Gabriel Pierin from Memory Center
This Friday, April 14, 2023, Santos marks another new year. To remember the birth of our glorious club, we need to go back in time 111 years ago to 1912.
On a Thursday, April 9, 1912, readers of the newspaper Diário de Santos bought the paper and were surprised by the news highlighted in the sports section:
Several players in the city, working to form a strong football club, have acquired the vast and wonderful land that Mr. JD Martins, on Rua Aguiar de Andrade, Macuco, where the grounds of the new sports association will be installed (…) Next Sunday at 2 pm there will be a meeting at the headquarters of the Concordia club to present the base of the new club, elect its board of directors and discuss the new The purpose of the sports association makes other decisions. Among us, the lack of a good club dedicated to the beautiful game of football is already evident. We believe the new club will fill this void.
The news is encouraging. That group of young men was serious about starting a football club. A few days ago, Raymundo, Argemiro and Mario Ferraz from the organizing committee visited shops in the city to find partners and supporters for the cause.
It is true that football needs to be strengthened in the city. The ball has all but stopped rolling at Santos since the Internationals ended their campaign and the Americano moved to the capital. Many understood the need to help form a new competitive and organized club to compete in the state’s most important championship.
On a Sunday afternoon, April 14, 1912, dozens of young people took the same tram to Rosario Square. The Club Concórdia building chosen for the meeting place is very close, at Rua do Rosário, 18 (now João Pessoa). They share the stair steps leading to the spacious lobby of the clubhouse.
The number of young people raises eyebrows. Some are boys. Among them, Arnaldo Augusto Myron, the son of Captain Myron, was only 15 years old. His younger brother, 16-year-old Adolphe Myron Jr. Some familiar faces have already circulated on social media, such as Harold, 27, one of the remnants of the city’s first football campaign.
Young people, students and athletes make up the majority. Gradually, the hall was filled with people. There were 39 people in the hall when Raymundo Marques spoke.
He explained the football situation in the city since the international team ceased activity and the American football team moved to São Paulo. He also spoke about the development of the sport both in the countryside and in the capital. The city has lost its representation in football.
Next, Raimondo stated that he had no intention of running for president. The young man said he had spoken to Sizino Patusca and George Cox and recommended that Parliament accept their nominations for president and vice president, respectively. Everyone present applauded the proposal.
In a more relaxed tone, Raimondo reminded those present that the new club did not yet have a name: “You believed in the idea and approved the nomination of the chairman, but we haven’t even settled on a name. Because this club is based on the principles of democracy, so I’ll let you make your proposal. The space is open”.
Africa, Brazil and Concordia were remembered, but they were not favourable, and were ultimately rejected. Naming a club seems to be as difficult as naming a child. It was at this time that the son of the famous Sóter de Araújo, Edmundo Jorge de Araújo, turned his attention to him.
“Gentlemen! We live in Santos. This is our city. This team will represent our people, our land. Why not Santos? Santos FC?”
Edmondo caused a stir. On the other side, Raymond looked convinced. “I’ll put it to a vote.” Palms spread, taking over the environment.
Santos Football Club established
Woke up on Monday refreshed. Football is reborn in this city. Before going to work, readers stop by stores, magazines and newsstands to take issue with the city’s dailies.
The newspaper A Tribuna pays special attention to the novice club. In the sports section, it’s there, forever recorded:
The eponymous Santos Football Club has just been established in the city, a football club destined to go on through long years of victories and for this it has the best elements of the land. This is its first Board of Directors: President Sizino Patusca; George P. Cox Vice President; First Secretary, José Guilherme Martins; 2. Raul Dantas; First Treasurer , Leonel Silva; second, Dario Ferraz da Frota. Directors: Augusto Bulle, João Carlos de Mello, Henrique Tross, Raymundo Marques, Cícero F. de Lima Junior and Camyro Faeter.
New club colors: white and blue with a yellow stripe between the two colors
In the early days, Santos formed a large family club. Several players and managers have been linked by family ties. Aside from a passion for the sport, there is one thing in common in the histories of these men who played in the city, from the emergence of the sport, the club’s involvement to the arrival of Santos.
And, if we want to go further, these men who built Santos were united by the deeds of their ancestors. We cannot ignore the fact that Santos had a small population at the time (approximately 90,000 people), but it would be a fluke not to attribute these factors to these factors, and the current text contradicts this assumption.
We can compare the kinship of any of these figures, but let us take the example of the disinterested Agnello Cícero de Oliveira, president of the Santos club in its early years (1914-1917), responsible for the purchase of land and the construction of the Sports Plaza , the future stadium of Vila Belmiro. Three times ahead of Santos, he also managed the club during the transition to professional football (1932-1933).
Agnello was the brother of Ricardo Pinto de Oliveira, a first-team player for Santos in 1913 and director of the club. Ricardo is the cousin and husband of Ismênia da Silveira Pinto de Oliveira, who is popular in the city for her involvement in the social, religious, sporting and philanthropic circles. Ismenia is the younger sister of Santos players Arnaldo and Osvaldo Silveira. Therefore, in addition to being a teammate, Ricardo is also the brother-in-law and cousin of Arnaldo and Osvaldo.
In 1918, Agnello and Ricardo’s two other brothers, Randolfo and Américo Pinto de Oliveira, joined the Santos team. Virgílio Pinto de Oliveira, also known as Bilú, was another member of the Pinto de Oliveira brothers and part of the 1918 team, but he made his name as a coach: Bilú was Santos’ first Paulis in 1935 Tower Champion Coach.
The only sister of the family, Iraídes Ricardina de Oliveira Ratto, owner Didi, was the club’s first seamstress. It was she who made the first uniforms for Team Praiano at the opening ceremony. Donadidi was also responsible for creating the club’s first banner. She is married to Francisco José Ribeiro Ratto, better known as Nhonhô Ratto. Donadidi’s husband is very important to Santos. It was he who was driving a donkey hitched to a heavy roller to level the club’s first pitch at Villa Makuco.
Arnaldo and Oswaldo Silveira, Iraídes, Agnello Cícero, Randolfo, Virgílio, Américo and Ricardo Pinto de Oliveira, on the other hand, were nephews of Sizino Patusca, the first president of Santos; cousins. Sizino’s only daughter, Aracy Patusca, is married to teammate Siriri. Together with his brother Camarão and brother-in-law Araken, he was part of a memorable 100-goal offense in a single tournament.
As if that wasn’t enough, they would be cousins of Francisco Martins dos Santos, a player in the 1920s and an important historian of the city, Varen Son of Tina Giomar Patusca Martins dos Santos (Cicino’s sister) and Americo Martins dos Santos. In addition to Francisco, they are also the parents of Alzira Martins Lichti, a well-known figure in the field of education in the region who, among other activities, is the founder of Clube Feminino Santista, where she established and participated in Santos’ first women’s basketball team Team. It also organized the first uniformed female crowd of the Santos Futebol Clube. Alzira was married in the 1922/1923 biennium to Armando Lichti, a diplomat who was president of Santos.
As the club grew, new young people joined the membership. Young people, as most are students and business employees, single and aged between 15 and 24 (66%). It demonstrates the power of a fast sport. In the 1910s, soccer became the most popular sport. Among its many achievements, Santos FC has formed a democratic club free of age, gender and racial prejudice.