June 13 - Maradona Under Siege!

IF you make it as a top footballer, one of the first things that goes is your privacy. In a world where more column inches are devoted to the nuptials of Wayne and Colleen than boring things like 42-day detention votes, footballers are always going to be hassled by the press. Some react better than others though; on the one hand you have Beckham cultivating his brand over in California, and on the other you have Diego Maradona using some poor journalists as target practice.

Yes, today marks the anniversary of another crazy day in the life of the most talented and mixed up man ever to play the beautiful game, as on June 13, 1998 Maradona was being sentenced for shooting an air rifle at a team of hack assembled outside his Buenos Aires home.

The incident in question dates back to February 1994 when Diego saw a scrum of journalists looking for their next scoop camping on his doorstep. Instead of drawing back the curtains or going for the old hat-and-glasses disguise, the Argentinean crouched behind his Mercedes with two of his mates and began shooting at the hacks with an air rifle, injuring four of them.

The case took four years to go trial, in which time Maradona managed to represent his country for two games in the 1994 World Cup before being sent home and given a 15-month ban for failing a drugs test, attempt a comeback with Boca Juniors and then check into rehab to try and kick his coke habit.

Despite being the most famous man in Argentina, Diego couldn’t escape the long arm of the law and was given a suspended sentence of two years and 10 months. Reporter Daniel Talamoni, one of the journalists that was injured by Maradona trumpeted that “this exemplary case does show that there is justice for all,” but the quartet all appealed as they thought the sentence was too light.

The ruling meant that Diego was free to travel to the World Cup in France that summer, which was the first since 1978 that he wasn’t playing in, to work for Argentinean television. And to think in this country we have to put up with Alan Shearer. It didn’t take long for Maradona to hit the headlines for the wrong reasons again as his retirement proved to be as quiet as a Manchester United fan chomping on a prawn sandwich, as he was soon knocking on heavens door following a drugs overdose in 2004 and putting on weight quicker than Tomas Brolin in a pie shop.

In case you’ve forgotten how good Maradona was on the pitch have a gander below and head back here in tomorrow for the strange story of when one of the world’s most famous pop stars decided he was a fan of lower league English football.

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