The book looks at the turn of the century, when organized soccer began
to be played in a systematic way by the European community of Rio and
São Paulo, mostly by the British. It shows that the new sport was
embraced by these people as a way to celebrate their culture, and to
imitate the activities of the elite schools in Britain that became quite
popular throughout Europe. Young Brazilians from the elite also embraced
the sport as a way of sharing a popular European sport that was
identified with what was respected as a white/upper class activity. In
this way making a distinction from the lower and darker populations.
Making this distinction was important in this moment of
post-emancipation, affirming the superiority of the upper/white class.
It was also important for the European residents of Brazil in order to
distinguish themselves from Brazilians (colonial mentality). Football
was one aspect of the modernity that these two cities were craving to
achieve.
The book highlights the impact of European-based racial assumptions on
the development of professional soccer. It provides a broad discussion
on how the official discourse after 1930 was one of conciliation,
claiming that Brazil was not European, but unique due to its racial
mixing. This idea began to be promoted by artists and intellectuals as
an attempt to Brazilianize the country, but it was soon embraced by
politicians with the leadership of President Getulio Vargas in an
attempt to create a unified national identity. In this context,
futebol was also unique in relation to European football because of
its mulatoism. Although this new attitude would influence social and
racial barriers within football to fall, racism did not end, nor did
Brazil become a racial democracy - as it has been claimed by many.
