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i was living in the UK during the 86 world cup, the famous hand of god game. 

i was copping endless crap from poms as our cricket team had been plundered and what was left was not playing at the level one would wish. in other words, we were rubbish. and people would literally line up at work to come and tell me. every single day. 

and then came the hand of god! priceless. for me, one of the great moments of sport (yes, i know...). took the focus off the cricket and sent poms into a monumental lather of foaming at the mouth and entitled outrage. of course, coming after the falklands, it had added spice. 

i'd have shared a cigar with maradona then or any time since, just for that. 

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17 hours ago, stogieluver said:

How is Brazil expected to do, Oliver?

The squad is very good. Way better than last Cup BUT it's football, usual not the best winning, and for today match Switzerland is in any means a weak team. A good match today.

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8 hours ago, oliverdst said:

The squad is very good. Way better than last Cup BUT it's football, usual not the best winning, and for today match Switzerland is in any means a weak team. A good match today.

You could hear every house cheer on my block when Brazil scored.  Big Samba party two streets over after the game.  Mexico was the stunner today.  Well done!

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Carlos at the Nacional told me he spent a couple years travelling with him as a kind of assistant . I believe as a favour/voluntold to both Fidel and Maradona . Some crazy things went on....LOL !.

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On 17/06/2018 at 3:37 AM, Ken Gargett said:

and then came the hand of god! priceless. for me, one of the great moments of sport (yes, i know...).

This was, genuinely, voted the greatest moment in Scottish football in a poll a few years back. 

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6 hours ago, ayepatz said:

This was, genuinely, voted the greatest moment in Scottish football in a poll a few years back. 

unless someone was actually in england, or the UK at the time, hard to imagine the utter outrage and venom and hatred directed to him. so much fun. they tend to forget that he also scored one of the all time great goals, taking from his half, beating 85 players and slotting the goal. 

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Around the time Maradona had the big bust up after shooting at reporters (1997?) from his balcony he went into hiding from the press in Argentina. I was there with another English colleague on a business trip staying in an out of town hotel close to the polo ground on the outskirts of BA at the time. Alone in the small hotel bar I got chatting to the barman about football who disclosed they had a famous player staying with them for a couple of weeks and had not left the hotel once. He had ordered drinks to his room so the barman asked if I would like to bring them up with him and see said (un named at this point) superstar.  In we walked to see Maradona sprawled on the couch like some kind of little fat garden gnome. Regrettably I said nothing about his hand of “god” cheating bastard incident just mumbled something banal and left. 

In the morning my colleague arrived at breakfast shaking his head “you will never guess who I saw last night” he said. “Let me guess Maradona I replied”. After much laughter it turns out my colleague had been woken in the night by a knock on his door from some shady drug dealer type with a suspicious bag who was profusely apologising when a completely naked (and pissed/stoned) Maradona appeared from the room next door waddled down the corridor and ushered him in. As my colleague said afterwards I was a pity he punched the balll with his hand and not his “tiny wedding tackle”  as he would never have scored. 

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1 minute ago, Webbo said:

Around the time Maradona had the big bust up after shooting at reporters (1997?) from his balcony he went into hiding from the press in Argentina. I was there with another English colleague on a business trip staying in an out of town hotel close to the polo ground on the outskirts of BA at the time. Alone in the small hotel bar I got chatting to the barman about football who disclosed they had a famous player staying with them for a couple of weeks and had not left the hotel once. He had ordered drinks to his room so the barman asked if I would like to bring them up with him and see said (un named at this point) superstar.  In we walked to see Maradona sprawled on the couch like some kind of little fat garden gnome. Regrettably I said nothing about his hand of “god” cheating bastard incident just mumbled something banal and left. 

In the morning my colleague arrived at breakfast shaking his head “you will never guess who I saw last night” he said. “Let me guess Maradona I replied”. After much laughter it turns out my colleague had been woken in the night by a knock on his door from some shady drug dealer type with a suspicious bag who was profusely apologising when a completely naked (and pissed/stoned) Maradona appeared from the room next door waddled down the corridor and ushered him in. As my colleague said afterwards I was a pity he punched the balll with his hand and not his “tiny wedding tackle”  as he would never have scored. 

you mean he is not the angel we all thought?

quite a few years back, had a slightly similar incident with another great (greater) player.

i was catching up with a mate who was the somm at versace, hotel on the gold coast. about 11pm. i walked through the foyer. there were a few people around having drinks. a couple of gents were sitting quietly having a chat, a drink and a laugh and as i walked past, i thought, i know that bloke. but could not place him. waved. he waved back with a big smile. i got about 20 metres and the penny dropped. pele!

nearly went back but thought no, leave the bloke alone. mentioned it to the somm and he was a bit coy about it all. said i would not have got too close. minders would have politely stepped in. he did say that someone in the hotel was in big trouble as all staff had been instructed that under no circumstances was he to be served any drinks. apparently just out of rehab. i had never heard he had a problem but apparently very much so and was in rehab quite a bit. 

i guess that much fame and the endless spotlight must be seriously hard to handle for any of those guys. and that was an era when i suspect that they were offered far less support. 

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41 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

guess that much fame and the endless spotlight must be seriously hard to handle for any of those guys. and that was an era when i suspect that they were offered far less support. 

Some handle it a slightly more classy way. George Best, for instance.

A hotel bellboy once delivered champagne to Best's room, and found him entertaining a nude Miss World on a bed covered with his cash winnings from the casino.

The bellboy famously asked him, ”Oh George, where did it all go wrong?” ?

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43 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

but could not place him. waved. he waved back with a big smile

That's the cool bit. No fuss just waving to a mate in passing, imagine what the other diners thought? Maybe "who's that bloke waving at Ken?"

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Just now, Webbo said:

That's the cool bit. No fuss just waving to a mate in passing, imagine what the other diners thought? Maybe "who's that bloke waving at Ken?"

yes, should have asked hotel security to get pele to stop bothering me! 

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Just now, ayepatz said:

 

Some handle it a slightly more classy way. George Best, for instance.

A hotel bellboy once delivered champagne to Best's room, and found him entertaining a nude Miss World on a bed covered with his cash winnings from the casino.

The bellboy famously asked him, ”Oh George, where did it all go wrong?” ?

friend of mine from chile used to run a restaurant in london with her ex-husband (an argentinian restaurant i think). she was telling me about it. i thought she was making most of it up, but she showed me some clippings. she had told me it got 5 stars from aa gill and only a handful of places worldwide ever got that. i really must confess i did not believe her but sure enough! 

apparently lots of celebs. she did not like penelope cruz (would not sign an autograph for her kid) but found most of them fine (i think i would have forgiven ms cruz almost anything).

another time, a little short bloke in a cap pulled over most of his head came up at the end of lunch and thanked her for the discreet table at the back. she had no idea who it was and put him there as he and friend had just walked in and that was all they had. turned out to be tom cruise. said he was very nice. 

anyway, she started talking about best one day. turned out he lived around the corner and came in for coffee most days. became close friends. she had no idea how famous he was. it was just nice george from around the corner. 

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