Charles William Miller

‘The English invented football, but the Brasilians re invented it’. A popular saying throughout the world, but it is one that most probably have not have come about had it not been for one man, Charles William Miller – The father of Brasilian football.

Born in Sao Paulo on November 24th 1874 to a Scottish family, Miller is often referred to as the pioneer of football in Brasil. His family moved to England when Miller was still young. In 1884 he was sent to the public school Bannister, where he learned to play cricket, rugby and most importantly football. He was a natural at the sport and was eventually taken on by Southampton Football Club, then called Saint Mary’s. He also played for Corinthians Football Club of London. Miller’s primary positions were as both a winger and a striker. He was a fantastic dribbler of the ball, fast, agile and extremely skilful, he was also a great header of the ball and was deadly from free kicks. He is also credited with inventing the ‘Chaleiro’ – a deft flick of the heel.

Miller returned to Brasil 10 years later in 1894, with him he brought footballs and rulebooks. While in Brasil he was the Royal Mail’s main agent and the acting British Vice Council. His main job though, was setting up the state league of Sao Paulo – the Liga Paulista de Football. The league officially started on December 1st 1901. Sao Paulo Athletic Club, Miller’s team, won the inaugural championship in 1902, and would go on to win the next 2, in 1903 and 1904. During the 1902 and 1904 seasons, Miller ended the seasons as the top scorer, with 10 goals in 1902 and 9 in 1904. During these opening years, there were only 4 other teams, Internacional, Mackenzie, Germania and Paulistano.

Charles Miller’s first clubs, Corinthians and Saint Mary’s, would regularly tour Brasil, after one such tour in 1910, the president of a new and up coming Paulista team asked Miller for a name for his new team. Miller suggested ha name them after Corinthians of London, and so one of the most popular teams in Brasil was founded – Corinthians Paulista Football Club.

Miller died on June 30th 1953, aged 79, although there is hardly any footage of him, his legacy will never be forgotten, for without him, Brasil would not be the footballing superpower it is today.

Artur Friedenreich

The top scorer in the history of football, the first black superstar of the beautiful game, Brasil’s first sporting hero. It seems an almost perfect description of the great Pelé, but it is not. It is instead a description of the late, great striker Artur Friedenreich.

Born in Sao Paulo on July 18th 1892 to a German immigrant and a former black slave, Friedenreich would go on to be one of the greatest strikers in the history of the game. He was fast, skilful, good in the air, and a great goal scorer. He started his career in 1910, aged 18, he played fir many Paulista clubs including Paulistano (1910 – 1929) and Sao Paulo (1929 – 1931) including the Carioca club Flamengo (1931 – 1934). He won he Liga Paulista on 7 separate occasions and was top scorer 9 times.

Whilst being Brasil’s first sporting hero, he was also a victim of racism. He was one of the first, and at the time one of the only, black footballers to play in Brasil. Such was his victimization, that he had to use white powder to ‘dye’ his black hair before every match to avoid racist chanting. The process was a long one and Friendenreich was almost always the last player to take to the pitch.

He did not however, suffer racism when he played in Europe, in fact, he was loved and revered. When Brasil toured Europe in 1925, their first such tour, he showed the Europeans a revolutionary style of football. It was on this tour that he acquired the nickname ‘O Rei de Futbal’ or ‘The King of Football’. Another nickname he was given was ‘The tiger’ for his powerful, yet agile style of play.

For Brasil he played 22 times, scoring 10 goals, making his debut in 1914. He won the 1919 and 1922 editions of the Copa America, scoring 10 goals over the two tournaments. Controversy surrounded him in 1930 though, in the first ever World Cup, held in Uruguay, when he was not picked. Officially he was said to be injured, but there were many controversy surrounding his exclusion from the squad. One was racism, he was not picked because he was black some said, while others said it was because he wasn’t Carioca. Friedenreich was Paulista, and there was only 1 non-Carioca in the Brasil World Cup squad.

Throughout his 26 year career, Friedenreich scored an amazing 1239 goals in 1329 games, more than fellow Brasilian Pelé. His favoured stadium was said to be the Morumbi, Sao Paulo’s stadium. He gave joy to thousands and received deserved praised from most, but from some he received nothing but hell as he was racially abused. His successor, Leonidas da Silva, would sadly suffer a similar fate.

Leônidas da Silva

He was quite possibly the greatest striker Brasil has ever seen, strong, fast, elegant and elastic, he was the pioneer for world-class strikers the world over.

He was born September 6th 1913 in Rio de Janeiro, he endured a child hood full of racial abuse in which he was regularly discriminated against. When he was only 15, Leônidas joined São Cristóvão, however he did not play consistently for them and chose instead to move to Bonsucesso. His performances for the Carioca club did not go unnoticed and Peñarol of Uruguay, at the time one of the world’s biggest clubs, came calling in 1933. However after only a year in Uruguay he decided to move yet again, going to Vasco da Gama first, and then Botafogo in successive years, winning the Carioca state championship with both before eventually settling at Flamengo. It is with Flamengo that he played the best football of his life. Flamengo won the 1939 Carioca state championship and Leônidas was their best player. He had raised the level of play, raised the bar so to speak.

