Cold. It’s not just about the winter, it’s the concrete, the iron of the bars, the loneliness. In prison the cold is complete and penetrates into the bones, into the mind, freezing life in a time in which survival is the goal. Warming up can give you pause, and for that reason, 24 members of the Tehuelches
Eduardo got up early like every Sunday when he goes to the U11. He bundled up, grabbed two bags of tangerines and drove to the neighborhood. Industrial park. Everything was stopped, for the city it was a day of rest, for him, a day of commitment.
He waited a little until Juan Pablo, Flavio and Thiago arrived. Crossing countless doors is the way to enter a prison. After the first, a woman asked for their documents. In the second, another asked for their cell phones and they left the car keys. In the third, a man told them that “they were already taking them out” and invited them to follow in his footsteps.
A large outdoor space opened up. There, some animals were welcoming. The black painted horse wanted to touch the sky with its legs and A guanaco in the fog stared at them, with its cold, iron eyes.
“After spending the morning in training, Sunday at home has a different flavor. You value that snack and the barbecue with the family differently. For us it is also a learning experience,” Juan Pablo adjusted the collar of his blue fleece sweatshirt, with the Neuquén Rugby Club symbol on his chest.
They passed in front of a cement soccer field, and in the background, they could see the group of players arriving loaded with red tarps.dressed in shorts, long colored socks, some were wearing their typical striped t-shirts: light blue and white.
They met in front of the gate and greeted each other. Eduardo pointed to the field that could be seen in the background. In five years of work and perseverance they managed to remove the stones and banish the arid soil from the plateau. He said that at first they were full of dirt, scratched by the rough ones, but little by little the grass advances over the ground, like the Tehuelches.
Build a team
This story began in Buenos Aires, in March 2009, lawyer Eduardo “Coco” Oderigo visited the maximum security prison for the first time. The greatest perception of him was hopelessness and days later he returned with a rugby ball and trained about 15 people deprived of their liberty to create the “Los Espartanos” team.
In 2016, Fundación Espartanos was created and the experience allowed them to consolidate a social reintegration program that helps lower recidivism rates from 65% to 5% and is changing the lives of entire families and society.
Today, Espartanos, is in 16 provinces of the country and is replicated in 7 countries around the world. In Neuquén, since 2019, it is called Tehuelches XV. “We started with a joint effort. A rugby team had never operated in prison, many things had to be adapted. The players had never played, and the coaches had not trained adults who did not know how to play. Luckily we were able to do it and it continues, like in 47 prisons in our country, and many abroad there are a total of 60”, luckily Eduardo repeats, but it was not chance.
The day started with some complications. The inflator seemed like it didn’t want to work and they tried to find a solution. There was fog, but the sky was blue. In the center of the field they moved quickly to start, on the margins, sheltered penitentiaries, they grouped themselves in twos, holding on to their ithacas and looking serious. Then there was the wall, the barbed wire, the man who walked on it, he came, he went and he came.
The gate was heard and a few more joined in. They arrived handcuffed, because they belonged to the maximum security pavilion. With these, there were 24 players. And there were four of the seven coaches, because as Eduardo explained, they rotate every Sunday.
Flavio has been collaborating on administrative issues for three years. He talked about the importance of going there every Sunday. “There are several mixed feelings. But being here, I realized that it is not unreasonable that you could end up in prison. For example, you can kill someone in an accident. “I really think we have to give it another chance,” he assured while tying the protectors of the H (the arches) that “the upholsterer” made. They are red and they painted the image of Patoruzito, who from the post seems to provide his cheerful wink.
To the court
“They eat the tackle between the nipples and the hips, so we have to strengthen the abdominal part,” Juan shouted and everyone, in a line, did the exercises. Then he stood up, asked one of them to come closer, made a move on him and knocked him down. The young man, from the floor, told him: “I want to see you inside,” and everyone started laughing.
