Origin and History of Benfica and Sporting

In the beginning of the 20th Century, were born the two clubs that originated the biggest rivalry in Portugal. Nowadays, this rivalry is lived in all kinds of sports and not only in Portugal. Each supporter beats the drum for his club, nevertheless many of them do not know their history and where this rivalry comes from.
History and the facts occurred shouldn’t enter into oblivion and a fair tribute should be paid to the men that participated in the birth and life of Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Sporting Clube de Portugal.
Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Grupo Sport Lisboa
Around December 1903, two matches took place between the Associação do Bem and the Grupo dos Catataus, named by Grupo de Futebol Lisbonense, or similar, by then. The second match was won, by 1-0, by the Associação do Bem, when previously they had lost by 1-0. Both matches were played in Salésias and after the second match was over, the victory was celebrated in a beerhouse in front of the Pharmacy Franco. It was in this event that the players came up with the idea of reuniting in a club, which was discussed later. There was a hesitation in the name: Sport Lisbonense de Lisboa or Sport Lisboa. In the end it was chosen the latter designation.
It was in the distant day of February 28, 1904, still in the monarchy age, that was founded a club known as Group Sport Lisboa, in the Belem area of Lisbon.
This meeting took place in the Pharmacy Franco, which was property of the 1st Count of Restelo, Pedro Augusto Franco, who had been the Mayor of Belem, Councilor and Mayor of Lisbon.
It’s important to emphasize that there were 24 founders, amongst them Cosme Damião, who wrote the minutes, although his name does not appear on it. He would become the main leader in the first decades of the new Club, as well as player, Capitan, coach, secretary, vice-president and chairman of the General Assembly. Later this founder, in 1914 when the player Artur José Pereira moved to Sporting Clube de Portugal, would say a sentence to Luís Carlos de Faria Leal, about what would be the eternal rival of Sport Lisboa e Benfica:
In this historical meeting, José Rosa Rodrigues was chosen to be President, Daniel Brito to be secretary and Manuel Gourlade to be treasurer.
The Sport Lisboa, where the word Grupo fell into disuse and didn’t even came to be a part of the club symbol, was formed by ex-students of the Real Casa Pia de Lisboa, noble institution to support needed children, and that already belonged to Grupo dos Catataus (amongst them José Rosa Rodrigues) and the Associação do Bem (amongst them Cosme Damião) founded in July 31, 1903, which had as purposes: beneficence, solidarity, games, fencing class, parties and meetings.
It was decided that the colors would be the red and white, because they symbolize the bravery and peace, respectively and as a symbol of the club an eagle which symbolizes the rising aspirations of the club, ie, independence, authority and nobility, and finally the motto "E Pluribus Unum", which means out of many, one! In order to define the union between the associates and the family spirit that characterized the creation of the Club.
In the beginning fishing nets were used for the goals, and they were assembled and disassembled for each match. They used a well for bathing purposes, where a young man removed the water with a bucket and poured it over each players head. The Sport Lisboa also created the habit of offering snacks to the opponnents. There is even in the first records expense notes of 4,5 liter of wine and 36 sandwiches. On January 1, 1905, the Sport Lisboa held his first «official» match, against Campo de Ourique. Manuel Gourlade was the coach by then and the Sport Lisboa players won, by 1-0.
Due to the club origins there was an enormous empathy between the Casa Pia of Lisboa students and the Sport Lisboa, and sometimes Cosme Damião, resorted to Casa Pia in order to recruit some students to play in Sport Lisboa, forming with them agreements that did not go beyond verbal promises to pay the tram or the train, even though, from time to time he offered them with Portuguese fried liver with potatoes.
When Sport Lisboa was going through some financial difficulties, since they didn’t even had their own field (in the beginning they rented the field Terras do Desembargador) they saw, in 1907, 8 of their players (seven of first category and one of second category) pass to the wealthiest Sporting Clube de Portugal. Cosme Damião and Marcolino Bragança were the «soul» of the resistance, even with Marcolino Bragança losing his year in High School, deciding to stay and bet on the continuity of the club. This episode originated a rivalry which during the course of time became stronger and it lasts until nowadays. The reserve team became the first team of Sport Lisboa and the first ever derby took place on December 1, 1907, with a victory of Sporting Clube de Portugal by 2-1, with a goal of Corga to Sport Lisboa and a goal of Cândido Rodrigues, and an own-goal of Cosme Damião to Sporting Clube de Portugal.
Grupo Sport Benfica
Shortly after, in July 26, 1906, it was founded another club in Lisbon, named Grupo Sport Benfica, with José Duarte as President which included, since the beginning, a membership of 15 members amongst them Luís Carlos de Faria Leal.
