Searching on Google, we can easily find the history of São Januário, but we don't know what it feels like to be there. We don't know what it means to the fans of this huge rowing club. Wait, you still don't know the history of Vasco or of São Januário? Ok, ok, I'll explain briefly so you don't feel lost reading the interview.
The history of Vasco da Gama, a soccer team founded on August 21, 1898, began right here in Rio de Janeiro, when a group of Portuguese immigrants came together to form an athletic association that, initially, focused mainly on rowing. But I know you all want to hear about the soccer history of the Gigante da Colina.
Many years ago, around 1910, football began to gain popularity here in Rio. Three years later, in 1913, Botafogo lost to a Portuguese team at home. Can you believe it?
The Vasco president at the time, Raul da Silva Campos, realized that Vasco could bring together the Portuguese community around the club, thus creating an immense fan base. That year, Rio's population was almost 20% Portuguese, and since Vasco still didn't have a football department, Raul's idea was to incorporate the department of Lusitânia Sport Club.
Lusitânia was a very restrictive club, only accepting Portuguese as members, they were full of restrictions. Vasco, on the other hand, accepted Portuguese, Brazilians... they didn't have that silly restriction.
On November 26, 1915, an agreement was signed between the clubs that led to Vasco's incorporation of Lusitânia, giving rise to Vasco da Gama's football department, even amid opposition from Vasco's rowers.
Vasco began preparing to apply for membership in the Liga Metropolitana de Sports Athléticos. Time was short: the club needed to put together its team and raise the amount required for the application by March 10, the deadline for registration.
According to Mário Filho, the Vasco team was put together with two players from Lusitânia and several “mulatos and blacks that Vasco went about picking up in pickup games, in small clubs, already fully formed.” Can you believe that? Nowadays, racism is still present, so just imagine back then... Vasco was the first team to fight against racism, the first to stand up against discrimination based on social class as well. Keep reading and I'll tell you how that came about.
In 1919, Vasco was looking for players in Rio's suburbs, bringing into its ranks players of any ethnic background, on condition that they knew how to play football. The backbone of the 1919 team was drawn from Engenho de Dentro Atlético Clube, which was the leading club in the Campeonato Suburbano do Rio de Janeiro de Futebol, a competition held among clubs from Rio's suburbs. Four players from Engenho were signed by Vasco. These players' move to Vasco was heavily criticized by the newspaper Gazeta Suburbana. When these players were unveiled wearing Vasco's shirt, it was made into a joke, a complete lack of respect.
The elite clubs couldn't bear seeing their teams being defeated by a team made up of Black, poor, illiterate players who didn't even have a stadium. Along with this came accusations of a lack of professionalism and the claim that illiterate players could no longer play. From then on, Vasco paid teachers to teach their players how to sign the match scoresheet.
Vasco became the first club with Black, poor, illiterate, and working-class players to become champion. Rui Proença, Portuguese by birth and based in Rio, identifies this fact as a true revolution, emphasizing the prejudices and difficulties initially encountered by Vasco. He connects this fact to Flamengo, Fluminense, and Botafogo, which did not allow Black people into their clubs.
After several victories by Vasco da Gama with its players, the Zona Sul teams – Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, and a few other clubs – found a solution to rid themselves of the Vasco fans the following year. So they joined together, left the Liga Metropolitana de Desportos Terrestres (LMDT), and founded the Associação Metropolitana de Esportes Athleticos (AMEA), leaving Vasco out. The club could only join the new entity if it dismissed twelve of its athletes (all Black), under the accusation that they had "questionable occupations."
Faced with this imposed situation, in 1924, the president of Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama, José Augusto Prestes, sent a letter to AMEA, which came to be known as the “Historic Response,” refusing to submit to the imposed condition and giving up on affiliating with AMEA.
Excerpt from the letter kept unchanged
In 1925, the Giant from the Hill overcame AMEA's resistance, managed to join, and returned to compete in the championship after having won back-to-back state titles in 1924. Despite this, Vasco decided to build its own stadium to put an end to any demands. The club ran campaigns to get fans to become members and raised 685 contos and 895 thousand réis to buy the land, plus 2 thousand contos de réis for the construction.
Inaugurated on April 21, 1927, still without the curved bleachers, São Januário had its construction completed on March 31, 1928. With the bleachers finished, the stadium became the first in Brazil able to host night games, since it had floodlights. The floodlights were inaugurated in the friendly match between Vasco and Wanderers.
After the completion of the stands, São Januário was considered the largest stadium in South America until the construction of the Centenário, in Uruguay, for the 1930 World Cup.
Over the years, the São Januário complex received improvements that allowed the club to take up other sports besides rowing and soccer. Tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts already existed at the opening. A water park was created, and for some time, there was an athletics track around the field.
There you go! Now you know the history of Vasco, you know how São Januário was built, and now we'll do a brief interview with some Vasco fans to better understand this unconditional love.
Our interviewee is André, a 16-year-old Vasco fan.
1st question: "What does São Januário mean to you?"
Answer: "A home. I was a judo athlete there, I went all the time."
2nd question: "What feelings are awakened in you when we talk about São Januário?"
Answer: "Anxiety and passion."
3rd question: “Why?”
Answer: "When you go to watch a game, you get anxious about the result. And passion for the club has always been there."
4th question: "For you, what's the most beautiful thing about your team's history?"
Answer: "The free kick taken by Juninho Pernambucano, bringing home the Libertadores title. What an amazing goal, over River Plate no less!”
5th question: "Is there a specific feeling that brings you the most joy when we talk about São Januário?"
Answer: "The feeling of adrenaline and celebration. Cups flying everywhere, crowd screaming. Just too good."
6th question: "Name a landmark moment in the history of Vasco da Gama."
Answer: “When Vasco was in Serie B and made Sport Club eat dust. To this day, Sport is still in Serie B. And also Romário's comeback against Palmeiras. 4×3, Vasco.”
