Falkland Islands: “Master of Emotions”

Thirty years after the war, Rugby Sin Fronteras returned to the Falkland Islands and once again the sport became the channel to convey a message of peace and union to the islanders.

The title summarizes how moving it can be to return to a place that left us so many memories. This “Master of Emotions” took place in the Falkland Islands. Rugby Sin Fronteras traveled there for the fourth time to live a new peacemaking experience with the islanders with the oval ball as a travel companion: “It was an experience that went beyond tourism, history and group experiences. It was a shower of life that can be lived only next to someone as mad as Bautista, in an hostile weather, and also so sweet as a good heater in front of the `Ross Road´ (Puerto Argentino) together with the islanders, who I hugged like brothers in the tragedy that was the war 30 years ago,” said Alejandro Diego, war veteran and one of the delegation members who traveled to the islands.
On an old field near Puerto Argentino, we used several PVC pipes to make the posts that served as the goals. “I wasn’t able to touch a ball during the whole game. I said I preferred to be a goalkeeper, but Bautista told me it is played without one”, said Alejandro, and added: “When they found out I didn’t know how to play rugby, they came up to me and sports stars taught me how to play, a real treat, and it looks like I learned something because I scored two tries in the Falklands! I will never forget it. And I thank the whole team for their friendship”.
That field, where no game of rugby had been played in 20 years, was somehow a path to convey the message of love and peace. It is true that no islander attended the match, but in spite of that “I think it was the most important game of my life. When it finished, we embraced, deeply moved”, said Guillermo Nervi, former Buenos Aires Rugby Union (URBA) referee, who, in addition to playing, acted as a referee in one of the three halves played on the islands together with Hugo Helguero and Quique Bentham.
This trip had its mission which, while it was not reflected that Thursday when the sun came up just as the oval ball started bouncing, was seen the following day when in the editorial on the local newspaper “Penguin News” , its Editor John Folley, reflected on Rugby Sin Fronteras’ visit and wondered whether the islanders should not do the same as the Pope Benedict XVI and welcome the Foundation and give it their blessing.
It is hard to describe in words that this “Master in Emotions” was, but it is clear what this quest meant for the 20 members that traveled to the islands, wishing there are no more wars, for love and union to prevail: “Nothing on this Earth is worth anyone’s life” .

“Land belongs to everyone”
“At Darwin cemetery I had a “heavenly” meeting with my 649 buried fellow countrymen. I embraced them all against the peat, I saw the ones I buried and the ones I hadn’t known. And they were not sad, they were alright. They told me that the land belongs to everyone. Or do we feel bad when we go to the Roman Coliseum because it is Italian and not Argentine? The land belongs to everyone. Just like our obelisk, it is everyone’s. Do we need to kill to touch and enjoy it? They told me that they died so that there are no more wars, and that they hope that the message is spread. They died with valor and fulfilled their duty. But our duty is to prevent any more deaths like those ones”.
Alejandro Diego, war veteran.

Translator: Andrés H. Galliano
Sworn Translator. Interpreter
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