The birth of the Brazilian men’s national team came on 21 July 1914. Who do you think were their first opponents? Argentina? Uruguay? England?
If you said England, you’d be close but no cigar.
Exeter City is the answer. Of course it is.
Unbelievable as it may seem for anyone other than a Grecian fan, Exeter City were the first team to play Brazil. In fact, Exeter was the first professional club to play in the country.
That’s why if you ever go to a game at St. James’ Park you’ll hear the home fans chant;
“Have you ever, have you ever, have you ever played Brazil?”
It could easily have been Tottenham Hotspur. They were invited to tour South America first but declined. Pre-season tours to far-off lands were still a novelty in those days and only four professional clubs from England had ever made the journey before. Tottenham claimed the excessive travelling was too much for them. They’d just narrowly avoided relegation from the First Division and obviously wanted to prepare properly for the new season.
All the good it did them as they went down the following year, in rather controversial circumstances.
The FA then recommended Exeter City take their place. 15 players, their wives, the club chairman and two directors set sail for the three-week boat trip on 22 May 1914.
At the time the club was a lowly Southern League outfit. With the professional league consisting of just two divisions, this was effectively the third tier of English football. The FA labelled them as a “truly representative side”.
Initially, they were only planning to play friendlies in Argentina. Their first port of call on the continent was Rio and it was here chairman, Michael McGahey met with club officials from Fluminense, and the seeds of matches against Brazilian sides were sown.
Brazilian clubs had been trying to entice English clubs to come over for some time. Nottingham Forest and Southampton had been approached but neither were interested.
After a successful time in Argentina, they returned to Rio on 17 July 1914 as the first professional club to set foot in the country.
Whether they were aware of news back home is unclear, but Britain and the whole of Europe was gripped in a “will there or won’t there, be a war?” drama.
At the end of June Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo. It triggered a domino effect of tit-for-tat declarations of war beginning with the Austria-Hungary Empire, Serbia, Russia, Germany, France and then Britain.
France was about to support Russia, bringing Germany into the conflict. As the Germans were threatening to attack France by moving through Belgium, a country Britain had declared to defend, this would, in all likelihood, force the British into a war as well.
Britain didn’t declare war on Germany until 3 August 1914, but it was clear Exeter were far better away from it all during this period.
They played a team of English ex-pats and beat them 3-0. Then took on a side containing players from Rio clubs and won that 5-3. They were then expected to move onto São Paulo. But the journey was just too arduous, so they stayed in Rio and took on an all-star team.
Whilst they were preparing for the game they decided to take a dip in the sea. Unfortunately, the locals weren’t impressed and the team was arrested for gross indecency.
Eventually, they were released in time to take on this all-star team, which became the very first Seleção (the selection) and so the Brazilian national team was born.
The team was made up of seven players from Rio and four from Sao Paulo. The Sao Paulo fraternity included two players from Ypiranga, including the legendary striker, Arthur Friedenreich. Rubens Salles of Paulistano was given the captaincy, and he was joined in defence by Lagreca of São Bento.
Representing Rio clubs were two players from Botafogo, two from Flamengo, two from América, and one from Fluminense.
In the Exeter team was Dick Pym. He would go on to become famous as the Bolton Wanderers goalkeeper in the 1923 FA Cup Final, the first to be held at Wembley. He became the last surviving member of that team. He was later capped three times by England. When he died at the age of 95 he held the record for the longest-lived England international footballer.
Fluminense’s Estádio Laranjeiras was the venue for this historic fixture. The excitement in the run-up to the game was huge. These were the early days of the sport around the world. The British had invented the game, a Scottish immigrant had introduced it to Brazil and Charles Miller, son of a Scottish ex-pat and educated in Southampton, helped set up the first league in São Paulo.
The fact a team from “the mother country” was coming to Brazil to show their skills created immense interest.
The ground had a capacity of 6,000 yet a reported 10,000 crammed in.
Delight for the home fans as local boy, Oswaldo Gomes put the Brazilians in front.
“The spectators went wild, waving hats and walking sticks, and in the stands ladies and young girls waved handkerchiefs, shouting hurrahs,” the local press reported.
It was also reported how aggressive the English team became. Friedenreich was the victim of one challenge which resulted in two lost teeth.
There is an iconic picture of him being lead from the field with blood pouring down his shirt. The episode entered Brazilian folklore as an example of a plucky and long-suffering race facing up to tall, strong, healthy Europeans. It’s something which is still in evidence in the Brazilian psyche.
Despite the efforts to unsettle the home side, América’s Osman doubled their lead. They held on to record a famous win and the press reported the players were carried off on the crowd’s shoulders.
“Praise for the correctness and mastery with which the Brazilians had rendered useless the efforts of the English professionals.”, they reported.
The players wouldn’t have realised it at the time, but they’d unwittingly created a patriotic fervour for a side representing the nation. Barely 25 years earlier the country had become a republic.
There’s evidence football was beginning to bridge the divide between rich and poor in the country. This game went some way in hastening this as all people were joined in celebrating a win for, what was essentially, a Brazil team.
It marked the beginning of possibly the greatest legacy in international football.
Two months later the first official Brazil side took on Argentina in Rosario. Friendenreich, Lagreca and Oswaldo Gomes were retained for the inaugural line-up. They lost 0-3 but four days later they took on Colombia in the same stadium and Friendenreich scored the first official goal for Brazil.
Ruben Salles was again selected as captain for the Colombia match and he scored the only goal when they beat Argentina in a repeat fixture three days later.
The Brazilian international team was off and running.
Meanwhile, the bond between Brazil and Exeter remained strong. It endured so much so that Exeter returned to play a fixture against a Brazilian Masters XI in 2004. They were up against a team including World Cup winners Dunga, Branco and Jorginho.
To commemorate the hundredth anniversary Exeter again travelled, at Fluminense’s expense, out to South America. They played a representative side resulting in a goalless draw.
The following summer Fluminense sent an U19 team over to St James’ Park to take on Exeter. Once again the Brazilians ran out 2-0 winners.
Once the Brazilian national side was a regular concept it still took time for the team to gain a footing in international football. They won the South American Championship in 1919 and 1922. In the 1919 edition, Friedenreich became the first-ever player to score a hattrick in a major international tournament.
Uruguay and Argentina remained the continent’s strongest teams with both contesting the final of the Olympic Games in 1928 and the subsequent inaugural World Cup two years later. It wasn’t till after WWII that Brazil emerged as a football power when they hosted the 1950 World Cup. Of course, it would take the emergence of Pelé to see them lift the first of five World Cup titles when they beat the home nation Sweden in 1958.
Exeter City hasn’t reached such heady heights in club football. They’re currently back in the third tier of English football. Their highest-ever finish was second in the Third Division South back in 1932-33. Unfortunately for them, only the champions went up. They remain one of those clubs who have competed in the Football League but never reached the second tier.
Despite all that, their name is written into history in a way many larger clubs would be envious of.
They were the club who helped launch Brazil.
