Taça dos Campeões Estaduais Rio-São Paulo

Brazilian championships were run by city or state. It was not possible to have a national championship. However, in 1910 a competition was introduced in which the reigning champions of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo played each other for a trophy. The 1910 fixture is seen as a forerunner of the later matches, and Botafogo's victory is generally not considered 'official'. In 1911 the  Taça Salutaris was insituted. During the competition's history a succession of trophies were contested.

Taça Salutaris 1911-16
Taça Ioduran 1917-19
Torneio dos Campeões 1920-31
Torneio Rio-São Paulo 1933-

The matches tended to take place in the following season (so that, for example, the 1910 championship was decided in 1911. 1937 was an exception to this rule).

	Rio			São Paulo	Venue
1910	Botafogo	7	2	Palmeiras	Velódromo Paulistano(São Paulo)
1910	Botafogo	2	4	Palmeiras	Rua Voluntários da Pátria (Rio)
		6	1		Rua Voluntários da Pátria (Rio)
		0	2		Parque Antarctica (SP)
1912	Botafogo	0	3	SC Americano	Campo Público de São Cristóvão (Rio)
1913	América	2	3	Paulistano	Velódromo Paulistano
		-	-		Second leg not played
1914	Flamengo	0	1	AA São Bento	Velódromo Paulistano  (São Paulo)
1916	América Walk over	-	-	Paulistano	Campos Salles (Rio)
1917	Fluminense	2	3	Paulistano	General Severiano (Rio)
1918	Fluminense Walk over	-	-	Paulistano	Velódromo Paulistano (SP)
1919	Fluminense	1	4	Paulistano	Laranjeiras (Rio)
1922	América	0	2	Corinthians	N.K (SP)	No decider played
		4	2		Campos Salles (Rio)
1923	Vasco da Gama	0	2	Palestra Italia	N.K (SP)
		1	1		N.K (Rio)
1926	São Cristóvão	0	2	Palestra Italia	Palestra Italia (SP)	Aggregate win
		3	2		Laranjeiras (Rio)
1928	América	2	2	Corinthians	N.K (SP)
		-	-		Second leg not played
1929	Vasco da Gama	2	4	Corinthians	Parque São Jorge(SP)
		2	3		São Januário (Rio)
1930	Botafogo	0	2	Corinthians	Floresta (SP)
		7	1		General Severiano (Rio)
1931	América	1	3	São Paulo	Floresta (SP)
1934	Vasco da Gama	1	1	Palestra Italia	N.K Shared
1935	Botafogo	9	2	Santos	General Severiano (Rio)		Best of 3 decided on goal difference
		1	2		Vila Belmiro (Santos)
		2	2		Vila Belmiro (Santos)
1937	Vasco da Gama	0	0	Palestra Italia	Pacaembu (SP)
		3	1		São Januário (Rio)

Rio de Janeiro	5
São Paulo	10
Shared	1
Not completed	2

Palmeiras 1910

Paulistano 1917

Botafogo 1930

Vasco da Gama 1934

Los Numerados

The above photograph dates from 1929. If you look at the centre panel you can see something unusual. The player with his back to the camera is plainly numbered. It's Chelsea right back George Smith, playing against Sport Club Corinthians Paulista.

Two Football League matches were played in August 1928 in which shirts were numbered, one being  Chelsea vs Swansea Town at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea didn't wear the numbered shirts in any other domestic matches that season, but the following summer they used them on their South America tour, earning the nickname Los Numerados. 

Whereas ten years previously an English team of any standard could have expected to dazzle the South Americans and win most matches easily, the balance of power was shifting slightly. Chelsea were a mediocre Division 2 side (they finished in 9th place in 1928-29), and on this tour they lost more games than they won and conceded more goals than they scored. 

A newspaper report of the Corinthians game, which ended in a 4-4 draw, reveals that the Brazilians were rather underwhelmed by Chelsea:

There were no dribbles from Chelsea at all, and they suffered when they were passing the ball. The midfielders are obscure, and can perform only what is expected of them. The defence has a strong goalkeeper (Sam Millington), who has to be highlighted. The centre-backs use way too many clearances, aiming to buy time, and have a bad habit of running forward and forcing the opponents to get offside.
If I had to praise one of their front men, it would be Elliot, a hard-working fellow who runs the attack. The only other player who deserves such praise is the goalkeeper. Another curious fact is the manner in which the professionals kick the ball: with the tip of their toes, not the best advice for anything other than special cases, like when the goal is near. 
Folha da Manha 

25.05.29	Combinado Buenos Aires	2	3	Chelsea	Buenos Aires
26.05.29	Provincia	4	0	Chelsea	Buenos Aires
30.05.29	Argentine Amateur Association	0	1	Chelsea	Buenos Aires
02.06.29	Combinado Buenos Aires	3	2	Chelsea	Buenos Aires
08.06.29	San Lorenzo Almagro	0	2	Chelsea	Buenos Aires
13.06.29	Peñarol	2	1	Chelsea	Montevideo
15.06.29	Independiente	1	1	Chelsea	Avellaneda
16.06.29	Select Rosario XI	2	1	Chelsea	Rosario
17.06.29	Unión Santa Fe	5	1	Chelsea	Santa Fe
20.06.29	Racing Club Avellaneda	1	0	Chelsea	Avellaneda
22.06.29	Estudiantil Porteño	2	3	Chelsea	Buenos Aires
0?.06.29	Wanderers	0	1	Chelsea	Montevideo
28.06.29	Cariocas	1	1	Chelsea	Rio Janeiro
30.06.29	Cariocas	2	1	Chelsea	Rio Janeiro
06.07.29	Corinthians	4	4	Chelsea	São Paulo
07.07.29	Paulistas	3	1	Chelsea	São Paulo

P	W	D	L	F	A
16	5	3	8	23	33

Colours...

In September 1890 Wolverhampton Wanderers ran out for their league game against newly elected Sunderland  at  Newcastle Road in the red and white stripes they had been wearing for the past five seasons. The home side, of course, were also wearing red and white stripes, the colours they had adopted in 1887.
The Football league took measures to ensure that this did not happen again.  
In the Football League's AGM of 1891clubs were required to register their colours for the following season.No two clubs could register the same colours.

The text is taken from The Burnley Express, 11th July 1891.

Accrington

Aston Villa

Blackburn Rovers

Bolton Wanderers

Burnley

Derby County

Everton

Notts County

Preston North End

Sunderland

West Bromwich Albion

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Changes for the 1891-92 season were:

Bolton Wanderers

Burnley

Derby County

Strangely Derby adopted a strip that was very similar to Notts County's

Everton

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Newly elected:

 Darwen

Darwen's previous colours.

Stoke

Stoke's previous colours.

Burnley Express, 11th July 1891

Bob Crompton

 Bob Crompton is still at number 10 on the all-time list of England captains, leading the national side in 21 games . In the  1902–1914 period (during which he represented England 41 times, a record that stood for nearly 40 years) there were far fewer games- and Crompton was a professional, which ruled him out of the Olympics. He played on the 1908 and 1909 continental tours. 

• Crompton played at right back for Blackburn Rovers, making 528 appearances between 1896 and 1920 and leading them to the First Division championship in 1912 and 1914.

• 

  
  

  Notice how the blue and white halves are on different sides of Crompton's jersey in the two pictures? Apparently this is not an artists' error, photographs from the era show both combinations, even in the same team.