Behind the field, there were some scattered trees and a house. From there came a man with crutches, thin, missing a leg. Seeing them, he stretched his chin to the sky to greet them. He lives next to two others who could leave, but they do not have families to receive him. “It’s difficult, very sad, because if you entered ten years ago, the world changed,” Eduardo said. and their commitment continues outside the walls. She said that the day before, she had gone to look for a boy who was released, and took him to an acquaintance’s house to do a painting job.
Today Tehuelches has had more than 220 treatments and approximately 80 players have passed through the team. Some stopped playing, and several regained their freedom. The teachers are all volunteers and their work does not give credits towards reduction of sentence. But it gives them belonging and a feeling of being with people for a while, who are like friends.
The boy who organizes the library couldn’t play due to an injury, but he came out anyway and served as water boy. “Rugby led me to discover what I didn’t know about my physical and mental capabilities, that my sentence became lighter, that I could smile, that I could clear my head,” he said. Until he entered Tehuelches did not know rugby and thought it was very risky, especially in the context of confinement, That would be risking injuries, but then he saw that it adds to the respect with his teammates.
“I like to play, it gives you adrenaline. It motivates you and you touch the earth. There are activities there, but none of them are outdoors and everything inside is cement, you see the sky behind bars. But here on earth, with the grass, with the mud, with the cold, “All that that you haven’t had for years, if you come to rugby you get it back for a while.”
Another of the boys arrived and sat next to him. A bullet hurt his leg and he couldn’t last all the training. From there, he said that no one visits him, and that when he leaves, he will seek to make another life. He also showed his admiration for the teachers. “The attitude they put into it. The time they take to come on a Sunday morning. Not many do that today, it’s rare. The effort to make this afloat is appreciated, it is something to value,” he highlighted.
“They don’t want to miss”
“Opportunity, self-control, inspiration, reflection, humility, empathy, commitment, union, integration, strength, resilience and freedom.” The words painted on the wall were chosen by them and according to Eduardo, each one reflects a situation. They have many projects ahead, such as organizing a match outside, at Neuquén Rugby for October.
Thiago also came over to chat. He is the son of one of the coaches, of Carlos “the grandfather” and at the University they had asked him for solidarity internships. “I was training rugby for a long time and my old man is in this. So I joined the two parts, we made the connection with the Espartanos Foundation and in March I started. It’s very good, it’s a shock of reality,” he announced.
When they finished, everyone made a round. Only the teachers and the players spoke and listened. Everyone had mud stuck to their clothes and while they were gathered, a flock of birds hovered overhead. And they hugged each other and shouted “Tehuelches, damn it.”
The famous third period was short and they shared tangerines. They put handcuffs on the boys in the maximum security wards. “They managed to combine different pavilions, which is very rare. “This is like a ground cable for us, like semi-freedom, let’s say,” said one of them and added that he never thought he would be imprisoned and even less that he was going to miss the land, but he has hope.
“You know when you are going on the shoulder and you have to try to be a little more aware. This is the end of the cliff and I don’t recommend it for anyone. You are far from your family, you miss many things here. We have to get back on track. “Now we have to get out and get back on the right path again,” He says while they told him to stop to leave, or rather enter.
The teachers crossed the gate and while they returned their belongings, they said that they know that the main victims of this are the victims of what they did, and their solidarity is with that person. QBut faced with the fact, they have already been judged and have a sentence to bear.
“One day they will be released, then as a society, What do we want, for a worse person to come out than the one who came in? We bet that a better one comes out. That is our work, what we can do, it is immense, but we see that behavior improves a lot, the majority is studying, there is respect, we achieve that,” Eduardo concluded.
Program objectives
Improve security, lowering criminal recidivism rates from 65% to 5%.
Promote the culture of work and education.
Avoid future victims, achieving the social reintegration of the Spartans so that they can also be positive examples for their families and communities.
Reduce levels of violence, inside and outside prisons.
No Remain Fallen is the book that tells the story of The Spartans and provides testimonies of a reality: “that there are people who are condemned from the cradle to living like abused dogs. Their childhoods are raw stories, postcards from hell itself.”
