‘Hand of God’, shirt of Tepito: Did Maradona’s most famous jersey really come from a Mexico city market?

MEXICO CITY, June 25 — Before Diego Maradona’s famous blue shirt became a US$9.28 million auction item, it may have had a humbler beginning in Tepito, Mexico City’s market district where, as filmmaker Phidel McCabe puts it, “you can find literally anything.”

The Manchester-born filmmaker, who lives in Mexico City, has made El Diez: Made in Tepito, a documentary exploring how Argentina ended up wearing a shiny blue shirt on June 22, 1986, when Maradona scored twice with his “Hand of God” and “Goal of the Century” versus England at the Azteca Stadium.

After exchanging shirts with Uruguay and needing to wear blue again against England, the Argentina team had to find replacements quickly and, according to team accounts, that iconic shirt came from the street markets of Tepito.

“I came across an ESPN article about the story, and I’m a huge Maradona fan, so I went to the market and started speaking to people,” McCabe told Reuters.

The story has generated legend, doubt and competing versions, even in the city where it is said to have happened.

“Even here in Mexico City, people aren’t sure whether this story is true,” McCabe said. “So it made me more enthusiastic to get to the bottom of the truth.”

The documentary follows the six days between Argentina’s match against Uruguay in Puebla and the quarter-final versus England in Mexico City.

The filmmaker interviewed former Argentina goalkeeper Hector Miguel Zelada, who first suggested getting the shirt from Tepito because, as a Club America player, he knew Mexico City.

“They had to come up with something in two days,” McCabe said. “They stitched on their own badges. They ironed on American football numbers. That’s why the numbers are glittery. The whole thing feels like it could only happen in the ‘80s.”

Beyond the legend of Maradona

For McCabe, the tale looks beyond the legend of Maradona to the workers whose craft helped create one of football’s most recognisable images.

“I think people feel a bit disenfranchised from football at the moment. There’s a feeling, particularly on the streets, that the World Cup is not for the people.

“When I came across this story, I thought it was important for Mexico to celebrate its part in those two goals, those two iconic moments,” he said. “They are part of Tepito’s culture and history, and I wanted to celebrate that.”

The documentary’s promotion features a mural by Ana Xhopa, a Zapotec artist from San Blas Atempa in Oaxaca.

“The story really caught my attention, especially the fact that a national team won at an international event while wearing a so-called ‘pirate’ jersey,” Xhopa said.

The mural is also intended to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the match, and was painted on the street of Republica de Argentina in the centre of Mexico City.

The artist aimed to bring the story out of sporting folklore and into the public space of Mexico’s capital, highlighting the labour behind football’s global spectacle.

“It was super important to me to make the merchants visible, the resistance of the neighbourhood, of the people who are still here in Tepito ... It’s not only Fifa, it’s also local commerce; it’s us Mexicans,” she added. — Reuters