By Gabriel Pierin from the Memory Center
This Friday, April 14, 2023, Santos completes another year of life. To remember the birth of our glorious club, we need to go back in time to the year 1912, 111 years ago.
On April 9, 1912, a Thursday, the readers of the newspaper Diário de Santos bought the newspaper and were surprised by the news highlighted in the sports section:
Several sportsmen in this city are committed to organizing a powerful football club, having already secured a vast and splendid land owned by Mr. JD Martins, at Rua Aguiar de Andrade, in Macuco, where the ground for the new sports society will be installed (…) Next Sunday, at 2 pm, there will be a meeting at the headquarters of the Concordia club, to present the bases of the new club, elected its board of directors and took other decisions regarding the purposes of the new sports association. The lack, among us, of a good club dedicated to the beautiful sport of football was already noticeable. We believe that the new club will fill this gap.
The news was encouraging. That group of young people was serious about forming a football club. Days before, Raymundo, Argemiro and Mario Ferraz, from the organizing committee, toured the city’s shops in search of partners and supporters for the enterprise.
It was true that football needed to strengthen in the city. Since Internacional ended its activities and Americano moved to the capital, the ball almost stopped rolling in Santos. Many people knew that it was necessary to help in the formation of a new competitive and organized club to compete in the most important championship in the State.
On April 14, 1912, a Sunday afternoon, dozens of young people took the same tram to Praça do Rosário. The Club Concórdia building, the location chosen for the meeting, was very close, at Rua do Rosário, 18 (now João Pessoa). They shared the steps of the stairs that led down to the wide hall of the clubhouse.
The number of young people drew attention. Some were boys. Among them, Arnaldo Augusto Millon, son of Captain Millon, was only 15 years old. His brother, Adolpho Millon Junior, 16. There were some familiar faces that were already circulating in social media, such as Harold, at the age of 27, one of the remnants of the first football movement in the city.
Young people, students and athletes were the majority. Gradually, the hall filled up. Thirty-nine people were seated in the hall when Raymundo Marques took the floor.
He explained the football situation in the city since Internacional stopped its activities and Americano moved to São Paulo. He also spoke about the development of the sport in the countryside and in the capital. The city had lost its representation in football.
Next, Raymundo said that he did not intend to run for president. The young man said he had spoken with Sizino Patusca and George Cox and suggested that the Assembly accept their nominations for president and vice president, respectively. Those present clapped their hands and approved the proposal.
In a more relaxed tone, Raymundo reminded those present about the lack of a name for the new club: “You trusted the idea and approved the nomination for president, but we haven’t even defined the name. As this club will have democracy as its principle, I will let you give your suggestions. The space is open”.
Africa, Brazil and Concordia were remembered, but they did not please and ended up being rejected. Naming a club seemed as difficult as naming a child. It was when Edmundo Jorge de Araújo, son of the renowned Sóter de Araújo, had attention turned to him.
“Sirs! We live in Santos. It’s our city. This team will represent our people, our land. Why not Santos? Santos Football Club?”
Edmundo caused a stir. On the other side, Raymundo looked convinced. “I will put it to a vote.” The palms spread and took over the environment.
Santos Football Club was founded
Monday woke up radiant. Football was reborn in the city. Before work, readers stopped at stores and magazine and newspaper stands and disputed the city’s dailies.
The newspaper A Tribuna paid special attention to the neophyte club. In the sports section it was there, recorded for all eternity:
Santos Football Club with the above name has just been founded in this city, a football club destined, certainly, to a long life full of victories, for which it has the best elements of this land. Here is its first board: President, Sizino Patusca; Vice, George P. Cox; 1st Secretary, José Guilherme Martins; 2nd, Raul Dantas; 1st Treasurer, Leonel Silva; 2nd, 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 colours: White and blue, with a yellow strip between the two colors
In those early days Santos formed a large family club. Several players and managers were linked by family ties. In addition to the passion for sports, there was a common thread in the history of these people with football in the city, from the introduction of the sport through participation in clubs to the arrival of Santos.
And, if we want to go further, these people who built Santos were united by the deeds of their ancestors. We cannot disregard the fact that the population of Santos was small at that time (approximately 90,000 people), but to fail to attribute these factors to these factors is to leave it up to chance and the present text contradicts this hypothesis.
We can compare the kinship of any of these characters, but let’s take as an example the selfless Agnello Cícero de Oliveira, president of Santos in the early days of the club (1914 to 1917), responsible for conducting the purchase of the land and the construction of the Sports Square, future stadium of Vila Belmiro. Ahead of Santos on three occasions, he even presided over the club during the transition to professional football (1932-1933).
Agnello was the brother of Ricardo Pinto de Oliveira, a player on the first team of Santos in 1913, as well as director of the club. Ricardo was the cousin and husband of Ismênia da Silveira Pinto de Oliveira, a well-liked figure in the city, due to her participation in social, religious, sporting and charitable circles. Ismênia was the sister of Arnaldo and Oswaldo Silveira, Santos players. Therefore, Ricardo was, in addition to being a teammate, Arnaldo and Oswaldo’s brother-in-law and cousin.
In 1918, two other brothers of Agnello and Ricardo, Randolfo and Américo Pinto de Oliveira, joined the Santos team. Virgílio Pinto de Oliveira, known as Bilú, another of the Pinto de Oliveira brothers, was also part of the 1918 team, but it was as a coach that he became famous: Bilú was the first Paulista champion coach for Santos, in 1935.
The only sister of the clan, Iraídes Ricardina de Oliveira Ratto, owner Didi, was the club’s first seamstress. It was she who made the first uniforms for the Praiano team in its opening games. Dona Didi was also responsible for making the club’s first flag. She was married to Francisco José Ribeiro Ratto, better known as Nhonhô Ratto. Dona Didi’s husband was of great importance to Santos. It was he who drove a donkey hitched to a heavy steamroller to level the club’s first field, at Villa Macuco.
On the other hand, Arnaldo and Oswaldo Silveira, Iraídes, Agnello Cícero, Randolfo, Virgílio, Américo and Ricardo Pinto de Oliveira were nephews of the first president of Santos, Sizino Patusca; thus, also cousins of soccer players Ary, Ararê and the consecrated Araken Patusca. Sizino’s only daughter, Aracy Patusca, was married to fellow player Siriri. He, alongside his brother Camarão and brother-in-law Araken formed the unforgettable attack of 100 goals in a single championship.
As if that were not enough, they would be cousins of Francisco Martins dos Santos, a player in the 1920s and an important historian of the city, son of Valentina Guiomar Patusca Martins dos Santos (Sizino’s sister) and Américo Martins dos Santos. In addition to Francisco, they were the parents of Alzira Martins Lichti, a renowned figure in the area of Education in the region and who, among other activities, was the founder of the Clube Feminino Santista, where she set up and participated in the first female basket ball team in Santos. She also organized the first uniformed female crowd of Santos Futebol Clube. Alzira was married to diplomat Armando Lichti, president of Santos in the biennium 1922/1923.
As the club developed, new young men joined the membership. Young people, since most were students and employees in commerce, single and aged between 15 and 24 years (66%). It demonstrates the strength of a fast-moving sport. In the 1910s football was becoming the most popular sport. Santos Football Club, among its many achievements, formed a democratic club, free of age, gender and race prejudices.
