appearances with headlines that kept grabbing attention.
Not that we want our sporting heroes to die young, but if football really has designs on world domination the marketing men advising Ronaldo and Rooney need to study this extraordinary tale.
Technology can stamp out villains
TWO moments in the Lions’ Test defeat by South Africa on Saturday made viewers doubt what they were watching.
In the first minute Schalk Burger forgot to check whether we all had a clear view as he administered medieval surgery without anaesthetic on Luke Fitzgerald’s eye.
And in the final minute Ronan O’Gara, the scourge of Kingsholm, forgot the basics and committed the foul that opened the door for the hosts to grab victory.
To add insult to injury, Springboks coach Peter de Villiers defended what should have been a dismissal, not 10 minutes in the sin bin.
Regardless of when the offence was committed, the same technology that proved South Africa had scored their late touchline try should be available to officials during the game, not just for the citing committee days later.
Ten minutes should be quite long enough, while the offender is off the field, for officials to review such an incident and come to a decision whether to allow him to return.
That would soon stamp out pre-meditated or spontaneous fouls that the referee and assistants are required to judge live.
There was no such doubt about the decision to penalise O’Gara. One of several Lions to carry an injury, his commitment to make a last-gasp effort will remain with him as a mental scar long after all the tissue damage has repaired.
A MINUTE’s silence during the British Derby meeting at Hickstead was a simple tribute to Douglas Bunn, who died last week at 81.
He re-invented showjumping with his arena that featured the fearsome Derby Bank.
This was a sport going nowhere when the inventive Bunn copied an idea he had seen in Germany, and it became as famous a signature obstacle as Beecher’s Brook.
Hats off to true pioneer Bunn
A MINUTE’s silence during the British Derby meeting at Hickstead was a simple tribute to Douglas Bunn, who died last week at 81.
He re-invented showjumping with his arena that featured the fearsome Derby Bank.
This was a sport going nowhere when the inventive Bunn copied an idea he had seen in Germany, and it became as famous a signature obstacle as Beecher’s Brook.
Never a man to take a step backwards in an argument, it was Harvey Smith’s ‘V-sign’ in 1971 that made the Master of Hickstead a household name.
Smith had forgotten to return the Derby trophy he won the previous year and claimed that would be of no consequence as he intended to win it again.
At his moment of triumph, any reference he claimed to Winston Churchill was purely coincidental.
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