Sport

In the article we publish below, readers will find some materials for the history of sport in Madeira. It was written, at the request of one of the authors of this Elucidário, by a well-known journalist who is the sports editor of the Diário da Madeira (‘Madeira Daily’):

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The sporting movement in Madeira may be described as remarkable, says the journalist in question. Among the various sports played in our community are the following: football, lawn tennis, billiards, table tennis, swimming and related events such as water polo, long-distance or endurance and sprint races, diving, rowing, yachting (sailing), croquet (on private grounds, especially at the quintas on the outskirts of the city), etc.

The most developed and best-loved sport in Madeira is, without doubt, football. On this island, as everywhere else, it went through an initial, preliminary phase in which it was played without any coordinating or educational body, the clubs arranging matches privately among themselves. In that early phase of football in Funchal many clubs were founded; some have since disappeared, while others still exist. Among those that have disappeared we still remember the Grupo Sportivo do Ateneu Comercial, the Grémio dos Empregados do Comércio (Shop Employees’ guild (grémio)), the Operário Funchalense, the Sporting Grupo do Funchal, the Continental Madeirense, the Académico, the Grupo Desportivo Insulano, etc.

Among the clubs founded at that time which are still active today are the following, in decreasing order of seniority: Grupo Sportivo Internacional, Club Sports da Madeira, Club Sport Marítimo, União Foot-ball Club (formerly União-Marítimo) and Clube Desportivo Nacional (formerly Nacional Sport Grupo).

In 1916, on the initiative of the União and Insulano clubs, the Associação de Foot-ball do Funchal (Funchal Football Association) was founded, and from then on the sport was properly organised.

Then began the second phase of football in Madeira, with regularly contested competitions.

In this second period the following were founded: Império Foot-ball Clube, Portugal F. C., Funchal F. C. and Ufania F. C., the last three short-lived and now defunct.

Once organised, the A. F. F. promoted the first Madeira Championship in the 1916–17 season, divided into two divisions. The winners were C. S. Marítimo in the 1st division and G. S. Internacional in the 2nd.

The following season (1917–18) the Madeira Championship was contested again, enlarged with a 3rd-division competition. The winners were C. S. Marítimo in the 1st division, União F. C. in the 2nd and C. S. Marítimo in the 3rd.

The activity of the Football Association, and consequently the Championship, was suspended during the 1918–19 and 1919–20 seasons.

In the 1920–21 season the Madeira Championship was held again, thanks to the strenuous efforts of Álvaro Reis Gomes, who, after a press campaign, succeeded in reviving the A. F. F. He worked devotedly on its reorganisation, assisted by Gonçalo de Ornelas, Luís da Costa and Anastácio do Nascimento. That season (1920–21) the winners were União F. C. in the 1st division – although C. S. Marítimo had won every match, it was disqualified for fielding a player not properly registered with the A. F. F. – União F. C. in the 2nd division and C. S. Marítimo in the 3rd.

In the 1921–22 season the Championship was won by C. S. Marítimo in the 1st division, C. S. Marítimo in the 2nd and C. S. Marítimo in the 3rd: the same club in every competition. In 1922–23 the result was the same: C. S. Marítimo, champion in all 3 divisions.

Besides its football champion, Madeira can take pride in other talents in various branches of sport, such as lawn tennis, sea diving, water-polo, billiards, etc. For example:

Lawn tennis: – António Vieira de Castro and Rui de Bianchi, the latter recently deceased in Switzerland. The survivor of this magnificent pair has already made his name on the mainland, competing against established players and winning a tournament held a few years ago at Caldas da Rainha. António Vieira de Castro is the tennis champion of Madeira and holds the corresponding prize: the ‘Strangers Club’ Cup. (1921)

Sea diving (high diving): – João de Sousa, António de Castro and others. They beat the Portuguese record, diving from 25 metres. Some people wrongly regard these men as professional divers, because they ply their trade aboard the liners, selling Madeiran handicrafts. But if their status raises doubts, we have a purely amateur young man (employed in commerce on land, just as the others are at sea) who dives from 18 metres, the record of the Liga M. D. Náuticos. His name is Ulrique Alves.

Water-polo: – The 1st championship of this aquatic sport held in Madeira (1922) by the L. M. D. N. was won by Império Foot-ball Clube in the first division. In the second division the winner was Clube Sport Marítimo.

A distinguished water-polo player, and the man who introduced the game here, was the late António Costa.

Billiards: – Alfredo Ferraz and Mário de Freitas, winners (1st and 2nd prizes respectively) of the Portuguese Billiards Championship, held in 1922 in Lisbon at the Grémio Lisbonense, at Arco do Bandeira, are Madeirans. Other distinguished billiard players: António Costa (died 1921) and José da Silva Coelho.

