São Paulo Athletic Club - officially nowadays Clube Atlético São Paulo, but generally referred to as SPAC, is a Brazilian

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

founded on 13 May 1888 by Charles William Miller, Algernon Francis Egert and several English immigrants, being one of the first

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

clubs in the South-American country. Although football is not practised anymore, SPAC currently hosts the practice of

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

, squash,

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. Miller was convinced by his partner Egert, both more active in the city of

Niterói Niterói () is a List of municipalities in Rio de Janeiro, municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay, facing the city of Rio de ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, to name the sports club in honor of the Brazilian state.

History

São Paulo Athletic Clube was established by the British community living in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, in 1888. Those British residents used to play

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

at the Pirituba field, property of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

company São Paulo Railway Co. One of the most notable members and sportsmen in the club history was Charles Miller, who after returning to his native country from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

(where he had studied) began to actively participate in the development of the club. Miller (who was 19 and is considered the "father" of Paulista football) introduced football and rugby to the club in 1895, even bringing some

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

s and a rules book to teach the basis of the sport there. SPAC and Miller were founding members of the

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

, the first football tournament not only of São Paulo but Brazil, whose first edition was in 1902. SPAC won the championship, being Miller also the top scorer of the tournament with 10 goals. SPAC would win 3 more titles (in 1903, 1904 and 1911), totalizing four football championships. Saopaulo ac football 1904

1911 was the last successful year of football in the club. SPAC won the last game vs. SC Germania by 2-0, winning the last title for the club. The final game was played on 20 October 1912 against the same club. After that, SPAC retired from official football competitions, although the sport continued being practised at the institution but only for recreation. The club was also a founding member of the São Paulo Tennis Federation. With football out of competition, rugby became the main sport of the club. In 1932 and 1936 the Brazilian national team played

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

, with most of its players called up from SPAC. Due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

rugby came to a hiatus until 1947 when the British players returned to Brazil, although the number of enthusiasts had decreased. In 1948 Jimmy Macintyre retired from rugby but he would never leave the sport, dedicating to manage the team and organizing a tour in 1950. The Brazilian toured on

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, where the team won the three games played, including the final match by 20-0. By the end of the 1940s, Irish Harry Donovan arrived in Brazil. Donovan would be president of the club (1964–65), then founding the Brazilian Rugby Union in 1963 along with Macyntire.

Honours

Football

** Winners (4): 1902, 1903, 1904, 1911

Rugby union

Men's * Campeonato Brasileiro (10): 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1999 *Campeonato Paulista (1): 1999 *Recopa (2): 2005, 2008 Women's * Campeonato Paulista (4): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Notes

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sao Paulo Athletic Club Defunct football clubs in São Paulo (state) Rugby union teams in Brazil Association football clubs established in 1888 Rugby union teams in São Paulo (state) 1888 establishments in Brazil British association football clubs outside the United Kingdom Diaspora football clubs in Brazil