TRANSCRIPTION
Number One: The ball must not be stained as God has proclaimed
Number Two: Love football over all things
Number Three: Declare your unconditional love for Diego and good football
Number Four: Defend the colours of the Argentine shirt while respecting people
Number Five.......
PAUL
As the Argentine football team searches for glory at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa back home in Buenos Aires the DISCIPLES of the Church of Maradona are FAITHFULLY reciting their commandments. Ivan Rodriguez says the church was Born out of A national love for a footballing legend, an Argentine hero and now a manager with a DESTINY.
IVAN
The church was born in Rosario, two guys; Alejandro and Hernan they got together one day, one of them said to the other on the 30th of October he said happy Christmas. The other one said, you're crazy, why happy Christmas when we are in October. He said no no think about it and once he had analysed it he thought sure its Diego's birthday. That night they got together for a toast and so like that, the next year more people, next year more and more people and today it's a global phenomenon and we are around one hundred thousand (100,000) devotees. The church of Maradona has two festivities; it has the Maradona Easter and the Maradona Christmas. The Maradona Christmas it is celebrated on the 30th of October, the birthday of Diego, of our God And the Maradona Easter, that is the 22nd of June which is to celebrate the memory of the goal against the English. The famous goal, 'The hand of God'.
PAUL
Ivan first met his idol as a simple fan on a TV SPORTS show. His worship of the famed number 10 was so immense he was contacted by the founders of the Church of Maradona and INVITED to be a member.
IVAN
Ok so what I have in my hand is the certificate of baptism from the Church of Maradona. To get baptised in the Church of Maradona is something very particular. There is a giant image of Peter Shilton, they throw up a ball for you and you have to with your hand touch the ball and do just like what was the famous hand of god goal and then you are certified and you can show that you belong to the church of Maradona.
PAUL
As infamous for a drug fuelled TARNISHED past as he is famous for his footballing exploits. Church members say what they call his DARK moments are all in the past.
IVAN
There's a phrase that describes it perfectly; it must be very difficult to be Maradona. People cannot criticize a person when they do not know how is his life. From my side I am very confident in him, I have a lot of faith, now he is going through the stage of ' the good Diego' the Diego that everyone loves. He speaks well, he is very affectionate, the Diego that we all want to see
PAUL
But after surprisingly having been installed as manager and a mediocre qualifying campaign the national sides run to the QUARTER FINALS of the world cup is WINNING sceptics over
IVAN
We would of liked to play against England in the quarter finals. It would have been a very nice game. It could of been revenge for England for '86 or it could of been revenge for Argentina for 2002. But it wasn't given, it didn't happen and now Germany is coming for us and Germany is a very difficult team. In putting England out they played an exceptional game. And now we just have to keep going ahead to keep trying to reach the final and when we reach the final hopefully it will be with Brazil, the final that all of us Argentines are waiting for.
PAUL
As the march towards world cup glory goes on for the team in South Africa overwhelming numbers from all over the world are looking to EMBRACE the Maradona faith. The footballing genius is soon to turn 50 and an RECORD number of disciples are set for a Maradona Christmas. Ivan says there's really only ONE gift the want this year.
The next date we have is the 30th of October, the birthday of Diego. It's going to be 50 AD, after Diego. The truth is that there is a lot of demand, many people want to be members, but everyone has to wait until the 30th of October until the Maradona Christmas there we will all join together and will carry out the baptisms and arrange the membership cards. It would be really great if we could gather so much more people and we will all be there together to celebrate the 50th birthday of Diego. And hopefully with the World Cup in hand.
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Maradona Churchby footballmasteruk4,857 views
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