Old Christians Club
| Full name | Old Christians Club |
|---|---|
| Union | Unión de Rugby del Uruguay |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Location | Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Ground(s) | Solymar |
| President | Roberto Canessa |
| League(s) | Primera División |
| 2014 Apertura | ? |
| Official website | |
| www |
|
Old Christians Club, or simply Old Christians, is an Uruguayan sports club from the Solymar neighbourhood of Montevideo.
The club is mostly known for its rugby union team that became famous around the world due to the 1972 Andes flight disaster 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 and field hockey branches.
Old Christians Club was founded in 1965 by alumni of Stella Maris College, one of Montevideo's best high schools.
The institution started as a rugby union club and, like most rugby clubs in Uruguay and Argentina, also developed a field hockey section for girls; thus becoming a multi-sports club.
On October 13, 1972, a plane carrying 40 members and players of Old Christians' rugby team en route to Chile, 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 and Roberto Canessa, after a 10-day trek across the Andes, found a Chilean huaso, who gave them food and then alerted authorities about the existence of the other survivors.
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Wikipedia