Dos Mundos y una bicicleta - Virreyes, Rugby Social Club

Virreyes A l’opposé du luxe et des lumières du sport spectacle, le Virreyes Rugby Social Club existe dans un pays où les clivages sociaux sont portés à leur paroxysme.
En Argentine, le rugby est habituellement réservé aux élites, Virreyes est l’exception. Ce club a été créé par une poignée de passionnés qui doivent beaucoup au rugby, pour mettre à profit les capacités d’insertion sociale de ce jeu dans un des quartiers les plus défavorisés de la capitale argentine. Grâce à cette expérience sociale concrète, des gamins destinés à arpenter les rues pour récupérer cartons ou bouteilles, ont retrouvé le chemin des études et construisent des projets d’avenir.
"S’il n’y avait pas Virreyes, je crois que je deviendrais fou" Emmanuel, 17 ans, ancien cartonero.
"L’époque que nous vivons est une des plus belles de notre vie, car nous sommes portés par l’amour" Rodolfo O’Reilly, ancien ministre des sports et entraîneur de l’équipe nationale les "Pumas", aujourd’hui entraineur de l’équipe des moins de 17 ans à Virreyes.

Toute la collection "Du Rugby et des hommes"

This film has a very special story to tell.

Virreyes Rugby Social Club exists in a world that is cut in two : the haves and the have-nots.

Installed in one of the poorest suburbs of Buenos Aires and created specifically by former Argentinean rugby players to narrow the distance between these two worlds, Virreyes Rugby Social Club aims at integrating the young kids of the poor quarters of the city, giving them hope and a vision for a future that would otherwise be denied them,

Rugby is still an amateur sport in Argentina and is usually reserved for the privileged class. Nevertheless, people like Rodolfo O’Reilly, (the first Minister for Sports after the dictatorship), have gone against the grain by taking the initiative to offer a chance to the underprivileged in a society they consider to be unjust. The widespread poverty is not merely a matter of material hardship but is also a one of discrimination ; the impossibility to have access to certain things.

“If it weren’t for Virreyes Rugby Social Club, I think I’d go crazy”. The local parents talk about how the club has benefited their children, instilling them with social values, fraternity, and tolerance : for the Virreyes project is a project based essentially on love.

The film, much acclaimed by critics, is generous and heart-warming as it shows the efforts of a handful of people to redress their country’s dark past through solidarity and social education against a background of images of Buenos Aires that are not to be found in travel catalogues and through an aspect of sport that is mainly ignored.

It’s also the story of a bicycle. But that’s another story…

le site du Virreyes Rugby Club