CHAPECOENSE have turned the tragedy that cost the lives of most of its players into a fairytale to try and help young fans come to terms with what happened.
The plane carrying the side crashed in Colombia, claiming the lives of 71 people, with only six survivors.
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Many were members of the Brazilian team, based in the city of Chapeco, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina.
And now in its monthly magazine, the club has decided to publish a fairytale to explain to younger fans what happened in Colombia.
The tale is titled “Era uma vez” (“Once upon a time”) and the storyling is that the footballers were invited to play a match in heaven.
The marketing manager of the Brazilian team, Alessandra Lara Zuanazzi Seidel, had the idea after she had to explain the tragedy to her son and invented a similar story to talk about it.
And after discussing it with co-workers, she decided to publish it.
She said: “We wanted to move away from the tragedy a bit and honour all the victims in a proper way. If the accident is difficult to understand for us, imagine for kids how hard it must be.
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“We wanted to tell the story from another point of view. A fiction, a ‘once upon a time’. We hope that all the empathy that we have put in practice to write this tale could caress the soul of readers and fans, as well as friends and relatives of people who are not with us anymore.”
The team published the tale on their social media account with a message explaining their decision to publish the latest edition of the magazine.
They said that they had hoped to announce the club’s victory in the South American cup, and never expected that they would be informing of the tragedy.
The text continues: “We lost our team, our technicians, we lost our assembly that always pointed us to better roads. We lost our workmates, our press friends that accompanied our Chape as their loved team.
“After this never ending 29th November, between the incredulity and pain, we found the hope and we are sure that we should keep on with the legacy of our colleagues and especially honouring their legacy.”
The post on Facebook was shared by more than 3,100 users and has more than 1,000 comments. One wrote: “Our heroes turned up in eternity and eternal is the emptiness left by all of them in our hearts. Each Chapecoense lost someone loved and next to their heart.
“A neighbour, a friend, a relative. The only thing we can do is remember them as persons who loved a lot what they did. They are champions and as champions will be always remembered.”
Another said: “Congratulations! You will be able to tell something very sad in a beautiful and human way. This ‘once upon a time’ will be eternal, along with these special characters! Strength for relatives and strong Chape!”
It comes as investigators found that the plane crash was caused by human error, having run out of fuel.
Colombian officials said there was no technical failure and blamed the pilot, the airline and Bolivian regulators.
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