Juan Marino, the Malvinas veteran who found peace in hockey

Juan Marinothe Malvinas veteran and Master +65 goalkeeper, found in hockey a peace that he did not achieve in his years as a soccer player.

“I played first in Ferrocarril Urquizawhich is the UAI today, then I went to Brown from Adrogué and I finished my career in Chacarita. At 55 years old I started trying out what hockey was.“They invited me to play and I stayed there with the boys to join the team,” Marino began by clarifying.

Juan, when mentioning his past with the number five ball, took the opportunity to comment on what he found in the sport of stick and bocce to stay in it: “A tranquility, a camaraderie, compared to football is something else. In other words, football is more dynamic, more effusive, whereas here everything is calm, you can talk, reflect on things that we talk about with your teammates and in football that doesn’t happen.”

Marino was part of the Argentine army in the Falkland Islands during the war with England and remembers with honor his participation in the war: “I had to go, I belonged to the ship ARA Cabo San Antonio And well, later I stayed on the Island as a stretcher bearer and I worked there.”

When providing the note days before the anniversary of the landing of the Albiceleste troops on the Islands, he could not help but think about that April 2 and what it generated in him: “Hockey is a breath of air that gives me the memories that come back to me from April 2 and where unfortunately he thinks of all his fallen companions. “This sport helps me cope with things.”

Years ago, he had to represent Argentina in a World Cup and he lived a unique moment that was saved in his retina and heart: “In 2018 I had to face the Welsh, one of them had also been in the Islands and they introduced him to me, with a translator who was another player. We had a talk for more than an hour… the truth is that the war separated us, but sport united us. We exchanged shirts, we hugged, we even cried together. The truth is that it was a nice experience that hockey gave me.”

From a distance and with the scar still visible in his eyes, Juan ended up giving a message of conciliation about what happened in 1982: “It is understanding that the war was something that occurred from above, not from below. All of us who fought were sent. I’m not saying it was bad, but it was a proud thing for us to do. But against the English, I have my rivalry with them, but when we are together, when we chat, it is something else, we move on to a friendship”.

Finally, he left a message for the combatants’ entourage and greeted “to all war veterans and the families of the fallen who are the ones who suffer the most at this time”.