Scotland v Brazil: Samba football given its early beat by a Scotsman
Ask it in your best Stephen Fry: what do penicillin, the telephone (sort of), the television (sort of), the Bank of England, Bovril and Brazilian football have in common? Buzz. They were all invented by Scotsmen.
Founding father: Charles Miller, fromt he football museum of Sao Paulo
By Duncan White 5:08PM GMT 26 Mar 2011
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The last mentioned might seem the hardest to credit but, while the footballing success of the two nations might have diverged somewhat over the last century, ahead of Sunday's meeting between Scotland and Brazil at the Emirates, it is worth recalling that Scotland played a crucial formative role in creating the most distinctive football culture on the planet.
In 1894, Charles Miller disembarked at the port of Santos with two footballs and an enthusiasm for the game fostered at boarding school in Hampshire. Miller's father, John, was a Scottish rail engineer who, chasing the coffee money, had emigrated to Brazil.
He married Carlota, a Brazilian of English descent, and helped lay the tracks between Santos and the Sao Paulo plantations. He sent his son, then nine, to boarding school in Southampton, where Charles learned to play football and cricket, playing for and against the Corinthian FC and St Mary's (later Southampton).
On his return home to Brazil he apparently practised his skills on deck. In his luggage were those two footballs, two football shirts, a pair of boots and a copy of the rules. His arrival at Santos port, 117 years ago, is described by Alex Bellos in his superb book Futebol as the "Year Zero" of Brazilian football.
Miller played as a striker for the club he founded in Sao Paulo and to this day Miller is credited as the official founder of Brazilian football. A road in the centre of Sao Paulo – Praca Charles Miller – is named after him. Also named after him is the chaleira, a skill in which the ball is chipped behind the standing leg.
These days, there is a large gap between the two nations. Brazil, by their standards, are a lowly fifth in the Fifa rankings while Scotland are 50th. Yet, back in the late 19th century, Scots were considered the exciting individualists, bringing new skills to a nascent game.
Brazilians were not slow to pick up the sport. The first game of football was apparently played on the land on which the mules who pulled the Sao Paulo trams grazed. Brazilians took to football with incredible enthusiasm. By 1902, Miller had helped set up the first local league in Sao Paulo and two years later he said that "some 2,000 footballs have been sold here within the last 12 months. Nearly every village has a club."
In Rio de Jaineiro, Oscar Cox, a Brazilian of English heritage who had discovered football while studying in Lausanne, had popularised the sport and helped found Fluminese.
In 1914, Exeter City, then of the Southern League and on their way back from a game in Argentina, played a combined Rio-Sao Paolo team. In front of a thrilled support, the Brazilians won 2-0. It is a game that is credited with founding the Brazilian national side. By the 1920s, football was the most popular game in the country. The clubs remained the province of wealthy Brazilians and expatriates: elitist, white and resolutely amateur. Slavery had only been abolished in 1888 and Brazil's multi-ethnic society was rigidly stratified.
Still, the simplicity of the game was attractive to the urban poor and improvised games were a common sight in the major cities. It was the club founded by the Portuguese, Vasco da Gama,
which first opened up to all
races.
By 1933, professional leagues had begun in Rio and Sao Paulo, allowing footballers from a poor background to earn a living from the game. Only then did Brazilian football truly develop its distinctive identity.
Miller died in Sao Paulo in 1953, celebrated as the father of Brazilian football. He had worked for the Sao Paolo Rail Company, the Royal Mail and even as acting vice-consul. He is buried in the protestant cemetery in the city. His legacy lives on.
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