Table tennis: – The Madeirans Álvaro de Meneses Alves Reis Gomes and Manuel Pedro Nolasco de Pontes Leça won the Academic Championship held in Coimbra at the Centro Académico de Democracia Cristã in May 1921, taking the 1st and 2nd prizes respectively. An outstanding exponent of table tennis, and champion of the Madeira Sports Club (Clube Sports da Madeira), was the late Madeiran Arnaldo de Azevedo Ramos. The champion of Club Desportivo Nacional is the Madeiran João Crisóstomo Luís.

Sailing: – Afonso Coelho, Manuel Perestrelo and Humberto dos Passos Freitas.

Below we give various details about some of the sports associations in Funchal, two of which have already been noted on page 280 of volume I of the Elucidário, in the article Clubs (Clubes):

Club Sport Marítimo – Founded in September 1910, it adopted green and red as the colours of its banner and kit. Its members devote themselves to sporting exercise in general, and in particular to football and water sports.

It has carved a glorious name in the history of Madeiran football, having been regional champion in that popular sport from its introduction here down to the present day.

Its annals record countless victories over all the other Madeiran teams. It has never been beaten in Madeira except on one single occasion, by União Football Clube in 1919, when its ranks had been considerably weakened by the departure of some of its best players to that and other clubs. It also boasts most honourable results (wins and draws) against fine foreign teams that have called at our landing place aboard warships, training ships, transports, etc. In 1912, for example, it drew with the formidable German team of the cruiser Pandora.

Having brought to Funchal the powerful 1st eleven of Sport Lisboa e Bemfica, for many consecutive years champion of the capital, it inflicted two memorable defeats on it, on 9 and 13 April 1922, by 3–2 and 6–3 respectively.

C. S. Marítimo has made several tours to mainland Portugal and abroad (the Canary Islands). On 14 October 1922, in Porto, it beat Football Club do Porto, champions of Portugal, by 3–1, which earned it an enthusiastic welcome on its return to Madeira.

It is due to compete in the Championship of Portugal in football and then to visit the United States of America, having received an invitation to do so.

Its headquarters are at present at Rua de Santa Maria, 126, with windows overlooking the Campo do Almirante Reis (‘Admiral Reis field’), where the football matches are played.

Grupo Sportivo Internacional. – This is the oldest sports association in Madeira, founded in 1909. It adopted green and black as its colours. It won the 2nd-division championship in the first year it was contested. Its headquarters are at Rampa de Miguel Bombarda, no. 3.

Club Sports da Madeira. – Founded in March 1910, it adopted blue and white as its colours. During the early years of the Associação de Football do Funchal it was the chief rival of Club Sport Marítimo in the Madeira Championship, to which it lent much brilliance and excitement. In that period (1916–1918) its constant aim was to defeat C. S. Marítimo and wrest from it the title of regional champion. It never succeeded, however, although on several occasions it drew with its rival in fiercely contested matches that Madeiran sportsmen remember with nostalgia.

In the 1st year of the Swiss Cup (1918) it won the 2nd prize, a diploma. It also possesses several cups won in athletics, water sports and football. Outstanding among them is the monumental ‘America Cup’, won for this Club by Afonso Coelho in a sailing regatta.

Its football team has already travelled to the Canary Islands, where it drew with the best team there and brought back a commemorative trophy to Madeira. Its headquarters are at Rua de Hermenegildo Capelo, no. 11, opposite the Jardim Municipal (‘municipal garden’).

Liga Madeirense de Sports Náuticos. – Founded in 1922, in that same year it held the Madeira water-polo Championship, in two divisions, and organised other water events, such as races, diving, etc.

Madeira owes the organisation of this league to the initiative of Álvaro Reis Gomes, sports editor of the Diário da Madeira.

All the sports clubs of Funchal are affiliated to this federation (1921).

At the invitation of Club Sport Marítimo, the 1st team of Sporting Club de Portugal visited Funchal in 1924, and four matches were played, on 15, 18, 22 and 29 May. Sporting Club won every match. Its opponents were Club Sport Marítimo in the first, União Foot-Ball Club in the second, a team made up of players from Império, Madeira, União and Convent of St Clare (Santa Clara) in the third, and Club Sport Marítimo again in the fourth. When the Sporting Club de Portugal players returned to Lisbon, they were accompanied by the 1st team of Club Sport Marítimo, which sought to contest there, for its club, the title of national champion, but without success’ (1924).

