2006/10/10 - Published on The London Paper - Sport
Brazilian FC - Samba Style in Walthamstow
Just like watching Brazil in East End
Samba: Ronaldinho said Brazilian FC are flying the same flag for the nation when he met the squad while he was in London last month. Photos: Renato Mota
by Tony Stevens
Wadham Lodge, Walthamstow, East London, is not where you would expect to watch the best of Brazilian football - but this is exactly what you can do most Saturdays.
Nearby West Ham United may have brought in two South Americans recently, but this is nothing compared to the Latin flavour at Middlesex Counties Premier Division side Brazilian FC.
Set up in 2003 by former Fluminense and Cruzeiro star Paulo Cezar Batista, the club has the aim of mixing samba flair with european Organization - and what better way to do this than tap into the 300,000 - strong Brazilian community based in London.
Batista himself only came to London to study English, but football was always his true native tongue and he anted to find some fellow countrymen who spoke his ling.
He struck gold after advertising his footballing dream in the London-based newspaper Brazilian Sports Press.
He said: "Surprisingly there are a lot of ex-pros and pros without contracts who had come from Brazil to study for six months."
"We organized trials in Canada Water, East London, and on the first day had 60 players turn up!"
"We had the coaches decide who the best 22 players were and decided to work with them and train with them once a week before entering them to a league."
And the club has not looked back since. In their first season, they breezed through the Middlesex Counties League Division One, winning it by 12 points, and they are this year hoping for promotion from the Premier Division to the Ryman League.
But this progression did not come without its difficulties. Imagine a Brazilian side with players who have played alongside the likes of Denilson and Claudio Taffarel turning up in your local league!
However, acceptance eventually came and now the sky is the limit for Batista. He added: "There were two difficult things we were faced with. First it was the weather, because it was too cold compared to Brazil and it rained all the time!
"The second thing was not what I'd call racism but because we were strangers, English guys were wondering what Brazilians were doing playing in their league.
"But this was only for the first season and when we won the league and started showing to them we are nice people, we were no longer seen as strangers.
"Now our dream is to be at the top level. It's a long ladder but we have a dream to become a Premiership club by 2024."
You can be sure not too many of their Middlesex Counties rivals harbour these sorts of ambitions - but then again, how many of these clubs can boast Barcelona's Ronaldinho as a fan.
Brazilian FC were following their national team on their recent mini-tour of the capital, when they beat Argentina at Arsenal and Wales at Tottenham, even training with them.
Batista added: "Ronaldinho came to us and said, " I am Brazilian like you and you are carrying the name of the country. We are together."
"What matters to him is that we are Brazilian. Because we carry the name of the country, everyone from the national team support us."
Dream: Members of the Brazilian FC squad meet Kaka and Julio Baptista at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Photos: Renato Mota