Ordem e progresso in football stadiums: Nationalism, sports journalism and the genesis of the torcidas uniformizadas during the estado novo political regime (1937-1945)

Abstract

This article aims to articulate the relations between the development of the first phase of professional football in Brazil, legally established in 1933 and consolidated from 1937, and the advent of Estado Novo (1937-1945), a concomitant political period known by its centralizing and authoritarian characteristics. The goal is to demonstrate how from this specific historical context emerged in the city of São Paulo the first configuration of torcidas uniformizadas (organized supporter's groups), which will have predominance between the 1940s and 1960s. Through the books of sports leaders, reports from government officials and journalistic sources, with the latter retrieved from the São Paulo newspaper A Gazeta Esportiva, we accompany the writings of João Lyra Filho and the press narratives of Thomaz Mazzoni, in order to emphasize the importance of the "moral framework" of soccer audiences of the time, based on the values in force, exalted by the authorities of the Estado Novo and fully or partially assimilated by the emerging groups of fans.