Brazilian Sports in 1914
"British outdoor sports are gaining a hold of every country under the sun. Brazil has taken them up with avidity. She has even developed a national pastime that attracts crowds…
From: 1914 C.E. To: 1914 C.E.
Location: Rio e Janeiro, Brazil; Sao Paulo, Brazil
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
Football in Brazil—Spectators' cries—Cricket not popular—Tennis and rowing much indulged in—Golf's increasing vogue—A corner in the Anglo-American Club, Sao Paulo—Horse-racing and breeding—Where the best thoroughbreds came from—Gymnasium getting popular—Athletic sports meeting in Sao Paulo—Shooting and fishing—Dancing everywhere indulged in—The Carnival.
British outdoor sports are gaining a hold of every country under the sun. Brazil has taken them up with avidity. She has even developed a national pastime that attracts crowds in city, town, and village all over the Republic. When I asked "What is your most popular national sport?" I was told it was football—soccer at that. This I found to be correct.
Every town in Brazil has its football clubs and grounds. Even away in the interior, on the fazendas, I found them playing soccer football. It was first introduced by the British at Sao Paulo about 1886 and immediately appealed to young Brazilians. The honour of introducing it I think belongs to the Sao Paulo Athletic Club, whose representative teams have always taken a high place in cup contests. In the cities there are now many senior clubs competing for trophies. Inter-State matches are occasionally played, the contests attracting the greatest crowds being those between the Federal Capital and Sao Paulo. These matches are now witnessed by tens of thousands. It was my privilege to see many matches in various parts of the country.
The game is seen at its best in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, though I've seen quite a good match in Manaos. Brazil has been visited by Argentine and English teams, who did much to popularise the game. Rugby football is also played, principally by British residents. It has not made the strides soccer shows. Occasional inter-club games may be seen at Santos, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco. An amusing feature of football in Brazil is the retention by the Brazilians of the English terms for much connected with it. So a football crowd whose language is naturally Portuguese, may be heard yelling "shoot," "pass," "kick," "take it forwards."
From what I have seen and heard around the world, if there is going to be a universal language, English leads for the honour, and British sports, especially football, will help to secure it.
Cricket is played principally by the British in most of the capitals, but it has never caught on with the Brazilians. There are good grounds in Sao Paulo, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Nictheroy, and Pernambuco; and on these a few club games are played every year. Visits have been received from Argentine and English teams. The best games are the long-established contests between Sao Paulo and Santos.
Next to football, lawn tennis has caught on better than any other of the British games. It is played as widely almost as football, but by a different set of people. It is yet the pastime chiefly of the wealthier classes. Both grass and hard lawns are used. The school and public playing grounds are mostly cement-covered courts. The standard of play is far behind European tournament form. No organised effort to promote competitions seems to have been made, except for club championships. The game is becoming so popular that State or national organisation of the clubs seems desirable. The visit of Australasian or European leading players might help to correct mistaken ideas in style. Some Brazilian players I saw at the game showed great promise if given a little expert tuition.
Rowing is a very popular pastime, and in Rio and Santos harbours I saw some good crews racing. There are many hundreds of rowing clubs to be found around the coasts and on the rivers. These clubs are organised into groups and associations which promote regattas at frequent intervals. In Rio Bay the famous clubs have been the Guanabarense, Botafogo, Gragoata Group, Flamengo, and International; while the Sao Paulo leading clubs are Club de Regatas, Sport Club Nautico, Sao Paulo Rowing Club, International, and Argonautas. The racing members of the clubs train consistently, but lack expert coaching in style and effective methods. The rivalry between the States is very keen; and a victorious party returning from a regatta make just as much noise as an English college football excursion.
Yachting has many devotees in the various ports, and races are sometimes organised between different States. There are good yacht clubs in Rio, Santos, Pernambuco, Para, and Porto Alegre. Motor pleasure boats are making their appearance in fast increasing numbers.
Baseball is played in Rio, but has not made much headway. Golf is one of the outdoor sports that shows signs of winning much popularity. Golf-links have been opened in Rio, Santos, Sao Paulo, and a few other places. The Sao Paulo links are in the heart of the city, and are largely used by players all the year round.
Good athletic and sporting clubs with grounds, lawns, bowling-greens, and indoor recreation accommodation have been opened in a number of Brazilian cities. It was my privilege to enjoy much appreciated hospitality at the Sao Paulo, Manaos, and Pernambuco Athletic Clubs, where I found the members of all nationalities anxious to do everything they could think of for a visitor. They are a fine sporting lot right through Brazil. Every city and town extended a welcome to its social, automobile, sporting and athletic, literary and musical clubs.
There is one little club, however, right in the centre of the city of Sao Paulo, that must always seem like a home from home to the Briton, especially should he be a Scot. It is the Anglo-American Club, where the Scots in exile "forgather." There are English, Irish, Welsh and Americans in it, but it is seldom you would find it without a few cheery-faced broad-tongued Scots cracking jokes together in a corner. Entire stranger though you may be, if you are not assimilated by that group before you know where you are, the fault is your own. The rooms are cosily-furnished, and you will find the latest British and American newspapers and magazines on the tables. The company was always jovial, even unto hilariousness at times, and I felt that one needed such surroundings occasionally to exercise one's English (or Scottish) after so much Portuguese. The credit of founding this useful club is largely due to an Irish British Consul, Mr O'Sullivan Beare.
Horse-racing has become firmly established as one of the outdoor pastimes. It was introduced at Rio de Janeiro in 1849. The first racing club was called the Sociedade Jockey Club Fluminense, which held its meetings on a course seven or eight miles from the city. Although honoured by the patronage and presence of the Emperor Dom Pedro II. and his nobles, the meetings were poorly supported by the public and eventually abandoned.
