Amateur soccer, associativism and Italian immigration in São Paulo in the beginning of the twentieth century: the case of the Anhanguera Athletic Association

Authors

  • Diana Mendes Machado da Silva Universidade de São Paulo doutoranda

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/alesde.v4i2.38716

Keywords:

Fútbol popular, Fútbol aficionado, Asociacionismo, Urbanización de São Paulo, Inmigración italiana.

Abstract

The Anhanguera Athletic Association was founded in 1928 by Italian-Brazilians in the city of São Paulo. It was a club situated in the outskirts of the city and alienated from the world of official soccer, resorting to the banks of the Tietê River for its practice. The analysis of documents belonging to the club as well as specialized media documents made it possible to understand how soccer was experienced by those who lived in the popular neighborhoods of São Paulo in the first decades of the twentieth century. A meaningful feature of this experience was the spirit of association which marked this kind of popular organization of the sport in the city. In opposition to the official and elitist practice – played according to a centralized model linked to football association - the amateur practice was experienced as a collective, local, familiar and recreational practice. Under these conditions soccer practice resembled the model of a pre-urban recreational activity. Expressions such as “love the team uniform”, “nest of talents” and “football-art” owe their origins to this experience. In the 1930s, these expressions overcame the limits of amateur soccer and became associated to Brazilian soccer in general.

Author Biography

Diana Mendes Machado da Silva, Universidade de São Paulo doutoranda

. É mestre em História Social com a pesquisa "A Associação Atlética Anhanguera: imigração, associativismo e futebol de várzea na cidade de São Paulo (1928-1939)";

. Possui formação complementar na Universidade de Paris X e Collège de France no período 2011-2012;

. Participou, em 2012, do grupo “Migrations et espaces urbains” no Centro de Pesquisas sobre o Brasil Contemporâneo na École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, em Paris;

. Participa do Núcleo Interdisciplinar de apoio à pesquisa sobre futebol e modalidades lúdicas - LUDENS desde 2011;

. Grupo Interdisciplinar de Estudos sobre Futebol (GIEF) - CNPQ/USP desde 2006.

. É autora do livro SILVA, Diana M. M. da; GIGLIO, S. S."O futebol e as Copas do Mundo: futebol, história, política". São Paulo: Ed. Zagodoni, 2014;

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How to Cite

Silva, D. M. M. da. (2014). Amateur soccer, associativism and Italian immigration in São Paulo in the beginning of the twentieth century: the case of the Anhanguera Athletic Association. The Journal of the Latin American Socio-Cultural Studies of Sport (ALESDE), 4(2), 32–45. https://doi.org/10.5380/alesde.v4i2.38716

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2014)

Section

Original Papers

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