Like several others it was started by English expats Last week the visiting Alfredo Di Stefano, still very much the Real thing, was given the freedom of his native Buenos Aires.insidelines independent.co.ukExit LinesI have always had an interest in doing good as opposed to making money. Polo's Hurlingham Club here is like a little bit of Berkshire in Buenos Aires, but a slow recovery from a fractured economy means there is little government money to spend on sport - a meagre £7.5m or so a year. "We must concentrate on matters of greater social importance, like health," says Soledad Marutian of the sports ministry Football especially feels the pesos pinch The finest players are all employed overseas. The 22-man national squad, whom Chelsea's Juan Sebastian Veron and Hernan Crespo joined last week for World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia and Colombia, have only one home-based player, Diego Milito of Racing Club.Evita asked Argentina not to cry for her, but tears still flow at her tomb in a city suburb, just as they do for a man who still symbolises both the machismo and the melancholy of this emotionally charged nation. Both he and Perfumo, now in their sixties, asked for their best wishes to be sent to Bobby Charlton "A great man and a great player," says Perfumo. "We have all become good friends now."Apart from the now-retired Gabriela Sabatini, outstanding Argentinian sportswomen have been rather thin on the pampas, but the country has high hopes of an Olympic gold medal in Athens. Their women's hockey team are the unlikely world champions in a sport fast growing in popularity.Like several others, it was started by English expats. The present incumbent is Roberto Perfumo, right-back in the Argentina football team defeated by England in the 1966 World Cup quarter-finals. And remember Antonio Rattin, the argumentative captain whose controversial sending-off turned the match and prompted Sir Alf Ramsey's "animals" outburst? He is now a leading MP. England is not on the itinerary.Politics and the ageless Perfumo affairOld sports stars need never die in Argentina - or even fade away Many go into politics; some become sport ministers. In recent years the position has been held by motorcycle ace Daniel Scoli, hockey star Marcelo Garrafo, and ex-Pumas rugby captain Hugo Porta.
Apparently the rubber implement was fitted with a pump filled with someone else's urine, which he emptied into the specimen jar It wasn't the only time he took the pee, of course. At the museum the infamous Hand of God goal is repeatedly played on video, interspersed with shots of war, all starkly symbolic This week the museum starts a world tour. One thing you won't find there, though, is the fake willy he admits he used occasionally to hoodwink the drugs testers. His image is everywhere, littering the bookstalls and newspaper stands along the world's widest boulevards. They have even deified him, one newspaper causing a religious rumpus by featuring him in a nativity scene, "The Madonna and Maradona". The little man is still the nation's hugest hero - there is a museum in Buenos Aires dedicated to him. Seems like the Last Tango in Buenos Aires for Se?Pellegrini - football's final whistle for failing managers sounds the same in any language: Adios, amigo.The divine hand has become immortal Gone to Cuba he may be, ostensibly to kick his drugs habit, but Diego Maradona is far from forgotten in his homeland. All passed uneventfully, perhaps thanks more to the presence of 1,100 police, many with machine guns, than the tango. |
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