Sporting Clube de Portugal
Sport Clube de Belas
In 1902, by the initiative of Francisco da Ponte and Horta Gavazzo and his brother José Maria the Sport Clube de Belas was founded. In August 26, 1902, at Seteais, with the presence of the King D. Carlos, the Queen D. Amélia and the Prince D. Manuel, as well as several representatives of the court, a match of football was played against a group of players from Sintra. In the end, the King gave the winning team a holster plated with fifty kilos of weight, containing a liqueur service.
The Sintra group was invited for a second match to be played on September 14, 1902. It was prepared a sporting festival and valuable medals were bought to be disputed between bicycle, bags , pedestrian races and a football match. With some absences from Sport Clube de Belas, and with some reinforcements from the lads of Sintra, the score was booming (14-0), and the fame of Francisco Gavazzo as a goalkeeper, which the previous meeting had highlighted even more, went awry and the truth is that Francisco Gavazzo never wanted to play as a goalkeeper again!
It was then that he uttered the famous sentence:
Sporting Clube de Portugal
This new club embraced the current areas of Lumiar, Campo Grande, Alvalade had as founding members: José Alfredo Holtreman Roquette (José Alvalade), José Maria da Ponte e Horta Gavazzo, Frederico Seguro Ferreira, Alfredo Augusto das Neves Holtreman (Visconde de Alvalade), Fernando Soares Cardoso Barbosa, José Stromp, Henrique d’ Almeida Leite Júnior, John Henrique Scarlett, Eduardo Francisco Quintela de Mendonça, Afonso Botelho, António Stromp, Augusto Barjona de Freitas, Augusto Carlos Cruz Seguro, Francisco da Ponte e Horta Gavazzo, Francisco Stromp, Sérgio Rolin Geraldes Barba, José Seguro Borges de Castro, José Cordeiro Ferreira Roquette e João Serrão de Moura. His grandfather, Visconde de Alvalade, eventually provided money and lands, whilst others contributed with what they could and finally on the 8th May, it was held the first General Assembly where it was determined that the first President would be the Visconde de Alvalade.
It was then uttered another famous sentence from the member number 1° of the club: The Campo Grande Foot-Ball Club, would end later on.
However on July 1, 1906, by insistence of António Felix da Costa Junior, they came up with the final name Sporting Clube de Portugal, through a General Assembly, although the founder José de Alvalade would prefer Grande Sporting Clube de Portugal. We have these two historical dates for the club, as the foundation is in fact, May 8, 1906, the name Sporting Clube de Portugal was defined on July 1, 1906. Nevertheless, still in the same year, there was another game played also in Spain through an invitation of Recreativo de Huelva to CIF, who, previously, left an excellent image of their last tour, in Spain, where they beat Madrid Football Club (after Real Madrid CF), by 2-0, on January 5, 1907. This time, however, CIF, recognizing their poor moment, suggested Sporting Clube de Portugal, whom only accepted under the possibility of forming a mix of teams from Lisbon, whose constitution was in charge of Sporting captain João Bentes. The portuguese players went to Spain in 2 horse coaches by lousy roads, which took roughly 18 hours! On August 27, they won 4-0 in Huelva, with goals from Francisco Stromp (2) and António Rosa Rodrigues (2). The following players also played for this team: Henrique Costa, António Costa, Cosme Damião and Luiz Vieira (Sport Lisboa e Benfica), Francisco Belas (Sport União Belenense) and finally António Couto, António Stromp, Francisco Stromp, António Rosa Rodrigues e Augusto Freitas, goalkeeper (Sporting Clube de Portugal CP).<ref name="EDB"/>
Until 1919, Sporting Clube de Portugal celebrated his anniversary on May 8th, but on May 1, 1920, during a General Assembly, there were two historical decisions taken:<ref name="historia"/>
* Change the official foundation date from May 8, 1906, to July 1, 1906, thanks to a proposition made by Nuno Soares Júnior.
* It was also suggested, this time by Júlio de Araújo and his redevelopment project and expansion of Sporting Clube de Portugal, to create branches and offices.
Other eternal rivals from the same city
Throughout history there were other clubs beyond Sporting Clube de Portugal and Sport Lisboa e Benfica to make merges, change names and to create an historical rivalry. We have some cases among countries with the greatest European football history.
Spain
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (Initially Madrid Foot-Ball Club) and Club Atlético de Madrid (Initially a branch of Athletic Bilbao and which merged, in 1947, with Aviación Nacional changing its name to Athletic Aviación de Madrid).
Italy
Associazione Calcio Milan (Initially Milan Cricket and Foot Ball Club) and Football Club Internazionale Milano (In 1928 merged with Unione Sportiva Milanese and renamed to Ambrosiana SS Milano).
England
Manchester United Football Club (Initially Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway) and Manchester City Football Club (Initially St. Mark's)

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