Advertisement
Become a member of the Big Issue community
JOIN
News

Watch Maradona play a charity match in 'a potato field' for a sick child

Diego Maradona proved he had a big heart fitting for a giant of the game during one winter incident in 1980s Naples.

Image credit: Wagner Fontoura/Flickr

The sporting world is mourning the death of Diego Maradona, widely believed to be one of the greatest football players of all time.

The infamous Argentine was named the FIFA Player of the Century in 2000 for his mind-bending feats of skill and agility. But he was also no stranger to controversy.

As well as a reputation for dabbling in illicit substances, “The Golden Kid” was renowned and derided — in the UK at least — for a goal-scoring handball against England in the 1986 World Cup.

But one incident some 18 months earlier showed he had a big heart fitting for a giant of the game.

Maradona arrived at Napoli in the summer of 1984 for a world record fee, greeted by 75,000 fans at the Stadio San Paolo and hailed as a “saviour”.

A local newspaper was even reported to be so overjoyed it claimed the city had no “mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation [but] none of this matters because we have Maradona.”

Advertisement
Advertisement

Barely six months into the contract, he was approached by a reserve team player who had been contacted by a desperate father in the nearby town of Acerra. The man’s son was sick, Maradona was told, and without an operation in France he might die.

Would Maradona play a charity match and raise money to save a young fan’s life?

The 23-year-old superstar, who himself grew up poor in a Buenos Aires shantytown, would never turn down such a request.

Napoli president Corrado Ferlaino was less enthusiastic, according to Corriere Della Serra, an Italian national newspaper, unwilling to risk having his star player kicked about a suburban playing field by amateurs.

Undeterred, Maradona reportedly paid the release clause in the club’s insurance contract himself, remarking “fuck the Lloyds of London. This game has to be played for that child”.

The pitch, Corriere reported, was more like a “potato field”. Footage shows the world’s most expensive footballer warming up in a wintry car park, posing for photos with children who are more coat than kid.

He played as he always did, bamboozling defenders and entertaining 10,000 fans packed into the tiny stadium. The match reportedly raised 20 million lire (about £8,000) for the operation and travel costs to France.

He never got to do it on a cold, wet night in Stoke, as the saying goes, but Maradona did go out to a freezing, muddy “potato field” in Acerra to raise money for a desperately sick child and score some wonder goals in the process. How many world class players would do that now?

Watch the highlights below.

Advertisement

Become a Big Issue member

3.8 million people in the UK live in extreme poverty. Turn your anger into action - become a Big Issue member and give us the power to take poverty to zero.

Recommended for you

View all
Danny Dyer: 'I don't trust Keir Starmer. Why Angela Rayner's not leading things I don't know'
Danny Dyer in his Big Issue tabard
Danny Dyer

Danny Dyer: 'I don't trust Keir Starmer. Why Angela Rayner's not leading things I don't know'

These libraries and leisure centres faced disaster as councils cut services. Then volunteers stepped in
Libraries

These libraries and leisure centres faced disaster as councils cut services. Then volunteers stepped in

Sewage pollution levels in this river are 100 times safe 'limits'. The fight is now on to clean it up
Sewage pollution

Sewage pollution levels in this river are 100 times safe 'limits'. The fight is now on to clean it up

I'm an Israeli who helped survivors of 7 October attack. Here's why we need a ceasefire in Gaza
War in Gaza

I'm an Israeli who helped survivors of 7 October attack. Here's why we need a ceasefire in Gaza

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know