Diego Dal Santo (42) is a lawyer, musician and writer, but Above all things he is a fan of Maradona. His passion for Diego led him to promote the project of having one of the city’s streets named after him. Diego Armando Maradonathey approved it and today the first street in the world with that name is in Santa Rosa.
He is currently writing his second book about the days Maradona spent in our province. The first is “Diego in Numbers” where it traces the player’s history through statistics.
“I was born in ’81 and they decided to name me Diego after Maradona. And our future son is going to be called Diego too, if the mother allows it.
Diego Dal Santo
Also read Maradona in La Pampa. A day like today, 30 years ago
Diego’s first book began as research for his Facebook page Calle Diego Maradona. But as his research progressed, he realized that he had enough information to write a book and publish it. Luckily it sold very well, it had two editions and there is a project to release a third in which he is working to expand it and translate it into Italian, to also be able to reach the market in Italy.
The second book is coming out in three months. Since he began with the research and the work began as a book. Diego began to see news in the local newspapers and then in the national newspapers La Razón, Perfil, Clarín, La Nación, Diario Popular and in the magazines Goles, Solo Fútbol and Graphico. He began to work on a sketch of everything Diego had done and who he had met in the seven days that Maradona was in The Pampa.
Then he began to recreate all that time with first-hand testimonies: both from Pampas and from the people with whom he was in the same field as him or with the people he shared in the gym, as well as the case of his physical trainer, of the representative and the driver.
Also read Diego Armando Maradona, the legend: 61 years, on earth and in heaven
«The minimum things are what interest me, who was the waiter with name and surname who attended them, where the field was, who was present when he practiced, which home school he visited, where it is, who was the director, who was in the classroom that day, what did he do with the boys. They are all mini stories that give names to unknown people and that is the idea«.
Diego Dal Santo
“In 2003 I left school, I studied law and I thought ‘what a nice afternoon to ask for a street named after Diego’. I don’t know how the idea came about. I understood that I had to pay tribute to a person who I believed deserved it already at that moment. I wrote a letter, printed two copies and presented them to the Deliberative Council. Two years later it was finally approved and became the first Maradona Street in the world. It’s crazy to think that something you make is the first thing made in the world.”.
Diego Dal Santo
Read also Underwater tribute to Diego Maradona in Mar del Plata
Diego wrote by email to television programs, magazines, and journalists what he had achieved with the street. I carried a floppy disk with the email pre-assembled to the cyber so as not to waste time. Until one day they contacted Radio Miter because they were going to talk to Maradona and they wanted to communicate with them for a minute.
In 2006 he was able to tell Diego that there was a street that had his name. He was shaking like a leaf, he greeted him and the first thing he said to him was: «“I read the letter you sent to my house.” That letter had been sent 10 years ago. And then he told her that he wanted to come with Dalma and Gianinna to see the street. Too bad it never happened.
Diego worked tirelessly to meet Maradona. The first time was in 1994. Maradona visited our province and Diego went to the house where he was staying, but he had just gone to the countryside. They were all command movements, in silence and he learned that information very late.
The second time was 2005, when Diego spoke with Ekel Ivan Marich part of the production The night of the Tenth, the television program. They talked about how they were going to come to do a note on Maradona Street in Santa Rosa and also about the writer going live to the Buenos Aires program. Finally the program ended and nothing happened.
Also read Maradona and Messi in the best football team of all time
The next opportunity came in 2010 when the fan got the phone number of Fernando Molina, the footballer’s press officer, who was also Dalma Maradona’s boyfriend. He tells her everything about the name of the Pampas street. On May 25 were the celebrations of the bicentennial of the Homeland, shows were held throughout the country and the Argentine National Teamdirected by Maradona, played against Canada. The next day they traveled to South Africa to play the world cup. Fernando told Diego to go to the AFA grounds to hold the meeting with number 10.
Diego traveled to Buenos Aires by bus, he carried the sign on the corner that had Maradona’s name. It was very heavy, one of the previous ones that are now few and weighed about 15 kilos. Diego was excited, nervous and anxious. When he arrived and was about to take a bus to go to the AFA premises, they called him and told him “don’t come because they won’t serve you”. It was not.
In 2016 their paths come closer again when the former player goes to C5N, the day that marked the 30th anniversary of the goal against the English. Maradona is going to talk to Victor Hugo Morales. That day Dal Santo was traveling to Buenos Aires for a law degree that she was studying. When she finishes she goes to her parents’ house.
Read also They propose that Maradona appear on banknotes and postage stamps
With this information, the fan thought “If he went there at 1 am, at 7 am he will still be there, sleeping”. She left her things at the hotel and went to wait for him to leave the home. He sat on the curb for eight hours: but Maradona had left at 2 am. Diego left a written paper under the door and left the place.
The last time was in 2020 when Dal Santo traveled to Buenos Aires to watch the Gimnasia de la Plata vs Boca match in the bombonera, at that time Maradona was the Wolf coach. The writer had gotten the contact of Eva, the team photographer.
He told her all his disagreements and stories and she She told him to go to the game with the poster, she was going to give it to Maradona when the soccer match was over. Diego remembers thinking “brilliant, freak, That whatever has to happen. cwith a photo of Diego holding the sign I’m already there, whatever comes after is a gift«.
The fan traveled to Buenos Aires, met Eva, gave her the poster and they agreed to contact each other within the week. The match was played, Diego saw Maradona on the field and returned from Buenos Aires to Santa Rosa just before the Covid19 quarantine was declared. In that context, Eva was not able to give him the sign. Months later, on November 25, 2020, Maradona died.
Also read: World commotion due to the death of Diego Maradona
Diego did not get to meet his idol, but he claims that there was nothing left for him. He says that he is proud and happy with the achievements achieved. Furthermore, his passion for the footballer does not end in the second book, he plans to release a third and, why not, a fourth book. About what? About Maradona, of course.
“I accomplished many things over the years, but I wanted a hug from him”.
*****
This content is possible thanks to the support of our readers and sponsors. Share this note, give your opinion, and advertise it on our website, to promote different journalism in the region: Contact and Advertising
