Buenos Aires -
Capricious, mischievous, and playful elf who laughs at his pranks, that's destiny, sometimes cruel, sometimes tender. Stephen "Steve" Brian Hodge, 58 years old, former midfielder for Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, and half a dozen other English clubs between 1980 and 1998, can talk a lot about destiny. In these days, Steve has been sought after by the British press. He was number 18 for England in the 1986 World Cup and the one who, unintentionally, in the 51st minute, made a risky high pass back to his goalkeeper Peter Shilton in the famous match against Argentina. As soon as he noticed the pass, with all his antennas alert, Maradona ran after it, jumped, and scored the goal with his hand. He actually propelled himself to head the ball and anticipated Shilton, but when he saw that he couldn't reach it with his head, he discreetly hit the ball with his fist, which resulted in one of the most controversial goals in the history of sports. There was no VAR, the 114,580 spectators at the Azteca Stadium started to discuss how he scored it. In the dressing rooms, a journalist asked Maradona if he had scored that goal with his hand and Diego, cunningly, said "it was the hand of God."
- His art, universal forever
Books have even been written about that episode, which the second goal by number 10, considered the most beautiful in World Cups, failed to cover up. Above all, because with the score 0-2, the team of the inventors of football went after Argentina, managed to reduce the lead through Gary Lineker, and came close to equalizing. But the 2-1 victory placed the Albiceleste in the tournament's semifinals. "I didn't see the hand, I didn't see it, and what's more, I understand that especially the assistant didn't see it either, since he was farther away," Hodge says whenever they ask him. And he's not angry with Maradona: "I never criticized him for scoring with his hand. It was wrong, but people who play football know that you try things."
Why did he want to exchange shirts with his executioner, with England's tormentor...? He didn't actually seek it, it was all very casual. "Damn it, it was me, I thought at that moment when Maradona scored," he admits. And that thought lingered even after the match. He couldn't wait to get out of there. At the end of the game, when they were leaving the field, English journalist Gary Newbon ran onto the field and stopped him to get a statement; his teammates continued towards the locker room; in the middle of the field, the Argentine players shouted and jumped for joy. When the interview ended and he was about to enter the tunnel, Hodge came face to face with Maradona and remembered a recommendation from Brian Clough, his coach at Forest in 1983 when they faced Barcelona, who advised him to ask Diego for his shirt, as it would be a valuable trophy. At that time, he didn't realize it, but at the Azteca, that suggestion crossed his mind like a flash: he touched his chest in the classic gesture of "shall we exchange...?" Diego gave him the number 10 shirt and he gave him his number 18 shirt.
- Diego Maradona, the player of the people, has passed away
And he arrived at the dressing room. "It was a boiling pot and everyone was talking about the play, about how we had been deceived. I quickly put the shirt in my bag," confesses Hodge, who in 2010 published his autobiography titled "The Man with Maradona's Shirt." He didn't give it much importance at the time. The blue shirt with the number 10 ended up in a closet in his messy house in Nottingham, among old coats and unused things. It stayed there for 16 years. "I never washed it, it still has the sweat."
Surely advised by professionals in the field, Steve took the Maradonian jewel to the National Football Museum, currently located in Manchester, the largest of its kind in the world; it has more than 140,000 valuable objects and treasures various collections, especially that of FIFA. Sepp Blatter in 2004 understood that if England was the birthplace of football, it was only fair that the exhibition be there. Perhaps the three most valuable pieces exhibited there are the two balls used in the first World Cup final in 1930 (the first half was played with an Argentine ball and the second with a Uruguayan ball), the original Rules of the Game from 1863, and Maradona's shirt.
Hodge didn't donate it, he loaned it to be exhibited for multiple benefits: he still owns it, everyone can see it, and it enjoys the museum's security. "I have never wanted to sell it," he says. Carlos Alberto Plata, a Colombian lawyer and one of the world's top two experts on the subject, whose private collection amazed Gianni Infantino, considers Maradona's shirt to be one of the three most precious items in football, the other two being Alcides Gigghia's shirt, the scorer of the Maracanazo goal in 1950, and Pelé's shirt from the 1970 final.
- I coached Diego Maradona in the Rest of America team in 1979
"Gigghia's because it is considered the goal that silenced 180,000 people and led to the most incredible victory; Pelé's because that goal against Italy marked the end of his World Cup career with Brazil, and Maradona's because it is the match with the greatest geopolitical significance in history and right there Maradona scored two famous goals, the Hand of God and the other that was extraordinary." In a hypothetical ranking, Diego's would be the most valuable, then Gigghia's and thirdly Pelé's, but nobody knows where that shirt is, some say that one of Brazil's equipment managers could have kept it (highly unlikely, he would have sold it by now) and others say that a Mexican collector still has it. Nothing more has been heard about it, but someone took it from O Rei in the midst of the celebration.
During the days of Russia 2018, at a meeting of high-ranking officials, it was mentioned that a Qatari prince offered the Museum two million pounds, 2.7 million dollars (according to Plata, at this moment that gem could be worth much more). When the offer was relayed to Hodge, he rejected it. He may never sell it and instead leave it as an inheritance for his children. Destiny seemed to have given him a choice: "You will have a good and a bad one." And Steve said "First the bad one." (O)