His Name Was Diego Armando Maradona

A wonderful poem by Jess Singh Gill about Diego Armando Maradona. The explication is below the poem.

A footballing genius was once born in South America,
the type a country longs for, for this we thank a country called Argentina,
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

Short, built, strong, masculine and left footed,
bullet proof knees and eyes always goalward routed.
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

Played for Boca, Barcelona, Napoli and Seville,
out of those it was at Napoli we saw him at his most real.
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

Desire was always to win, thats why he committed the handball sin,
said it was god, anything to piss the damn English off,
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

Authorities always after him, did'nt like him to play,
In Mexico '86 everyone was made to pay,
no-one could stop his quest for the title,
the World Cup was his in the envy of his rivals,
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

The number 10 shirt thats what i remember most immense,
the way it used to turn and twist and tear apart any defence,
years full of exquisite goals and free kicks,
god! all that many teams took so many licks,
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

Maradona was his surname,
I remember, i remember, that was his name,
Diego Maradona forever the best in the game.

This poem is about Diego Armando Maradona, a man who many consider to have been the best soccer player in the world. This poem has repetition at the end of every stanza of these two lines,

"He would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,

What was this single footballing empire's name again?"

And it's this repetition which constantly draws the reader in, waiting to hear the name of this man being praised to such heights.

Maradona in a bad moment of his life

As to whether Maradona was actually the greatest ever to have graced the game of soccer, it's still a very open debate. The Argentinean is a very controversial figure, while full of passion, he displays a rugged side often better left unseen. Whenever Maradona enters Italy, tax authorities track him down to collect over 30 million Euros of unpaid taxes, which he never gets around to paying. The legendary player even had a bad time in his life where he became a drug addict, and was unbelievably obese.

But after all this criticism, what pulled this man out of the gutter was his passion for soccer. His love, talent, and dedication of the game which is rarely seen in players today has guided him back on track in life. Probably what sums up Maradona best is a quote said by ex-player Michel Platini,

"What Zidane could do with a ball, Maradona could do with an orange"