Rugby e carcere: il caso “Giallo Dozza” di Bologna

Abstract

This contribution takes its starting point from the experience of the Giallo Dozza Bologna Rugby team, established within Bologna prison and composed entirely of detainees, in order to reflect on the educational, cultural and legal value of sport in the penitentiary context. Drawing on the metaphors of rugby - the backward pass as cooperation, the “third half” as fraternity, and the oval ball as a symbol of freedom and unpredictability - the essay explores the relationship between sport, rehabilitation and the dignity of the person. The discussion is interwoven with a broader reflection on the rehabilitative function of punishment, enshrined in Article 27(3) of the Constitution, and on its anthropological and cultural significance, capable of restoring to the execution of punishment its personalist vocation. From this perspective, the prison emerges as an emblematic space of human limitation and of the possibility of transformation, while sport, experienced in its communal dimension, takes shape as an instrument of freedom, solidarity and renewal.