Diego: Drugs, the pain and Why?

‘Again?’ My football fanatic buddy quipped, exchanging puzzled looks with me upon receiving the news of Diego Maradona’s second ban from international football. The headline of the tabloid plainly put, ‘The Genius Banned AGAIN’. His response I was to find out later on, mirrored the general reaction that greeted this news item.

For many born beyond the years of this player’s reign, Maradona would hold only a word-of-mouth and perhaps, passing value and mean nothing much more. The privileged few who observed his rise from the streets of Buenos Aires to the greens of Estadio Azteca – the venue of the Mexico ’86 World Cup final would undoubtedly pen something unusual to this man. On the field of play, you had an exact legend; sharp, fast, clever and tactical. Maradona infused urgency, style and leadership to his games that brought opponents to awe and submission and propelled his teams to vital victories and accolades. So profound was his influence that the name ‘maradona’ unofficially came to mean cleverness, cunning and dexterity. In fact, so widespread was this phenomenon that a former Nigerian military head of state was dubbed such in response his double-faced and overly punitive leadership. To come to terms with this disheartening information seemed surreal to we staunch football loyalists all over the entire world.

‘Diego’ as he is fondly called was diagnosed positive to a dope test that earned him a fifteen month ban on 17^th March, 1991. His return a year and seven months later was marred by a second ban received a year and a half afterwards. His, marked the most popular case of drug abuse in professional football. Many attribute drug use or rather, abuse to inflated egos, pride and megalomania of victims - who often are famous people that reach a certain level of stardom before ‘the fame starts to get to their heads’. The reasons for these still remain unclear to many psychologists today.

One thesis however, pins euphoric states of walking on the red carpet , or more simply put; ‘the arrogant feelings of being chased by pressmen’ as being sustained by these harmful drugs especially when limousines, flashing lights, cameras, journalists, held-out mics, red carpets and ecstatic fans cannot always be around a star. What many of these famous people try to do is to artificially replicate these feelings by the use of abusive drugs which popularly include; heroin, cocaine and morphine.

In this case, Recreational Drug Abuse is the descriptive term used.

Alternatively, in an attempt stay relevant and probably ‘legendary’, some celebrities use medications to enhance their individual outputs or stimulate their performances in their chosen fields. Popular track and field athlete Marion Jones is a classic case.

Doping is a term used to describe this phenomenon. Doping tests are used to detect this.

Diego Maradona failed a doping test because cocaine was found to be present in his blood stream. More popularly, he failed a second which indicated high levels of Ephedrine – a known stimulant, performance enhancer and banned substance by FIFA. Reports confirm he failed a third, cocaine being the reason. A thorough look into the life of this man reveals tales of law enforcement bust-ups, personal drug addictions, professional struggles and failing credibility in the public eye. So protracted was this habit that a contract clause of his with a football club required him to be tested before every game!

His undoubted influence on the game earned him a FIFA Player of the Century Award – the direct consequence of a world-wide poll conducted amongst various football supporters.

Maradona today, has since overcome these challenges and stated on Argentine television that he had quit drinking and drug use.