Kittleson's 'The Country Of Football'

Football, or soccer, was brought to Brazil by Charles Miller from England. The game became popularized during the Vargas era, where teams and clubs were formed by communities to compete. Vargas believed soccer united people of different racial groups, classes, and political parties and brought together people of different backgrounds to share the love of the game. Soccer created a sense of Brazilian nationalism, for members of all different communities shared the common passion of the sport. On discussing soccer as a unifying force in the Vargas-era, Kittleson stated in “The Country of Football”, “This way of thinking about soccer fit in with the centralizing and nationalist aims of the Vargas government. In a May Day speech in 1938, Vargas proclaimed “A country is not just the conglomeration of individuals in a territory; it is, principally, a unity of race, a unity of language, a unity of national thinking”. Embracing soccer served as a means of fostering this unity, as well as attempting to control it” (Kittleson, Chapter 1, 50). Vargas highly valued this notion of

Vargas used the radio to spread the sense of Brazilian nationalism, installing large speakers in city centers. These speakers played traditional home-grown Brazilian music, Hora do Brasil, for thousands of people to hear. The radio, and traditional Brazilian music, was another tool Vargas used to organize and unite Brazil. After getting clearance from the military to run again in 1950, Vargas vowed to make the economy a top priority. Vargas envisioned ending dependence on foreign capitol and markets, and aimed to make Brazil self sufficient and produce goods domestically. It was also a priority for Vargas to further improve worker’s conditions, and made a pledge to raise the minimum wage. From 1951-1954, Vargas tripled the minimum wage. Unions became active, and worker’s conditions drastically