Jorge José Emiliano dos Santos (19 March 1954 - 21 January 1995) also known by his nickname, Margarida (meaning ''Daisy'', in English) was a Brazilian football referee, known for his flamboyant style. He is recognized as an iconic figure in Brazilian football and was one of the first openly gay referees in Brazil.

Early life

Jorge José Emiliano dos Santos was born on 19 March 1954 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

.Ivan Maurício: ''90 MINUTOS DE SABEDORIA: A FILOSOFIA DO FUTEBOL EM FRASES INESQUECIVEIS'', Editora Garamond, 2002, , p. 114 () He was raised in Copacabana. He learned at the age of 13 to officiate football games from watching

pick-up game In sports and video games, a pick-up game (also known as a ''scratch game'' or ''PUG'') is a game that has been spontaneously started by a group of players. Players are generally invited to show up beforehand, but unlike exhibition games there i ...

s on the beach. His childhood idol was Armando Marques.

Career

After serving as a referee for lower level matches on the beach and in stadiums, dos Santos began refereeing bigger tournaments such as the 1988

Taça Guanabara The Taça Guanabara, or Guanabara Cup, is a football tournament organized annually since 1965 by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation. In its first four editions (1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968), the Taça Guanabara was a tournament in its o ...

. He was known for his "no-nonsense" style. He stated in an interview on 25 March 1988 with ''

Placar ''Placar'' ( en, Score) is a monthly Brazilian sports magazine. Its first edition was issued by Editora Abril. on March 20, 1970, and since then it has become the most successful sports publication in Brazil, even though it focuses fully on foot ...

'' that "I do not allow any type of indiscipline and demand respect." Due to this reputation, dos Santos was respected by footballers and other referees. In the 1980s, dos Santos, Válter "''Bianca''" Senra, Paulino Rodrigues da Silva, and Sérgio Cenedezi all faced scrutiny as the few openly gay referees of Brazil. In a 1988 match between

Volta Redonda Volta Redonda () is the name of a municipality in the Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil with an area of 182.81 km2, located from 350m to 707m above the sea level (22°31'23" S, 44°06'15" W) and with a population of 273,988 inhabitants (estima ...

and

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

, dos Santos faced homophobic slurs from the crowd due to his perceived "effeminate physicality." Dos Santos reflected in 1988:

“Good God! I’ve been hearing that for 20 years, why would I only now give it any weight?"

He added:

“I acknowledged my sexuality to a prejudiced country, which is a hard thing to do. Now if I happen to steal the show it’s because the game is boring.”

Luiz Mott Luiz Roberto de Barros Mott or Luiz Mott (born 6 May 1946) in São Paulo, is an anthropologist and a gay rights activist in Brazil. Early life Luiz Mott graduated in Social Sciences from the University of São Paulo (USP) during the military ...

and dos Santos met in the late 1980s while recording a segment for '' Canal Livre''. Notably, dos Santos' childhood idol Armando Marques aimed to remove gay referees from the Brazilian Football Confederation. According to '' The Advocate'' dos Santos would tell players, "I might be a pansy off the pitch, but here I'm a macho man."

Personal life and legacy

Dos Santos was one of the first openly gay referees in Brazil. He died on 21 January 1995 from AIDS-related complications. Two days later, he was buried in

Cemitério de São João Batista Cemitério de São João Batista (Saint John the Baptist's Cemetery) is a municipal necropolis originally owned and operated by the ''Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro'' (Holy House of Mercy of Rio de Janeiro), and run, since August 20 ...

wearing a black Brazilian Football Confederation shirt and flowers. He is recognized as an iconic figure in Brazilian football. Dos Santos is one of three role models for the character ''Margarida'' from referee Clésio Moreira dos Santos on YouTube.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:dos Santos, Jorge Jose Emiliano 1954 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Brazilian people AIDS-related deaths in Rio de Janeiro (state) Brazilian football referees Gay sportsmen Brazilian LGBT sportspeople 20th-century LGBT people Burials at Cemitério de São João Batista