A rugby weekend in the snow

There is Mico, who has participated in all the editions and who has now involved his team, the Red Star of Milan. There is Silvia who lives here and who has been taking the field with her companions for years. There is Marco, who is the best of all at looking for players around the base camp, “stealing” them from his opponents and giving them the Ladispoli shirt: a phenomenon that has spread so much that it has taken the name of Cavicchismo, from his surname. There are many other people: volunteers, doctors, speakers, photographers, athletes (more or less) from Italy, Europe and Iran, but above all there is her. The snow.

For the tenth time, the Tarvisio Snow Rugby tournamentin the province of Udine, a handful of kilometers from Slovenia, collects the sporting adventures and misadventures of various madmen, who for a couple of days they show their courage and strength, playing on the snow of Monte Lussari.

Thirty-five formations, never so many, for an event that is back after a two-year stop due to the pandemic. And there was a desire, a great desire, to see the fluorescent oval again (so as not to lose it in the snow) running through the hands of rugby players in colorful and curious rugby shirts, trying to find a synthesis between the sporting effort on the pitch, and the playful one in the marquee used as a refreshment area, but also as a dance floor.

A success that comes from the idea of ​​Alberto Stentardo, who thought of twelve years ago reproduce the rules of the most popular beach rugby on an unusual surface. “If you can play on the sand – it was surely said at the time -, then we can do it on the snow too”. And so it was.

The women’s tournament was won by the girls from the Munich teamwhile the male one went to the Disciplesa formation of madmen who, given the similarity of their captain to Jesus, thought it best to put together a team, design and make shirts that resembled a Gothic stained glass window in which the Lord is portrayed with a rugby ball in his hands and go around Tarvisio singing church songs.

Normal? Definitely not, but in the carnival/snowy panorama of the Friulian tournament weekend, this takes on an almost ordinary meaning. In fact, beyond the sporting aspect, there is a lot of fun in Tarvisio. A fun that often becomes friendship, or even something more. Caterina, from Forum Iulii, the regional franchise that brings together the players of the main rugby teams of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, met a boy from Rugby Como during an edition of Snow and a few months ago she married him, just to mention a. But a thousand stories can be told around a tournament that increasingly aims at inclusion and growth. Precisely for this reason the Flying Elephants were invited, who with their joy reminded everyone of the project they are carrying out. Getting disabled kids down on the snow, letting them experience a day as a real team, starting by bus, away game, changing rooms, match, third half, is perhaps the greatest victory of Stentardo, director Cesare Zambelli and all the members of a staff that every year renews the tradition of this crazy crazy sport. But what does it mean to play in the snow? The rules are the same as for beach rugby: five against five, two five-minute halves, a reduced size field, no use of the foot, no groupings, tries are worth one point. All to promote a dynamic, fast and choreographic game.

Sure, at the start of the day, with the pitch harder, it’s hard not to come out aching from a good diving marking, but in any case any pain is softened by a glass of mulled wine and the music of the party that is played in the marquee between day and the other. A party that perhaps claims more victims than the camp itself.

On Sunday morning it’s hard to find players without dark circles, as quick and snappy as the day before. Wonders of a friendly tournament and not at all embittered by the fact that there is still a champion title to conquer. Despite this relaxed atmosphere, every year there are teams that are committed to reaching the final. The Discepoli, for example, had also won two editions of the Snow Rugby of Predazzo, in the province of Trento and were prepared for this type of game, which is all based on the use of space and on preventing the opponents from playing the ball, because the oval cannot stay still for more than two seconds.

In short, the snow rugby it’s a tiring sport, but incredibly fun: both on and off the track used as a field. If you can win then, so much the better. Otherwise we drink a bombardino together and sing a song hugging each other. Which is never a bad thing.