Argentina’s Left-Wingers
Leslie Ray argues that politics and football have always been inseparable in the land of the ‘hand of God’.
On April 18th, 2004 Diego Maradona was admitted to the Swiss Clinic in Buenos Aires in an extreme condition. A crowd immediately began to form outside and soon developed into a mass vigil of a quasi-religious kind – devotees clutched candles, Virgin Mary statuettes, rosary beads and flowers, and held banners declaring ‘Jesus in Heaven and Diego on earth’; ‘Diego of the soul, after so many joys, give us one more’; ‘God forgive the journalists, they know not what they do.’ For British observers, there was an obvious parallel to be made with the collective grief following the death of Princess Diana.
To continue reading this article you need to purchase a subscription, available from only £5.
Start my trial subscription now
If you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are logged in.
Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems.