Soccer Sainthood in Napoli
The Beatification of Diego Armando Maradona
Between 2005 and 2010, when my kids were in elementary and junior high, I did what many dads to with fairly active children, I volunteered to coach. And since they were in soccer, I learned soccer.
I was not a good coach, but I learned to appreciate soccer and usually watched at least a game or so during the World Cup or the Olympics.
In those few years, the most common name I heard was Maradona. I had no idea who he was, except a soccer player from Argentina who could do a full body flip to kick the ball and kids were always trying to imitate the move (without success).
When we arrived in Naples last Sunday, we immediately discovered that the city is over the top crazy about football as we went upstream against people returning from the game that night. As we walked, I saw MARADONA on the back of a football jersey and wondered why.
Over dinner (I had an amazing ravioli with marinara), I did a search and learned that Diego Maradona had been the star football player for SSC Napoli in their glory years of the late 1980s and early 90s (he was also a national hero of Argentina for his exploits in their 1986 World Cup championship). Napoli won Italian championships #1 (1987) and #2 (1990) during that time, but never since, and the fans largely attributed those victories to him and his leadership. As so many sports stars, he had personal and relational struggles through the years. Maradona died from a heart attack in 2020 at age 60 and soon after they named the stadium in Naples after him: Stadio Diego Amando Maradona.
This year (the 2022-23 season) SSC Napoli was well ahead in first place in the Italia Serie A league when we arrived Sunday night and they expected to win that night, but were delayed till Thursday night (our final night in Naples) when they only needed another tie to win the championship.
The energy in the city was palpable on Thursday and we expected a Vesuvian level eruption of celebration when they closed out their championship season with another 1-1 tie.
The eruption happened and celebrations lasted the night with fireworks exploding throughout the city (American sports do not hold a candle to that level of enthusiasm). We barely managed five or six hours of sleep.
Being there was very fun, but I had something else on my mind.
While walking around Naples, my companions and I noticed banner after banner on street after street with images of Diego Maradona, the former and now deceased star. And the imagery was bizarre. It was almost as if the city worshipped him. When my friend noticed a poster with a halo around his head I had to investigate. After returning from the archaeological museum on Thursday I walked through old city Naples looking for images of Maradona. It took me a while, but what I found was astonishing. At least from what I saw, Diego Maradona has become something of a saint, a guardian angel of the football team, and three were even indications of deification.
Now I expect if I interviewed a resident of Napoli they would just laugh or give a wry smile, but the evidence does point to the almost religious devotion given to football, and in Naples to this patron saint of soccer.
Let’s look at the evidence in ascending order from least to most astounding:
First, lots of people wore football jerseys with Maradona’s name. This of course is very common in the US with football (American of course), baseball, and basketball, even hockey, but only the rare athletes have jersey sales decades after their careers ended (Gretzky and Jordan come to mind and Pele for soccer). In Naples, even though Maradona was Argentinian, his jersey was everywhere, and likely more popular than the stars of the current team.
Next were the banners with Maradona alone or alongside of the team or a part of the team, as though he was still around. If I did not know better, I would have assumed he was still playing, still scoring goals, and the reason they were on the verge of the championship (his jersey had the current team sponsor Lete on it in several cases; Buitoni was the sponsor in his day). On one of the banners, Maradona was erupting out of Mount Vesuvius in triumph with fireworks around him. Still another had “Diego,” a photo of him, and “NAPOLI CAMPIONE D’ITALIA 2023.” Even though gone, he is a living part of the team.
What really got me thinking were the banners and other paraphernalia that had him with a halo around his head.
Astounding.
In a very Catholic city, Maradona was being imaged like other saints (and Jesus and Mary).
Then there was what appears to be Maradona decked with the same mitre headdress as the patron saint of Naples, San Gennaro (aka Saint Januarius).
San Gennaro is revered as much as any person in the city. He was an early Christian martyr (beheaded in the early 300s) and is credited with stopping the destruction of the Naples Duomo from lava in a 17th eruption of Vesuvius. His image is all around. The Duomo houses his relics and a giant chapel is dedicated to him there.
On one street Maradona’s haloed banner was right next to a banner with San Gennaro blessing the team.
Later I saw two banners hanging from a table in the vicinity of two prominent churches. On top of the table were small statues for sale of current Napoli soccer players and of course numerous ones of Maradona. Maradona appears alone on the left banner with the Beutoni name. The right banner has him with angel wings again erupting out of Mt. Vesuvius and donning a Lete sponsored jersey.
I also came across a portrait of what appears to be Maradona in the clouds looking down with a serious and ethereal expression (notice the serious expression on an number of the images).
And then comes this next example: a shrine with Maradona, the stadium and the team. Maradona appears twice, once on the left looking with concern over the whole scene. Then in a gold oval in the middle he faces away in his #10 jersey with a halo over his head and rays radiating from his body directly over the head of their top goal scorer, Nigerian Victor Osimhen. The mules represent various current players, but it is obvious that Maradona is the patron saint of the team (and perhaps the entire crowd). Around the rayed image of Maradona are the words Dios Ovunque Proteggimi, “God Always Protects Me.” And the word Dios has a halo over it also. It appears at the least as though Maradona is portrayed as a protecting mediator for the team with almost divine qualities.
This portrayal leads to perhaps the most astounding image. A photo of Maradona appears in a circle with his original jersey and below the circle this: D10S. In some way, as in the shrine, Maradona is being connected with God (Dios).
Wow.
Several more images will add one more element to this interpretation. In a number of the banners, Maradona is specifically connected with two players, the two star forwards, Victor Osimhen and Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. These two have by far the most goals and assists for the season on the team. Even though Maradona appears with the entire team on numerous occasions, he appears with these two alone several times.
In one place, though, he has been photoshopped next to each of them in separate cutouts and a wide white line outlines the cutouts. The two players are excitedly gesturing while Maradona gazes seriously into the distance.
The seeming implication is that these two players have melded with Maradona and are channeling his playing ability.
The recently departed Diego Maradona is now the patron saint of Napoli football who has imparted divine ability to the team toward the glory of a third Italian football championship (and maybe more).
San Diego Maradona.
As an American and a Protestant, it is impossible for me to make a fully accurate assessment of what I have seen in plain sight in the heart of Naples. The Catholic culture at the least seems to tolerate this type of expression in the hyped up atmosphere of a championship football season. My question is whether there is any actual substance to the visual beatification—even deification—of a departed football star.
Any comments are welcome and encouraged.
An Invitation
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