But he still wasn’t accepted, he was the victim of a vile racism that was spreading throughout the Brasilian game, his predecessor, Artur Friendenreich, was abused to such an extent that he had to wear rice powder on his face to make him appear white. And it looked as thought the same would happen with Leônidas. At the time, Flamengo was a strictly elitist club, but Leônidas helped change that image. He battled racism in Brasil and after a long, long struggle helped raise awareness to the cancer at the heart of Brasilian football. He became the first football, black or white to endorse a product, the chocolate bar Diamante Negro (Black Diamond).

If Leônidas played his finest club football for Brasil then he undoubtedly played his best football in the 1938 World Cup. Leônidas had made his national team debut 5 years earlier, scoring twice as soon as he came on the pitch. But in the 1938 World Cup, held in France, he truly was spitting hot fire. He scored 8 goals in 4 games as he lead the team from the front, a rarity especially in this era. He also became the first player in World Cup history to score 4 goals in one match, this feat coming in the 6 – 5 defeat of Poland. 5 minutes later though, Polish striker Ernest Wilimowski would match this feat. Da Silva’s amazingly scored the last and winning goal barefooted, his boots had fallen off in the swamp that was the pitch. In true Brasilian fashion, Leônidas scored and won the match. Leonidas was given the nicknam Diamnte Negro soon afterwards and one European journalist wrote of Leônidas:

“Europe’s sports press, who thought they had already seen everything on a football pitch, reacted to Leônidas strong shot, with fright, confusion and then shouts of “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo.”

But Leônidas was left out of the semi final match against Italy; Selecao manager Ademir Pimenta stated that he was resting his star player for the final. However rumours were rife that Leônidas had received threats from the Italians saying that if he played against the Azzuri, he would be a dead man. The best player in the tournament was rendered useless, not by tight marking or injury, but either by tactical nonsense or vile death threats.

Europe was astounded and many of the top club’s in the world chased Flamengo and Brasil’s main man. But he opted to stay with Flamengo for a while longer until 1942 when he would move to Sao Paolo and the Paulistao. He made his debut on the 1st April 1942, still only 29, and as elastic and adventurous as ever. He scored many goals for his new club, many of which came from his famous ‘Bicycle Kicks’.

Leônidas is often credited with inventing this move, where a player leaps into the air and hits the ball in full flight, the bicycle part of the name comes from the fact that the player’s legs can at time appear to almost be riding an imaginary bike. It was both deadly and effective, defenders did not know how to cope with a player who could hit the ball in mid air with his back to goal, it was unheard of and perplexed defenders greatly. Leônidas however denied creating this kick, he instead referred to fellow Brasilian, Pertronilho de Brito as its inventor, and in his own words he only perfected it.

Leônidas da Silva’s career finished in 30th October 1951, he scored an amazing 140 goals in 211 professional appearances, and an even better 25 goals in 25 games for Brasil, 8 of which came in the 1938 World Cup alone. After his playing career finished, da Silva became manager of Sao Paolo in 1954, however he was not the most successful manager and left, first to become a radio reporter and then the owner of a furniture stor situated in Sao Paolo.

Leônidas had suffered some bad news in his career, such as being told that he would not play against Italy in the 1938 World Cup semi final. But he could take these and eventually got over these obstacles. One piece of news that shattered him more than anything he heard in his career was the fact that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He was told in 1974 and it hounded him until his death, 30 years later on 24th January 2004. In the last few years of his life he made a modest, quiet living, residing in a small rent house in the city of Sao Paolo.

Leônidas was at times surprisingly controversial, in 1941 it was discovered that he had altered a document so as to avoid military service, he was given an eight-month prison stretch for this. Another memorable incident came when Brasil played the USA. Da Silva was being treated particularly harshly, fouled whenever he collected the ball. In response Leônidas revealed his genitals, it caused such controversy that the match was temporarily abandoned for 20 minutes until police arrived to escort him off the pitch. Possibly Brasil’s first ‘bad boy’, he was one of the first great Brasilians, capable of anything at anytime. Although he may now be dead, his legend lives on, the fact that he is still talked about so highly, 65 years after his retirement is perhaps the greatest testament to his career.

Brasilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues once said of Leônidas:

"He was a rigorously Brazilian player. Had the fantasy, childhoodness, improvisation and the sensuality from the best Brazilian players"

After his death current Brasil manager Carlos Alberto Parreira said:

‘‘With Leonidas’ death, Brazil has lost the pioneer of our world-class strikers, without him, perhaps there would never have been a Pele or Zizinho.’’

Goalkeeper Oberdan Cadani also spoke highly of the ‘Rubber man’ after his death:

‘‘Most of the time, Leonidas just couldn’t be stopped, he was the terror of all goalies. But he wasn’t so well-known because there was no television at the time and not as much marketing back then.’’


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