Ten years ago, a group of young people from San Francisco Solano, in the south of Buenos Aires, decided to create a neighborhood club called Deportivo Papa Francisco, in homage to the Supreme Pontiff that he assumed in 2013, a club that seeks to spread “the values that Pope Francis preaches among young people.”
The history of the club is born in the streets of San Francisco Solanowhen Jorge Ramírez, Mario Lugo, Jorge Grillo, José Kravetz and other young people They decide to found a social and sports club in order to help children and adults in problematic situations such as alcoholism, drugs and delinquency.
“What we were looking for was to help and in a short time we managed to get many kids from different neighborhoods to come to our club to practice in different disciplines,” told Télam Ricardo Montero, sports director of the Papa Francisco Sports Club.
“Francisco told us to continue, that the idea was great and that he supported us in what we did in this project”
His white shirt with yellow sleeves adopts the colors of the Vatican City flag.where the ex-archbishop of the City of Buenos Aires resides.
Montero, in his beginnings within the club, was a physical trainer for the youth soccer categories, although He stressed that his role was that “the youngest knew the values of Francisco.”
Among the values that are proclaimed in the institution are respect, education, cooperation, transparency and honesty, which according to the sports director, are replicated in the Soccer Team.
“As an institution we feel identified with the National Team and especially with Scaloni (Lionel) and Messi (Lionel) because throughout the world championship contest it was seen that the team played without cheating or chicanes and that is what we proclaim” .
kick off
On April 12, 2014, the club played its first official soccer match, and then began its tour of the Lujanense League.a regional tournament that brings together several teams from Buenos Aires.
According to Montero, Throughout his journey within the league, he received congratulations from several Argentine soccer leaders and players for the behavior of his soccer players on the field of play.
“We did not have problems with behavior or violence within the parties, because it was one of the main principles that we proclaimed,” added the leader.
“We have to be prepared, because many times we have to be therapists, psychologists and even parents, because many of the boys came from terrible realities with parents imprisoned or killed by crime or drugs”
Regarding this aspect, Montero recalled that he once tried to withdraw his club from the Lujanense league “tired of the soccer trap”, although at the last moment the leaders convinced him to return to the competition.
The institution received the support of different players with a great international career such as Sergio Agüero, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Sergio Romero, Ezequiel Garay, Marcos Rojo and Carlos Tevezamong others.
When the Pope received the representatives of the club
In September 2014, five months after its first official match and eleven months after its creation, Pope Francis received representatives of the institution in Romewhere they gave him a club shirt with his name and number 10 on the back.
“Francisco told us to continue, that the idea was great and that he supported us in what we did in this project”Montero recalled about his meeting with the Pope.
The club is also inserted into the social problems of the suburban neighborhoods.
“We have to be prepared, because many times we have to be therapists, psychologists and even parents, because many of the boys came from terrible realities with parents imprisoned or killed by crime or drugs,” Montero said.
The sports director admitted that “one who goes through the neighborhoods sees that drugs are already installed, that ‘little soldiers’ abound, and when you get in there and try to preach Francisco’s values, the kids don’t believe you because they earn easy money with the sale of drugs.
The different crises that affected the club
The coach recalled the crisis that the entity had after the death in a criminal act of a 14-year-old boy who trained at the club and emphasized that “it was very hard.” and added: “Many times we think about leaving everything aside because the values that one preached were going by the void.”
In the sports institution, which is currently located in Villa Domínico, in the municipality of Avellaneda, disciplines such as soccer, volleyball and taekwondo were practiced.reaching the number of 350 registered in their activities that were dictated freely and free of charge.
However, the economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic had a hard impact on the club. and caused soccer and volleyball to stop competing in Buenos Aires tournaments due to lack of financing both state and private.
“Not having municipal funding or advertising made it impossible for us to maintain the teachers, the facilities and even the payment of the league”
Now I barely subsist the practice of taekwondoin whose classes more than 50 boys participate.
“Not having municipal financing or advertising made it impossible for us to maintain the teachers, the facilities and even the payment of the league. For this reason we decided to stop competing for a while until the situation can be normalized,” Montero admitted with grief.
In the context of the tenth anniversary of the assumption of Pope Francis and of the sports institution, he remarked that “it is a dream to be able to proclaim these values in a difficult and with the latent dream of returning to compete in high performance and to be able to have our own place of training.”
