O Fluminense pelo mundo 2

Espanha

Eu citei o jornalista inglês que torce para o Fluminense. Ele não é o único jornalista estrangeiro torcedor do clube. O espanhol Hans Henningsen é mais um jornalista tricolor de coração. Ele é (ou era) correspondente no Rio de vários jornais europeus. Hans era chamado por Nelson Rodrigues de "marinheiro sueco" devido suas feições nórdicas. Hans chegou a participar de mesas redondas na tv brasileira junto com Nelson, João Saldanha, Armando Nogueira, entre outros.

Inglaterra ( de novo)

Há muito tempo li uma matéria sobre a origem britânica do Fluminense. Infelizmente, o site saiu do ar. A sorte é que eu tinha guardado o texto. Pra quem tiver interesse em ler:

FLUMINENSE FOOTBALL CLUB
The British Influence
by Robert Shaw

In my youth in England, when I was fostering what a future boss believed to be an unhealthy obsession for football, I rarely stopped to wonder where the FA Cup was held or where England played before Wembley was built. Similarly, as I became more interested in Brazilian football, the 1950 World Cup loomed so massively in mind that I neglected to consider where the world’s most talented football nation played their games before the Estádio Mario Filho was constructed.
Like me almost every other football fan can recite that the stadium more popularly known as the Maracanã once held around 200,000, but where did Brazil play before 1950? In various places, including Vasco’s São Januário stadium. But the first game to be universally accorded international status was at Fluminense’s club ground in Laranjeiras. The opposition _ Argentina perhaps, or maybe the rugged Uruguayans _ even Portugal or Spain?
No, the first international played by Brazil was against my home town team of Exeter City in July 1914. This staggered me the first time I heard it and still has pretty much the same effect. Although Exeter City have now been relegated to the nether regions of British football _ the Vauxhall Conference I believe it is called - after a disastrous flirtation with Uri Geller and Michael Jackson at board level _ the Brazilian national side has gone on to somewhat better things.

But this 1914 match is just one of the gems hidden in what is one of Rio´s heritage treasure troves. Fluminense is in part a fabulous record of the British community’s influence on Rio life in the early part of the century. Fluminense, as any ‘Tricolores’ fans will know, is 101 years old and although they only play state championship games against smaller Rio state clubs at the ground these days, the British influence on the club and its early history has been well documented, and nowhere better than in the book ‘An Entirely Different Game’ by Aidan Hamilton, a fellow West Countryman and one of Rio’s most authoritative football historians. His meticulously researched account tells succinctly in the following extract how Anglo-Brazilian Oscar Cox established Fluminense: ‘Paradoxically, the two losses incurred by the Rio team in São Paulo were the prelude to the founding of the capital’s first football club. One week
after the trip, 22 year-old Oscar Cox and 19 others from the upper echelons of Carioca society met to establish Fluminense Football Club. The fact that most of their names were Brazilian belied the club’s strong British character.’

Fluminense also took on a former Liverpool player Harry Welfare who arrived in Rio in 1913 _ he helped the team to three titles before later becoming Vasco’s coach. Other British connections with the club came in later friendlies between Fluminense and teams such as Motherwell, Arsenal and Southampton. While Vasco and Flamengo have drawn much of their support from working-class Cariocas, Fluminense has been regarded as the city’s well-heeled football club. As Hamilton explains: "Back in the 1920s they had all sorts of things here _ recitals, concerts and plays. You can conjure up images of people arriving in fancy motor cars with tuxedos and gowns."

Fluminense is still much more than a football club although the first team which includes Romário still trains in Laranjeiras, but the club also has a range of other sporting facilities from swimming and tennis to a shooting range. When you step into the old library and overflowing trophy room you can clearly see the significance of Olympic sports in the history of the club. There is also a feeling of walking back through time into a Rio that evokes Edwardian England - with a tropical touch of course. Traditions at the club these days are also maintained by the rule requiring that members wear only Fluminense colours _ although with an eye to their marketability this includes shirts of a silver-grey tone and bright orange shirts which Fluminense has never worn in a competitive league game but which are astonishingly popular. But Fluminense’s most traditional colours are green-red-and-white which explains the nickname "Tricolores". Some great names from Brazilian footballing history have appeared in those colours. The impressive list includes Didi, Rivelino and Branco. While the club last won a national championship in 1984, it had a great run to the semi-finals of the national championship last season before going down to Corinthians.

Among the more controversial aspects of its history are its ‘pó de arroz’ nickname. Black players had to apply powder to their faces to be acceptable in football which operated a colour bar both on and off the field in the first few decades of the 20th Century. Years afterwards some Flu fans recalled this period by tossing powder over each other at various points in the game. More recently Flu jumped from the third division to the first by invitation. Quizzed about this, Hamilton maintains that this "reflects the more general corruption associated with Brazilian football. The history and traditions are there and Fluminense has always been one of the elite."
Fluminense these days also has the reputation of being a club that is well-administered, at least by the standards of football in Rio. President David Ficshel acknowledges the special link with Britain. "Our traditions are very important for us at the club and Britain played a special part in the founding of Fluminense. We hope to revive that connection."
Indeed the club already has some British members who work in the city. Many simply enjoy using the sport facilities rather than swearing that Flu is their team. As a club it continues to offer a distinct slice of British history, a thriving social club and a range of facilities that can be hired for events. Members benefit from a busy calendar. Fluminense, a treasure in the city’s heritage is tucked alongside the Governor’s Palace in Laranjeiras. It offers something for everyone’s tastes whether dedicated followers of football or not. But just out of curiosity it is worth visiting a chapter of Rio’s British past. The club is an invitation to leaf through that history, while enjoying the benefits of a modern sports and social club. And for football fans it really is a must.

For more details about Fluminense contact:
Fluminense Football Club
Rua Alvaro Chaves 41, Laranjeiras, Rio de Janeiro
Tel: 2533.7240 Website: www.fluminense.com.br
Aidan Hamilton, ‘An Entirely Different Game- the British Influence on
Brazilian Football’ (Mainstream Publishing, 1998)
Robert Shaw is the football writer on Brazilian soccer for Britain´s The Daily Telegraph.

PS: O site se chamava "umbrellaonline".