As a supplement to the article printed in the first edition, which is reproduced in full above, Dr Álvaro de Meneses Alves Reis Gomes and Mr Noé Pestana have supplied us with extensive and interesting information. It contains valuable material for the history of Madeiran sport, and we owe them our deeply grateful thanks.

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An account of Madeiran sporting activities since the preceding article was written would provide material not for a short article – in keeping with the character of this publication – but for a book of many pages.

We must therefore try to condense the list of facts we are about to give, recording only the most important events. It is possible, however, that this brief account will contain some omissions, both because of the haste with which we are gathering these notes and because of the need to save space, so as not to become tedious.

To make our unpretentious work easier to consult, we shall divide it into sections and individual sports.

Cricket: – This is, strictly and truly, the oldest sport known to have been played in Madeira.

Since this is the national game of the English, cricket was introduced to the island by the British subjects living here. They were chiefly the sons of the wine merchants, and of those in other branches of trade and industry established here, on their return from their studies at schools in England, and also the employees of the ‘Brasilian Submarine Telegraph Co.’, which later gave way to ‘The Madeira Western Telegraph C.°’.

Organised play seems to date back to 1888, when the game was first played competitively by teams. That year also saw the founding of the first cricket organisation, called ‘The Madeira Cricket Club’, whose chief promoters were João Correia, F. C. Cornell and Mr H. P. Miles. The club rented the grounds of the field at the Achada (‘plateau’), in the parish (freguesia) of Camacha, from their owners, and played its inaugural match there on 20 March of the same year, between sides of bachelors and married men. Before then, however, the field, which until that date had been a sort of common land (baldio) used for grazing, had often been used for this and other sports.

On 1 January 1893 the ‘Excelsior Madeira Cricket Club’ was founded, and the original club later merged with it.

To give its members easier access to its principal sport – for it also promoted football, athletics, etc. – this new sporting body acquired a plot of land in São Martinho, at the locality (sítio) of Engenho Velho (‘old sugar mill’), which it converted into a sports ground. The ground was inaugurated on 19 April 1894 and later became known as Campo do Brás (‘Brás’s field’), after one of its former owners.

This club, which included some Madeirans among its members, played a number of hard-fought matches of cricket and other sports against teams from the ships of the naval squadrons that then called at Funchal, and against teams of employees of the Submarine Cable Company.

The ‘Excelsior’ was the first Madeiran sports club to carry the name of the Pearl of the Ocean abroad. On 10 May 1901 its cricket team sailed aboard the SS Niger for Las Palmas, where it played three matches, resulting in two victories for the neighbouring Spanish island and one for Madeira.

Further matches were played in succession by that team and others, until interest in cricket gradually waned, and our activity in the sport disappeared altogether around 1926.

Football: – The sport that won the most followers and supporters in Funchal was football, and in the golden age of the game our local scene was able to rank alongside the best on the mainland.

According to the journalist Mota de Vasconcelos, in his Almanaque do Desportista Madeirense, published in 1945, it was Mr Harry Hinton who, at the age of 18, in 1865, brought the first football to Madeira. This was also the first introduced into Portugal, since it was only in 1888 – 13 years after Madeira – that the same thing happened on the mainland, involving the three brethren Eduardo, Frederico and Guilherme Pinto Basto, well-known bankers, who are credited, in the same way as H. Hinton, with introducing football to mainland Portugal.

This Madeiran industrialist and former sportsman used that ball on the ground at Achada da Camacha (‘plateau of Camacha’), in games with other boys of his age, making the most of the weekends he spent there at the Quinta da Achadinha (‘little plateau estate’), his father’s property.

However, that first ball was ruined by the disorderly kicking of the group of young men among its owner’s acquaintances, and only some years later was the first match of association football played on this island between two properly organised sides, on the old Campo D. Carlos, today Almirante Reis. That first match must have taken place in 1894 or in 1895, according to the two versions known to us of the introduction of the popular English sport to Madeira.

In the first of these versions, according to the testimony of Mr H. A. Miles, a British subject who had lived in Madeira for more than 50 years, given when the ‘Album das Bodas de Prata da A. F. F.’ was being compiled, the first football match on the island must have taken place in 1894, between a ‘team’ of Englishmen living in our land and another made up of the crew of an English ship that lay at anchor in our harbour for three weeks undergoing repairs.

In the second version, gathered from the accounts of some old members of the seafaring class of the bomboteiros – a class closely linked with the introduction of football to Madeira – who lived near the old Campo D. Carlos already mentioned, the first match was played between two groups of crewmen from the English pleasure yacht (which they call ‘Lord’) named Rhouma, on her first voyage to Madeira, which has been established as taking place in 1895.

