November 2019 Inter7s v Madrid Prison team, organised by the Real Madrid Foundation

For four years Inter7s have brought teams to Madrid, to play a mini-tournament, to watch a Real Madrid match and to have a good time. In 2017, the trip itinerary was slightly changed. We now had a match in a prison against the inmates.

 

Having the chance to help people and doing social activities is a fundamental of Life. Everyone can donate a smile, today we would donate a team.

 

Inter7s is an ambassador of this way of thinking and in 2019, and in 2017 (we had no Madrid trip in 2018 going to Slovenia), it was decided to play a football match in a detention center in Madrid against the prisoner team. 

 

This match took part because of Inter7s ties with the Real Madrid Foundation. One of the key functions of The Real Madrid Foundation is helping different communities in Madrid and Inter7s is glad to be a part of one of their projects. This year the teams that traveled to Madrid were: Hilltown Bhoys &  Greyhound as winners of the Champions League prize. Harding OB’s, 1-2 Pawa and Sandymount Hotel joined us for the trip too.

 

The chosen prison was Centro Penitenciario Madrid IV, Navalcarnero, southwest of Madrid. The atmosphere there, as you can imagine, was tense and sad. But at the pitch the atmosphere changed. The prisoners were ready to play and they seemed happy, but also motivated because they wanted to show their skills.

 

Sand pitch, eleven against eleven, 90 minutes match. The event was ready to start. On one side the Inter7s’ players, and on the other side the prison players that had three teams which they changed every 30 minutes. 

 

In the beginning, it was clear the advantage the prisoners had playing on their home pitch, but later, things changed. The Inter7s team started to play better and put some good moves together and scored some nice goals. During the final part of the match, some prisoners played with the Inter7s’ team because one of the reasons to be there is to give to them the possibility to have fun and enjoy the game, and they had 30 players.

 

In the end, the result? In the middle of the dust, the effort, and the clouds, the smiles from the prisoners showed they had the possibility to spend a different day, meeting new people, enjoying and breathing the freedom of playing football.   

Words by Luca