The sport experienced spasmodic revivals during the following twenty years or so. By 1870-71, when stud-books for imported and national-bred thoroughbred horses had been compiled and published, a club called the Jockey Club Fluminense showed signs of life. In 1873 English racehorses appeared on its course which was in an easily-accessible quarter, and public interest began to be manifested. Two years later, in 1875, a strong club was formed in Sao Paulo and held a meeting which brought to light several good national-bred horses. In the eighteen-eighties there was a boom in the sport and clubs held meetings in nearly all the principal States. Rio de Janeiro had four clubs in 1890, amongst them appearing the Derby Club, which with the Jockey Club are the survivors there to this day. From 1893 to 1905 there was such a serious falling-off in public interest that few of the clubs survived it. Those two mentioned in Rio, with the clubs of Sao Paulo, Parana, Rio Grande do Sul, Amazonas, and Ceara struggled on and are now in a healthy active condition.
In Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo the racecourses are now well equipped and ornamented, and the principal meetings attract many thousands of spectators. The leading events in Rio de Janeiro are the Grande Premio Cruzeiro do Sul (Grand Prize Cross of the South) for animals bred in the country, entries to be made within three months of entrants' foaling. Another big prize for national animals is the Derby run by the Derby Club Rio, while the Sao Paulo Jockey Club have recently been providing big premiums for this class. The Grande Premio Jockey Club, Grande Premio Rio de Janeiro, and Paulista Cup are the biggest events open to imported horses. The distances are usually a mile to a mile and a half, and the prize money for these races fluctuates from ten to thirty contos of reis or roughly £700 to £2100.
The foundation of the Brazilian studs was laid by importing animals from England, France and Argentina. The most successful English horses have been Bend d'Or, Sans Pareil, Petersham, Twickenham, and Carnival. Other successful imported runners have been Moltke, Maestro, Damietta, Phrynea, Soberano, Osman, Tut, Corneille, and Aventureiro. The English sires leaving the best stock were Sans Pareil, Petersham, Cesar, and Corneille. The French were Nicklauss and Osman II. Of the Brazilian-bred animals the best turf performers have been Guayanaz (by Sans Pareil—Kittie), Hercules, Ibitina, Kaffina, Jacobino, Ratazzi, Judea, Fritz, Albatross, Casulo, Adonis, Cicero, Boreas, Pery, St Silvestre, Sylvia, Rapido, and Evohe.
I saw the last-mentioned win an important event at Sao Paulo, and having previously selected the animal as the most likely winner of the event, I felt he had justified my expressed opinion of him. Evohe was certainly a picture of the best type of racing thoroughbred, light chestnut, good head and neck, nicely-shaped quarters, clean and not too fine in the limbs,—a Flying Fox type.
The horse was bred in Sao Paulo. On this course I saw in operation a system of photographing starts and finishes, which was brought to perfection by a local British amateur photographer. The Sao Paulo Jockey Club, which had I was told some 500 members was presided over by Dr Ellis, one of those citizens of the world whose home is the country that treats him best, and who takes no end of trouble to make the visitors to his city enjoy their stay.
The race-meetings held in States other than those I have dealt with do not rise to the same high standard. In Fortaleza and Manaos the horses engaged are merely hacks and ponies, and the prizes offered are not large. Considering how the south and east of Asia and the East Indies are flooded with Australian horses, I was surprised to find none of these running in Brazil. The absence of trotters and pacers also struck me. The Brazilian rider prefers his horse to go at an amble, and rarely indulges in trotting. The horses used on the fazendas are fair animals, and the cavalry regiments are well mounted.
Yet there is much to be done in the way of improving the breed of horses especially in the northern States. The Australian walers ought to do well in Brazil where the climate and other conditions are similar to what they flourish in. The Government of Sao Paulo has spent a good deal of money with a French commission, trying to improve the breed of the State's horses. From what I saw of it, I would say the Government would get more return for the money if spent on Australian horses, and experts. In Australia they know how to produce a horse for mixed work in rough countries with warm climates.
British jockeys and trainers are finding their way to Brazil in increasing numbers. Every college and school has its gymnasium, and even the girls are at last being permitted to use this. Until very recent years athletic exercises for girls were strictly tabooed, and those that today dare to take part in outdoor games are the "anglicised" girls, or the foreigners only.
Cycling has been the limit of their outdoor pastimes.
The success of the large British and U.S.A. colleges and schools has carried with it the success of the gymnasium. I attended an athletic sports meeting at the Anglo-Brazilian College, Sao Paulo, where the pupils' performances were little behind those of English, American, or Australian boys of their ages. The manual exercises under an English director were excellently gone through. The founder and principal of the college, Mr. Armstrong, an Englishman, has taken a delight in introducing amongst his hundreds of boys all the popular British outdoor games, with the result that wherever the boys settle after their schooldays they invariably foster these games. The Mackenzie College, a U.S.A. institution in Sao Paulo, has also done much to help on the interest in field games. The Military College in Rio de Janeiro is doing good work in physical training, as well as swimming, riding and shooting.
Swimming is an outdoor sport that has not received much attention. A few professional swimmers have attracted attention by meritorious performances; but swimming is little taught or seriously engaged in.
Shooting and fishing are popular pastimes. There is always some game to be got, and all the rivers are well stocked with fish. Some of these fish give as good sport as salmon, and are fairly good table fish. As a field for hunting game Brazil is not to be compared with Africa or Australia.
Bruce, G. J. (1914). Brazil and the Brazilians. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company.
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