Excursão do Vasco da Gama a Europa em 1931

Vasco sail to Europe

In the northern hemisphere summer of 1931, Vasco da Gama became the first Rio club (and the second from 

Brazil) to travel to Europe. Under the management of former  Liverpool player Harry Welfare,  Vasco recruited the assistance of players from Botafogo (Nilo, Carvalho Leite and Benedito) and Fluminense (Fernando) for the 12 match tour of Portugal and Spain.

26.06.31	Barcelona	3	2	Vasco da Gama
28.06.31	Barcelona	1	2	Vasco da Gama
05.07.31	Celta	2	1	Vasco da Gama
07.07.31	Celta	1	7	Vasco da Gama
10.07.31	Benfica	0	5	Vasco da Gama
15.07.31	Lisbon Select	2	4	Vasco da Gama
19.07.31	Porto	1	3	Vasco da Gama
22.07.31	Varzim/ Boavista	2	9	Vasco da Gama
24.07.31	Ovarense	2	6	Vasco da Gama
26.07.31	Porto	2	1	Vasco da Gama
30.07.31	Vitória C Lisboa	1	1	Vasco da Gama
02.08.31	Sporting	1	4	Vasco da Gama

P	W	D	L	F	A
12	8	1	3	45	18

Squad:

Jaguaré, Valdemar, Brilhante, Nesi, Italia, Tinoco, Fausto, Mola, Bahianinho, Nilo, Carvalho Leite, Russinho, Mário Matos, Benedicto, Santana, Fernando, Rainha, Ghizone

Manager/coach: Harry Welfare.

Goals:
13	Russinho
8	Nilo
7	Carvalho Leite
3	Bahianinho, Mário Matos, Benedito ,Tinoco
2	Santana
1	Ghizone,  Fernando, og

Aside from Harry Welfare and Russinho there were a few other figures of note involved on the tour:

Jaguaré Bezerra de Vasconcelos 

Jaguaré was stevedore at the port of Rio. A typically eccentric goalkeeper, he delighted crowds but angered opponents and officials with his antics- throwing the ball at the heads of opponents, shouting 'chuta!' to strikers as they bore down on him, catching the ball acrobatically, and even using a bicycle kick to clear his lines. He was known as Dengoso or Araña Negra (The Black Spider). 

Jaguaré was offered a lucrative contract (and Spanish citizenship) by Barcelona. Jaguaré declined the offer and returned to Brazil, joining Corinthians. In 1935 however he set out for Italy with Fernando (see below). They decided to avoid Italy due to that country's invasion of Abyssinia, and Jaguaré joined Sporting Lisbon. In 1936 he joined Olympique Marseille, with whom he enjoyed success and cult status. 

Having returned to Brazil Jaguaré met a sad end. He died aged 41 after getting into a scrape with the cops (he hit his head).

Fernando Rubens Pasi Giudicelli

Fluminense's Fernando, who wore a sailor's cap on the pitch, played in the 1930 World Cup . After the tour he stayed in Europe, joining Torino. In Italy he was considered an oriundo. In 1933 Fernando returned to Rio and was actively involved in recruiting South American players to join European clubs. 
Fernando himself returned to Europe and played for Sportclub Young Fellows Juventus Zurich (1933-34),  Bordeaux (1934-35), Sporting Lisbon (1935), Real Madrid (1935) and Antibes (1935-37).

Fausto dos Santos 

Fausto  was another veteran of the 1930 World Cup who tried his luck in Europe. He also declined an offer from Barcelona, but later played with Sportclub Young Fellows Juventus Zurich (1933).  He was a halfback who delighted in the nickname Maravilha Negra.
Fausto died of Tubercerlosis aged 34.

When thinking of the lucrative professional contracts that these men were offered in Europe it is worth remembering that at the time football in Brazil was an amateur sport.

Botafogo

Botafogo 1907

15 year old Flávio Ramos founded a football club in August 1904. He called it Electro Club. The following month, at the suggestion of his grandmother, the name was changed to Botafogo Football Club. Founder member Itamar Tavares suggested they adopt the colours of Juventus.  

The modern day Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas didn't come into being until 1942 when Botafogo Football Club merged with Club de Regatas Botafogo (founded 1894).

Botafogo won the following honours:

Campeonato Carioca: 1907, 1910, 1912, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935

Taça dos Campeões Estaduais Rio-São Paulo*:  1930,1935 

Flávio Ramos

1907: The 1907 championship was decided in 1996, when the Federação de Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro declared that the official result was that Botafogo and Fluminense were joint champions for that year. There was no pre arranged means of settling a tie- Fluminense claimed the title on goal average and Botafogo demanded a play-off. The league had already encountered problems and disputes that season. Internacional had been suspended from the competition for failing to turn up for their game with Botafogo. In support of Internacional the other 2 teams in the league (Fluminense and Paysandu Cricket Club) were threatening to boycott the league.

 Flávio Ramos (6 goals) was top scorer in the league.  

Abelardo de Lamare

1910: Botafogo scored 66 goals and conceded just 9 in the 10 games of the regular season. America were the next highest scorers with 31. The title was decided by a play-off between the teams that finished first and second in the league, and Botafogo maintained their 6 goal a game average by smashing Fluminense 6-1 in this decider. 

Notable goalscorers for Botafogo that season were: Abelardo de Lamare (22), Décio Viccari (14) and Mimi Sodré (11)

Abelardo de Lamare's haul included 7 in the 15-1 defeat of Riachuelo.

1912: A split in the league- Botafogo won the league promoted by Associação de Football do Rio de Janeiro. They were banned from competing in the Liga Metropolitana de Sports Athleticos having abandoned their 1911 campaign in controversial fashion .

Carvalho Leite

1930: Following a barren spell of 18 years Botafogo beat  Vasco da Gama to the championship by 1 point. Carvalho Leite was top scorer with 14 goals and Botafogo's goal record was for 60, against 30. 

1932: Carvalho Leite got 20 goals as Botafogo eased to the championship 5 points ahead of Flamengo.

Nilo

1933: There was another rift in Rio football with the advent of professionalism. The official championship was sanctioned by Associação Metropolitana de Esportes Athleticos. Botafogo won this league.

 Nilo Murtinho Braga was top scorer in the league with 19 goals, ahead of Carvalho Leite (13).

1934: The political disputes and chopping and changing of governing bodies in Rio football during this era can become quite confusing. In 1934 professionalism was officially accepted in Brazilian football and  Botafogo was amongst the founders of Federação Metropolitana de Desportos.

1935: Botafogo won their third championship in as many years...

*(this was a play-off between the champions of Rio and São Paulo that we will look at in a later post)