Remembering The Genius Of Garrincha

With his right leg pointing inwards and his left leg pointing outwards, Manuel Fransisco dos Santos seemed more destined to end up in a circus than on a football field.

But put a ball at his feet, and the man they called Garrincha - the little bird - could just about do anything. On the 25th anniversary of his death, it is right that football remembers the pleasure he gave people and the non-conformity with which he played the game he loved so much.

The art form of dribbling might have been invented for the Brazilian, who played with a freedom of spirit and, at times, a reckless disregard for the "end product" that is difficult to fathom in a sport now dominated by results.

During one game he is said to have bamboozled his marker so much, the defender fell to the floor as Garrincha ran past him. Instead of carrying on, Garrincha dribbled back to his opponent, picked him up off the turf and then carried on down the wing.

His biographer, Rui Castro, described the man fans called 'the angel with bent legs' as "the most amateur footballer professional football ever produced".

Sadly for Garrincha, born in Pau Grande, a province of Rio de Janeiro on 28 October, 1933, this carefree attitude he had to football and life in general caused him many more problems than it did his opponents.

For Garrincha was an alcoholic.

He was as fond of the local Cachaça as his father, who lost his life to drink. They also both shared more than a passing interest in the opposite sex.