Old Christians Club, or simply Old Christians, is an

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

from the Carrasco neighbourhood of

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. The club is known mostly for its

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team that became famous around the world due to the 1972

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 The Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was a chartered flight from Montevideo, Uruguay, bound for Santiago, Chile, that crashed in the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972. The accident and subsequent survival became known as the Andes flight disaste ...

crash that involved the first division team of the club. Old Christians currently plays in Primera División, the top division of local rugby system. Apart from rugby union, the club also hosts

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

branches.

History

Old Christians Club was founded in 1962 by

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

of the Christian Brothers –

Stella Maris College Stella or STELLA may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Comedy *Stella (comedy group), a comedy troupe consisting of Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain Characters *Stella (given name), including a list of characters with th ...

, one of Montevideo's best high schools. The institution started as a

club and, like most rugby clubs in

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, also developed a

section for girls; thus becoming a multi-sports club.

Flight 571 disaster

On October 13, 1972, a plane carrying 40 members and players of Old Christians' rugby team en route to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, crashed in the Andes. More than a quarter of the passengers died in the crash and several more quickly succumbed to cold and injury. Of the twenty-nine who were alive a few days after the accident, another eight were killed by an avalanche that swept over their shelter in the wreckage. The survivors had little food and no source of heat in the harsh climate, at over 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) altitude. Faced with starvation and radio news reports that the search for them had been abandoned, the survivors fed on the dead passengers who had been preserved in the snow. Rescuers did not learn of the survivors until 72 days after the crash when passengers

Nando Parrado Fernando "Nando" Seler Parrado Dolgay (born 9 December 1949) is one of the sixteen Uruguayan survivors of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972. After spending two months trapped in the mounta ...

and

Roberto Canessa Roberto Jorge Canessa Urta, M.D., (born 17 January 1953) is one of the 16 survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972, and a Uruguayan political figure. He was portrayed by Josh Hamilt ...

, after a 10-day trek across the Andes, found a Chilean

huaso A huaso () is a Chilean countryman and skilled horseman, similar to the American cowboy, the Mexican charro (and its northern equivalent, the vaquero), the gaucho of Argentina, Uruguay and Rio Grande Do Sul, and the Australian stockman. ...

, who gave them food and then alerted authorities about the existence of the other survivors. The story of the disaster has since been depicted in many movies, television shows and books.

Achievements in rugby

Despite being one of Montevideo's youngest clubs, Old Christians have achieved remarkable success on the national scene, winning their first national title only six years after the club's creation. Since then the club has become a powerhouse of Uruguayan rugby, winning the

Campeonato Uruguayo de Rugby The Campeonato Uruguayo de Rugby – named "Copa Amarok" due to sponsorship reasons, is the main competition of Uruguayan rugby union league system. It includes the first, second and third division competitions. It was played for the first time ...

19 times, the most recent one in 2017. Many Old Christians have also gone on to represent Uruguay at international level. The club's main rivals are

Carrasco Polo Club Carrasco Polo Club is a Uruguayan sports club from the Carrasco, Montevideo, Carrasco neighbourhood of Montevideo. Its name references directly the polo team and the fact that Carrasco has one of Uruguay's leading equestrian centres. Apart from pol ...

and Old Boys Club.

Honours

**Winners (20): 1968, 1970, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2007, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 *Campeonato Liga Universitaria de fútbol +40 **Winners (2): 2020, 2021

References

External links

* {{Authority control Uruguayan rugby union teams Sport in Montevideo Football clubs in Montevideo Rugby clubs established in 1962 1962 establishments in Uruguay Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571