Tribute at the Vale of Tears

In 2011 and 2012, Rugby Sin Fronteras visited the place where 29 Uruguayan rugby players lost their lived in 1972. There we paid tribute to the victims and the 16 survivors of the so called “Tragedy of the Andes”.
In October 13, 1972, twenty-nine lives were snuffed out when the airplane that was taking them to Santiago de Chile crashed in the Vale of Tears. Flight 571 of the Uruguayan Air Force was carrying 45 players of the Old Christian rugby club that were traveling to the Chilean capital city to play a rugby game versus Old Boys. The dream of those rugby players was frustrated when the airplane collapsed at a height of 3500 meters, in the midst of the eternal snow of the Andes mountain range, where temperatures can get as low as -30 degrees.
As in 2011 and then in 2012, 40 years after the tragedy, Rugby Sin Fronteras returned to the Vale of Tears to pay a new and heartfelt tribute to that Uruguayan team which, according to Gustavo Zerbino, one of the 16 survivors, survived thanks to the rugby codes and values.
“After the accident, I wanted to go to the mountain; I always felt I had a pending debt with my brother, something I had to do sooner or later to meet again with him… Forty years had to go by for me to make a decision”, said Alejandro, Gustavo Nicolich’s brother (one of the rugby players who died in the avalanche that covered the plane days after the accident), who visited the Vale for the first time: “I needed to talk to and tell him how much I miss him. I knew this was going to have a high mental cost, that’s why I’m deeply grateful to God for the chance of being able to travel. I always said that my tears had dried up, but I’m definitely leaving as a different person”, he said in one of the interviews he gave when he returned from the experience he lived together with Rugby Sin Fronteras.
At a height of 3800 meters, the Uruguayan flag was flying together with the Rugby Sin Fronteras flag. There, in the Piedras Grandes areas, we set up the campsite where a small rugby pitch was improvised and where rugby players, friends and family members of the victims played rugby to pay tribute to the 16 survivors and 29 victims of the tragedy.
The cold weather and the snow could not prevent the game from being played. Rugby emotions and spirit were more than enough to make the game possible: “My friends, we brought to you the game you were never able to play”, said the former team of the Uruguayan team, Gustavo Zerbino, before the rugby ball started to move looking at the sky.
“I’m very grateful to be alive and be able to share this extraordinary experience with my three children (Gustavo, Martin and Luma) and everyone who was part of it. I’m also grateful for the new chance life gives us to keep feeling that we can still dream with your eyes open, to believe, love, trust and overcome fear, taking action to realize those dreams”, said Gustavo.
This strong experience was very moving and unforgettable for everyone: Argentinean, Uruguayan, and Chilean. What we vindicate in these tributes is the legacy of love and how human beings can surpass themselves based on their own values and principles: “They survived for many reasons, but it had to do with being a rugby team where each member respected their role. Now we’re taking rugby to the mountain again, as a proof of strength and friendship. Deep inside, each of the 45 persons that traveled got a bet understanding of how 40 years ago, that group of teenagers that bravely faced death and today celebrates and cherished each day each day of their lives”, stated Juan Bautista Segonds.

Andrés H. Galliano
Sworn Translator. Interpreter
+54-11-30553544