A star self-destructs

DIEGO Maradona has let us down again. The Argentine football hero with the megastar attitude and the bad-boy image has tested positive for stimulant drugs in the middle of the World Cup.

His international football career should now be over once and for all. There can be no third chance for a man who was only grudgingly recalled to his national side for the World Cup after a 15-month suspension for taking cocaine. Maradona has betrayed the trust placed in him by a country of adoring fans and by the national and international football authorities who accepted him back on the assumption he had reformed.

Ephedrine, the decongestant and anti-asthma drug found in his blood, is controversial. In Argentina, as in many countries, it is available over the counter. But the drug is banned by football's governing authority FIFA. And the fact that Maradona had clearly taken a cocktail of ephedrine potions makes it clear he was knowingly using it for stimulant purposes. Perhaps the crash diet and fitness regime he had put himself through to return to the game after his previous brush with authority had not been enough to bring him to his peak. Some of the medications he used are included in weight reduction products. Perhaps, on the contrary, the regime had been too much for him and had undermined his ability to function without drugs.

But, whatever the cause, he had gone to the United States on a promise of good behaviour. Argentina, and world football, will be the poorer now that promise has been broken. The Argentine team now says it wants to protect Maradona's reputation. That is the last thing it should be doing and the worst possible reaction. Argentina should not be rallying round its fallen hero as if the world had ganged up on him unfairly.

The only benefit to be drawn from Maradona's disgrace would be for him to be a lesson to other would-be football stars. He should be held up as an example of how a sporting hero can self-destruct.