Euroscene: Not long after Poland lost the 1982 World Cup semi-final to Italy, Polish midfielder Zibi Boniek met with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican. Boniek, the former Juventus and AS Roma player, recalls all too well the words of his famous compatriot: "Dear Boniek," he said, "I don't normally pray for a football match but I did for this one, I tried to give you all a hand. You played well, okay, but not well enough."
In the weekend marked by the death of the Pope, Boniek's story bears witness to one unconfirmed legend - namely that the 1982 semi-final between Poland and Italy was the only football match John Paul II ever watched on TV. Notwithstanding his apparent lack of interest in the world's most beautiful game, such was the stature of John Paul II that the Italian Football Federation last Saturday lunchtime opted to cancel the entire professional programme, Serie A included, a full eight hours before the Pope's death.
Not surprisingly, too, the entire Italian football movement agreed with the postponement. Juventus director Luciano Moggi probably spoke for many when suggesting that the federation's only mistake had been to wait so long before finally postponing.
Furthermore, the Juventus club website is currently displaying a black-edged home page, complete with a few words of tribute to the Pope. Likewise, Italy's oldest club, Genoa, is currently flying the club flag at half-mast.
In other countries, too, football paid its respects with a minute's silence being observed before games in Germany, Portugal and Spain, whilst Mexico followed Italy's lead and postponed all games. A striking image carried in yesterday's edition of sports daily, Gazzetta Dello Sport, shows the Borussia Dortmund and Hertha Berlin players standing still whilst behind them the stadium big screen shows a picture of "Johannes Paul II", taken on the day he was elected Pope in October 1978.
In keeping with widespread belief that the late Pope was a figure whose influence stretched far beyond the bounds of the Catholic Church was the comment this week from Inter Milan's Turkish (and Muslim) midfielder, Emre: "I think it was absolutely correct that the football programme was stopped. This is not a question of which religion you belong to. The fact is we are dealing with someone who had a huge weight in the history of the last century.
"I have many Christian friends and I say to them all that I am sincerely saddened by the death of their great leader. In him, the thing I admired most was his continuous attempt to maintain a dialogue with other religions."
Nor was Emre the only well known footballer to express his appreciation for the late Pope. Roberto Baggio, the one time Little Prince of Italian soccer, told reporters last weekend: "In 2000 we played a charity game attended by the Pope at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. Even though I am a Buddhist, I'll never forget that day and that meeting."
If anyone had any doubts about the Pope's lack of interest in football, it was confirmed on the day three years ago when Brazilian Ronaldo met him at the end of one of his traditional weekly public audiences. To the delight of reporters, the Pope had to ask his aides just who was this young man standing in front of him.
The Pope was probably the only person in the Paul VI hall that day who did not know who Ronaldo was or what he did: "It had always been something I wanted to do, to meet the Pope. I took my mother with me. He didn't have a clue who I was and he was surprised at how young I was. For my part, I was very, very nervous and emotional," Ronaldo said last weekend.
Not surprisingly, one of the most handsome tributes of all came from Paolo Maldini who this weekend commented: "Standing beside the Pope, you got a very strong sensation. He was a person with huge charisma, something that sticks with you."
