Duncan & DiegoAs the football world mourns the passing of Diego Maradona, we have been reminded of his unique persona and brilliance through a plethora of anecdotes, clips, and photographs.
One of his most iconic pictures was at the climax of the 1986 World Cup, a tournament in which he’d been at his dazzling best as Argentina lifted the trophy in Mexico.
You may have previously clocked the shirtless reveller in said snap and assumed he was a jubilant Argentine. No, that is in fact Duncan Coales of London.
Aged 26, the lifelong Fulham fan departed the UK for what was supposed to be a six-month trip around the world. Two-and-a-half years later he still had not returned and was instead in the middle of the Estadio Azteca pitch celebrating right next to one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen.
“I’d been to India, Thailand, Bali, Australia, New Zealand, and then the States,” Duncan tells fulhamfc.com. “It was always in the back of my mind that I might get to the World Cup, and when I was working at a hostel in Los Angeles I met four English guys, two from Ipswich, and one each from Norwich and Hastings. This one lad bought this car, just a $500 job, so off we went.”
A 1,500-mile road trip ensued from LA to Monterrey – the location of each of England’s group matches.
“The results of the group games were mixed, but we just had such a good time,” Duncan recalls with vigour. “We’d heard there was going to be trouble, but everyone was so welcoming. The Mexicans were really hospitable. Monterrey was only a small industrial town, and after the games the locals would fill pick-up trucks with beer by the stadium and invite us to parties. We’d end up round people’s houses, miles from anywhere.”
A generational Fulham fan – “My Grandad had a haulage business that he started with a horse and cart in Hammersmith” – Duncan was accompanied on his trip of a lifetime by a flag that he fashioned from some pilfered Los Angeles linen.
“I made it from an old bed sheet that I nicked from the hostel I was working in. I put a red cross in the middle of it, put DUN in one quarter, CAN in the other, and then I had FUL-HAM on the bottom. It got recognised a lot, which was brilliant.”
England’s two knockout games – a Round-of-16 clash with Paraguay, and the infamous defeat by Maradona’s Argentina – were both played in the capital, thus determining Duncan’s next stop.
“Unbelievably the car managed to keep going, so we headed down to Mexico City. We only had one mishap, when we went over a bumpy road and split the fuel tank. We managed to limp into this tiny town and found a garage where they welded it up and sent us on our way.
“The Paraguay game was good. There was a bit of tension around the Argentina game because of the Falklands. There was nothing too nasty but you could tell they really wanted to win that one. Obviously the game didn’t go too well for England, but we weren’t worried about trouble.”
With the Three Lions now out of the tournament, Duncan and his comrades hit the road once more.
“We headed off to Acapulco for a week. Another Fulham fan, called Alex Ferguson – or The Traveller – who a lot of people will know, was down there as well. Alex was great. Everyone kind of idolised him, there was so much respect there. Alex would hold court in some of the pubs down in Acapulco. He was just blinding.
“We toyed with heading back for the Final. We didn’t have tickets but decided to have a go at getting in. We were all in our England gear and people kept coming up to us wanting pictures.”
(Duncan puts the locals’ fascination with the English down to the ‘hooligan image’ that had been painted in the media: “There was a curiosity around so called ‘English hooligans.’ When we got to Monterrey there was a headline in the paper, ‘Los Hooligans are coming.’ A lot of them were actually disappointed when they found out we weren’t hooligans.”)
The 1986 World Cup Final was a classic. Argentina had squandered a two-goal advantage against West Germany, but a late strike from Jorge Burruchaga earned them a 3-2 victory. The official attendance at the match was 114,600, but you can add at least another five to that courtesy of Duncan’s group.
“We had a wander round the ground, saw this bloke on a gate, gave him a few pesos and he snuck us through. And that was it, we were in! We were right behind where most of the goals were scored. Again there was no trouble, even with our England shirts on. It was a cracking game, and it was just great to be there.
“At full-time, one of the Ipswich lads looked at me, I looked at him, then we both looked at the fence. ‘Yep, come on.’ It was a bit of a high fence, you had to hang there and get yourself up on top, and then over a ditch at the other side. There were a few Mexican security guards or police dotted around, but we waited for our moment, and next minute we’re on the pitch. I headed to where all the action was, and that’s where the picture came from. It was just madness. We had to get off the pitch pretty quickly, though, as we got sussed. I still can’t believe it now when I look at it. Bloody hell, there’s me literally on Maradona's shoulder.”
Maradona didn’t score in the Final but was in incredible form throughout the tournament, hitting five goals and claiming the Golden Ball. One of those goals of course still doesn’t sit right with England fans, but Duncan believes the man’s brilliance overshadows everything else.
“You could see it in the Argentinians, they idolised the fella. He was God to them. The outpouring for him this week has been brilliant. I think unless you’re a really bitter England fan then you forget about what he did and just appreciate him as a footballer.
“I never had a bugbear with Maradona for the Hand of God goal. Although, if it had been against Fulham I would have!”
https://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2020/november/Duncan-Diego/
