Football was played on the expansive Rana palace compounds. Mahabir 11, New Road Team 11 and Jawalakhel 11 were some of the first of the twelve teams that took part in the competition held in the year 1934, when Nepal was jolted by a heavy earthquake. Its popularity increased over the years with games played between the King and Prime Minister 11, involving King Mahendra and Premier B P Koirala in 1953

The demise of Diego Armando Maradona last week sent shock waves round the globe in varying degrees in the minds of football fans as well as casual followers of the game. He brought laurels to his country by bagging several wins in prestigious football events, more glaringly in the World Cup Football matches.

He was a global celebrity but also a human being. He had thus a split image of boom and gloom, with its flip side marked with frailties, characteristic of human beings and, at times, even of a mean human. But his undesirable activities were eclipsed by his football excellence, just as the colourful feathers of a peacock conceal its rather ugly legs.

Football as a game drives the passion of all alike round the globe because of its simplicity. Spectators may find other games difficult to understand at first glance, but football appeals to everyone right from the word go. Football is thus regarded as a universal language.

It is so prestigious that a single Football Gold medal in the Olympics is believed to outweigh all the Gold medals put together. Football is perhaps a solitary game that has triggered a war between two countries, Honduras and El Salvador, back in the year 1969.

Football as we play today is said to be an English invention going back to the 12th century. The first game was played in 1867 in Argentina outside Europe, at a time when Junga Bahadur Rana was ruling in Nepal.

But it had been played in different forms since archaic times.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping, a passionate football follower, went to Manchester, the Mecca of English Football during his state visit to Britain in 2015, he surprised everybody by saying that Cuju, or Tsu Cho – an ancient Chinese game thought to have been the earliest form of football – was played in China as early as the 3rd century during the reign of the Han Dynasty.

Nepalis were then content playing Dandi Biyo, known as tipcat in English, a cat and bat game, which makes the competitor run huffing and puffing in order to collect the cat hit by the mighty bat.

Football entered Nepal much later in the year 1921, possibly because of the virtual isolation of Nepal from the outside world. It was popular among the Ranas who believed in pomp and pleasure compared to the rest of the countrymen.

It was played on their palace compounds, which were sufficiently big in size.

Mahabir 11, New Road Team 11 and Jawalakhel 11were some of the first of the twelve teams that took part in the competition held in the year 1934, when Nepal was jolted by a heavy earthquake.

Its popularity increased over the years with games played between the King and Prime Minister 11, involving King Mahendra and Prime Minister B P Koirala in the year 1953.

The popularity of football increased at an exponential rate especially after the availability of television

was introduced in Nepal in the year 1984. It was otherwise confined to listening to the radio commentary.

The gathering of a group of people in the town centre with their ears glued to a rather noisy radio used to be a common sight in those days.

Brazil has dominated the football scene from the beginning, by recording five of the 17 World Cup Wins so far. Pele became a household name because of his notable contribution to this magical feat. After Pele hung his boots in the year 1977, Maradona filled the vacuum thus created.

Two-time World Cup Champion, Argentina has now become such a force in football that its jerseys get sold like hot cakes in the market during the World Cup matches, including in Nepal.

Maradona was in the news for both right and wrong reasons. Right because of the enigmatic feat he used to create on the field and wrong because of his unbecoming activities off the field. The expulsion of the team from the 1980 World Cup for hitting a Brazilian player, the post-1990 drug scandals and character assassinations tarnished his image.

But the victory in the 1978 and 1986 World Cups, and Argentina’s smooth sailing to the finals in the 1990 World Cup despite it not being a very strong team created such a hallo around him that the gloom surrounding him due to his mischiefs often made a departure like darkness after sunrise.

Maradona was also an interviewer’s delight. In an interview with the BBC on the eve of the match, the correspondent had asked him about the possibility of a victory in view of the humiliating defeat it had suffered against Britain just four years back in 1982 in the Falklands War.

He said that he was sure of Argentine’s victory as the English would be without the Gurkha soldiers on the football ground, unlike their presence on the battlefield in the Falkland Islands.

His prophecy came true even though the victory came through a hand goal followed by yet another goal secured by dribbling in lightning speed. It also explains the valour of the Gurkha soldiers on the battlefield.

This hand goal was later portrayed by Diego as the “hand of God ‘, which became a very popular aphorism.

With this goal, 5’ 5”- tall Maradona also attained a kind of divine status as people started saying that the height of God should be 5’ 5”.

Though Nepal has done fairly well in SAARC football, it is down below in the FIFA ranking at 171 out of 205 countries. Maradona is a burning example of the dos and don’ts for all players, including Nepali footballers.

If only they can take a leaf out of Maradona, Nepali football can make dramatic progress in the future.

Nepalis will remember Maradona not only for his legendary footballing skills but also for the respect he showered on the bravery of the Nepali soldiers.

Pokharel is IP vice chancellor, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST)