[THREAD]

1. I just read Silencios, by Sicilian politician, @claudiofava1. It's a fictionalised account of the true story of La Plata Rugby Club's 1977/78 season.

It is the darkest, most tragic, most heroic story I've ever heard about the game of rugby - and perhaps about sport.

2. I don't think that the book has been translated into English, so the purpose of this thread is to provide a brief retelling of a story that remains, to this day, largely untold outside of Argentina and, until recently, Italy - but merits far greater exposure.

3. @laplatarugby are a pretty prominent Argentinian rugby club, based in a coastal suburb of Buenos Aries.

They have played in the city's top division since the 1930s, and were national club champions as recently as 2007.

4. In 1977/78, La Plata were one of the strongest teams in the league, and were in with a good shot at winning the title that season.

However, the millitary junta, led General Jorge Rafael Videla, were to stop them dead in their tracks.

Literally.

5. Videla came to power in 1976, by way of a millitary coup, and remained in power until 1983.

His military dictatorship embarked on a sinisterly named 'National Reorganisation Process', part of which was the systematic disappearance & elimination of 'subversive' individuals.

6. This basically involved the abduction, torture & murder of anyone deemed an anti-junta dissident; such as unionists, leftists & people with links to protest movements.

Most victims were young people, and of the 30,000 disappeared, fewer than 9,000 were ever accounted for.

7. So, to the story of La Plata RFC.

At some point in the season, La Plata back, Otilio Pascua, a student, vanished.

A month later, his corpse was found in the river. Bullet wound to the head.

The team undersood that Pascua, a Communist Party member, had been 'disappeared'.

8. At their next match, at home, La Plata's players demanded a minute's silence take place, even though UAR hadn't sanctioned it.

They did it anyway and, according to Fava's account, turned it into a 10 minute silence.

The millitary police saw this as an open provocation.

9. More context : the 1978 World Cup was about to take place in Argentina and, with the world's eyes on the country, the regime doubled down in their Dirty War against dissidence.

To this backdrop, a public display of resistance by a big rugby club was intolerable for the junta.

10. The secret police thus warned La Plata to withdraw from the league, or face further consequences.

The players refused to comply & continued to fulfil fixtures. La Plata fans, aware of the situation, started to turn up in greater numbers, to support their résistant heroes.

11. The regime responded brutally, by disappearing La Plata players, one-by-one.

When word got out about what was happening to the club, the entire first team received an offer of political asylum from France, yet the team refused to back down, hell-bent on making a stand.

12. By the end of the season, 17 members of the La Plata first team squad had been abducted, tortured and murdered.

Some were executed in the public eye, others were disappeared.

By the season's end, the side was made up largely of youth team players, some as young as 15.

13. These are the 17 young men who effectively martyred themselves, in order to stand-up to a brutal, repressive, fascist regime, in an act of heroism and self-sacrifice, the like of which I have never previously come across - at least not in a sporting context.

14. Of the original 1st team squad of '78, only one survived - Raul Barandiaran. By the season's end he was, by virtue of his survival, club captain at 20. Here he is, about to ship the ball to his friend Otilio Pascua, the first La Plata player to be murdered by Videla's regime.

15. Since its inception, rugby union has rarely, if ever, been on the right side of Social or Political History, so it's a shame that the courage, dignity and sacrifice of these young men hasn't achieved wider recognition.

To Los Desaparecidos of La Plata, I salute you.

16. The info in this thread all comes from Fava's novel, & from what little I could find online. I therefore apologise in advance for any inaccuracies.

The authority on this seems to be Argentinian journalist, @claudio_gmz, so if you read Spanish, please do check his book out.

17. Thank you to @yo_soy_david_h, for bringing this recent RAI documentary (with English subtitles) to my attention.

It has loads of archive footage of the team, as well as extensive interviews with teammates and family of the club's disappeared. https://vimeo.com/111924812