The phrase “It all started as a bet” could be the beginning of many a whacky tale of misadventure but for Israeli rugby referee Ariel Cabral there was something much more poignant about this particular adventure that began as a dare among friends.
In 1990, the 13-year-old Cabral left with his family from Córdoba in Argentina, where every day he “lived rugby”, to move to the city of Be’er Sheva in southern Israel. Missing the family feeling of rugby in 1992, Ariel, his father Eduardo and brother Pablo founded Camels Be’er Sheva RFC.
In a region that often makes the headlines because of tensions – and worse – between the Jewish and Arab communities, Cabral grew up in what he describes as a “very tolerant environment because my team was basically built up from Israeli-Arab Bedouins”.
“I lived with that daily. It was very diverse with Jewish people and Arabs playing together. We had players from all around the world. We had players from Russia, Romania and Argentina,” he said.
“I always had the belief that rugby can cross borders. I have many Arab friends. My friend, Moneer, was the first Israeli-Arab in our team, a Bedouin. He was also the first Bedouin player to play for an Israeli national team. That inspired me a lot.”
‘Rugby Crosses Borders’ tournament
This was the inspiration that sparked that fateful bet that would lead to the historic ‘Rugby Crosses Borders’ tournament in 2006.
As Cabral explains: “It all started as a bet. I had been talking to a friend about how we had never had any interactions with teams from Arab countries so I thought ‘why not try to make some history with our love of rugby?’
“I sent lots of letters to everybody I thought could help make this happen but I was not sure if people would agree to help. Then, Cairo RFC replied to me. I was totally in shock but the event happened in Be’er Sheva. We made history with that first tournament as Israeli and Arab teams took part. It was really great, I was very proud of that.”
The success of ‘Rugby Crosses Borders’ further spurred on Cabral. He says: “Then I thought ‘if I did that with Egypt, why couldn’t I do that with the Palestinians?’”
The plan was to try to organise a match between Camels Be’er Sheva RFC and Beit Jala Lions, a team of Palestinian players from the West Bank.
Historic Israeli/Palestinian match
The wheels were set in motion for an historic first-ever match between Israeli and Palestinian sides.
“I contacted the Beit Jala Lions team manager, who was a Hungarian guy, and we started to email each other and set up a neutral venue for what would be another historic event in Hungary.
“The tournament took place in Budapest in 2010 and, at the beginning, it was a little awkward but these people were like us – they believed that our sport has no frontiers or borders.”
It is with great emotion that he describes the connections he and the Israeli players made with their Palestinian counterparts.
“I was just so happy to meet them because it made me realise there are many people who think like me about what rugby can do. It was like meeting soul mates. It was a very special experience.
‘Visit was a friendship of rugby’
“We stayed in touch and talked a lot with the Palestinians. We were able to share our stories. You would not believe it but we did not talk about politics at all. Our visit was a friendship of rugby.”
In 2009, the IRB set out the core values of rugby, which underpin all that the game is about. One of these is solidarity, a value that was very much to the fore as these two communities came together in the spirit of the game.
The solidarity that rugby provides is a unifying spirit that leads to lifelong friendships, camaraderie, teamwork and loyalty, which transcends cultural, geographic, political and religious differences.
This value of solidarity was included because delegates from the Georgian and Russian Rugby Unions explained that how during the conflict between their two countries in 2008 both unions stayed in close contact to see that their friends from rugby had remained safe regardless of what country they were in.
This spirit of friendship that had connected Georgia and Russia through rugby had extended to supporting each other despite the war.
Rugby solidarity can transcend politics
This type of solidarity is something that Israel Rugby Union president Menachem Ben Menachem believes could be important in further growing the Game in the Middle East.
“I think back to when there was the war between Georgia and Russia and the two sides were still playing each other at rugby and they would call each other up to make sure that everybody was all right. There is not a Palestinian international team that plays against us but we would like if there was one and we will support it if we can.”
“We are looking forward to one day being able to play other international teams in our region.”
Cabral is keen to continue in his efforts to use rugby as a way of breaking down borders.
“I want to do it again and again and again to show people what amazing things can happen through playing rugby. We want to continue crossing borders with rugby. It doesn’t matter what countries. We want to show the world that really in our hearts we do not have borders. I believe our sport can do miracles.”
