21.3.13

Botafogo

Botafogo 1907


15 year old Flávio Ramos founded a football club in August 1904. He called it Electro Club. The following month, at the suggestion of his grandmother, the name was changed to Botafogo Football ClubFounder member Itamar Tavares suggested they adopt the colours of Juventus.  
The modern day Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas didn't come into being until 1942 when Botafogo Football Club merged with Club de Regatas Botafogo (founded 1894).
Botafogo won the following honours:
Campeonato Carioca: 1907, 1910, 1912, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935
Taça dos Campeões Estaduais Rio-São Paulo*:  1930,1935 


Flávio Ramos
1907: The 1907 championship was decided in 1996, when the Federação de Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro declared that the official result was that Botafogo and Fluminense were joint champions for that year. There was no pre arranged means of settling a tie- Fluminense claimed the title on goal average and Botafogo demanded a play-off. The league had already encountered problems and disputes that season. Internacional had been suspended from the competition for failing to turn up for their game with Botafogo. In support of Internacional the other 2 teams in the league (Fluminense and Paysandu Cricket Club) were threatening to boycott the league.
 Flávio Ramos (6 goals) was top scorer in the league.  

Abelardo de Lamare
1910: Botafogo scored 66 goals and conceded just 9 in the 10 games of the regular season. America were the next highest scorers with 31. The title was decided by a play-off between the teams that finished first and second in the league, and Botafogo maintained their 6 goal a game average by smashing Fluminense 6-1 in this decider. 
Notable goalscorers for Botafogo that season were: Abelardo de Lamare (22), Décio Viccari (14) and Mimi Sodré (11)
Abelardo de Lamare's haul included 7 in the 15-1 defeat of Riachuelo.


1912: A split in the league- Botafogo won the league promoted by Associação de Football do Rio de Janeiro. They were banned from competing in the Liga Metropolitana de Sports Athleticos having abandoned their 1911 campaign in controversial fashion .

Carvalho Leite
1930: Following a barren spell of 18 years Botafogo beat  Vasco da Gama to the championship by 1 point. Carvalho Leite was top scorer with 14 goals and Botafogo's goal record was for 60, against 30. 

1932: Carvalho Leite got 20 goals as Botafogo eased to the championship 5 points ahead of Flamengo.

Nilo
1933: There was another rift in Rio football with the advent of professionalism. The official championship was sanctioned by Associação Metropolitana de Esportes Athleticos. Botafogo won this league.
 Nilo Murtinho Braga was top scorer in the league with 19 goals, ahead of Carvalho Leite (13).

1934: The political disputes and chopping and changing of governing bodies in Rio football during this era can become quite confusing. In 1934 professionalism was officially accepted in Brazilian football and  Botafogo was amongst the founders of Federação Metropolitana de Desportos.


1935: Botafogo won their third championship in as many years...

*(this was a play-off between the champions of Rio and São Paulo that we will look at in a later post)