“There’s room for everyone”, the integrated rugby championship restarts

After sitting him on the grass, they took off his shoes: “Try walking barefoot, you’ll see how beautiful it is!”. Antonio was scared: he crossed his legs and held his feet in the air, worried. It was his first oval training: back then he wouldn’t let anyone touch him, not even a caress on the head. Like him, other boys on the team: all with different forms of autism. Today you see them running, hugging each other happily while passing an oblong ball. The summer break is over, finally we go back to playing: in Padua, Treviso, Venice, Belluno, soon in Verona and Vicenza. In Veneto there are 8 Abirugby teams, integrated rugby, over a hundred athletes and at least seventy facilitators.

An example that has begun to be followed by many regions (among others, Sicily, Lazio and Tuscany), with results that are not measured in victories, draws or defeats – we are not talking about a competitive activity – but in smiles: those of the kids, their families, the traditional rugby clubs they refer to by sharing fundamental moments in the clubhouse. And of the school: “Their teachers say they have seen a different attitude, which was not there before. It is a first step, a fundamental example: because other kids will see, and will start to follow them”.

A Fir project: «Because in rugby there is room for everyone».

A promise kept: in 2021 it was part of the program of Marzio Innocenti, then elected president of Fir. A chapter dedicated to disability, included in the Rugby Project. The possibility of accessing a course for “facilitators” orchestrated by Francesco Grosso, head of Promotion and Development of the Federation. “A job studied with great attention, thanks to the help of psychologists and specialists. But the experience in the field was also fundamental”, says Sandro Trevisan, president of the Veneto Committee of the Fir. Having identified a regional coordinator, Chiara Franchini, with the logistical support of the Federation and a few sponsors, the integrated rugby teams have multiplied. “Within each formation there are those who run independently, those who simply walk, those who need to be followed personally: there is room for everyone and everyone is fundamental, as in the philosophy of rugby”. The teams train once or twice a week. «Above all, the kids and their families attend the club they support: and living together in the clubhouse, participating in the ‘third half’, become inclusive moments in which everyone learns and teaches».

The watchword is: “Let’s mix!”

The path traced by Veneto has been followed by other regions, and there are good reasons to believe that the Fir project will continue to involve athletes, families, and clubs. Once a month, we all meet for a collective Abirugby party: “Let’s mix!”, the watchword. “They don’t take to the field wearing the jersey of their respective teams, but divided by ability: to have the opportunity and space to express their full potential,” explains Chiara Franchin. The last meeting was in June, in Mogliano. We are preparing for a new meeting. “The goal is to expand as much as possible, making sure we grow at the management level: integrated rugby must no longer be tied to the sensitivity of a few people but must become something structural within all Italian clubs.” Because walking barefoot on the grass is beautiful.