As for the introduction of the popular English game, these old seamen relate that on the second voyage of this vessel, which visited Madeira year after year for many years, a young seaman named João Viveiros, nicknamed ‘O Chicago’, persuaded the crew of the Rhouma to give him, on their departure, the ball they used for their amusement. He used it with other companions in disorderly games of kicking forward, mixed with plenty of running about.

As a curious note, we would point out that when the rubber of this ball wore out, João Viveiros filled it with an animal’s bladder and then began hiring it out at ten réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) an hour.

Enthusiasm for the game grew and, attempt by attempt, it made great progress around 1908 to 1910 with the return to Madeira of the late lamented sportsman Humberto dos Passos Freitas, back from his studies, who was a devoted promoter of this sport and perhaps its greatest driving force.

Madeiran football then acquired a life of its own, entering the phase already described in the previous article. From 1922 onwards it achieved its greatest renown, until in 1926 it reached its highest peak with the famous title of Champion of Portugal, won by Clube Sport Marítimo.

Thanks to the persistent efforts of the various leaders of the time, and in particular of Dr Álvaro dos Reis Gomes, former Secretary of the Portuguese Football Federation and delegate of the A. F. F. to that body, Madeira began in 1922–23 to take part in the highest football competition, then called the Championship of Portugal, sending a representative to the mainland every year.

In this competition, which from 1938–39 came to be called the ‘Taça de Portugal’, Madeira was represented 19 times, distributed as follows: Clube Sport Marítimo, 14 times; Clube Desportivo Nacional, 3 times; Clube de Futebol União, 2 times. Finally, in the 1941–42 season, when C. D. Nacional qualified as our representative, Madeira was eliminated from the competition because of difficulties created by the last world war.

In the various Madeira championships organised since the foundation of the A. F. F., in the first Honour categories, the winners were: Club Sport Marítimo, 17 times; C. D. Nacional, 6 times; C. F. União, 5 times. Various renowned clubs, both Portuguese and foreign, have visited Madeira, and our teams achieved the most flattering results. These gave Madeiran football a great reputation abroad, and led many of our best players to leave our island in search of other shores, lured by tempting promises.

Many of the leading clubs on the mainland have included several Madeiran players in their ranks, and the national team has already used the services of the following fellow islanders: José dos Ramos, Artur de Sousa (Pinga), Carlos Pereira and António Teixeira (Camarão). The following were also called up as reserves: José Rodrigues (Jusa), Jesuíno Gavião, Pedro de Sousa, Vasco Nunes and Rogério de Sousa. Of all these, Artur de Sousa, who was selected 21 times for international matches, achieved great fame both in Portugal and abroad, being the most outstanding Portuguese player of recent times. For this reason, in an article published in the Lisbon newspaper A Bola, the well-known sports journalist Cândido de Oliveira, a former national selector, set that Madeiran ‘ace’ alongside a mainland player of earlier times, Artur José Pereira, in a comparison to decide the best Portuguese player. The Madeiran journalist Noé Pestana replied to this article in the same newspaper with another, in which, supported by many authoritative opinions, he questioned whether Pinga was the best Madeiran player. For comparison he invoked the following players of the past: Moisés de Sousa, José Rodrigues (Jusa), António Alves, Manuel Ramos (Janota), José dos Ramos (José Pequeno) and Pedro de Sousa, concluding in favour of the last.

Not only did the best mainland clubs make use of Madeiran players, but so did some clubs in the Azores and in Africa, notably Lourenço Marques, where at one point almost the entire Madeiran representative side was to be found.

Several Madeiran clubs have travelled to the Canary Islands and the Azores, among them Club Sport Marítimo, C. D. Nacional, C. S. Madeira, Império F. Clube, União F. Club, G. S. Automobilista and Sporting Club da Madeira.

At present the following clubs are affiliated to the Funchal Football Association (Associação de Futebol do Funchal): Honour Division: Clube Sport Marítimo, Clube Desportivo Nacional, Clube de Futebol União and Sporting Club da Madeira; Promotion Division: Club Desportivo Barreirense, Clube de Futebol Andorinha, Club de Futebol Carvalheira, Clube de Futebol São João, Clube de Futebol Palmeira, Clube de Futebol Pátria and Grupo Desportivo da Segurança.

Owing to the constant departure of players from Madeira, and also to the lack of sports grounds, Madeiran football has entered a period of decline in recent years, and is currently going through a shortage of top-class players.

However, thanks to the ban on player transfers established by Decree-Law no. 32 946, and to the schools for young players set up by Clube Sport Marítimo, it is to be expected that in the near future our favourite sport will regain the front-rank position in Portuguese football to which its brilliant traditions entitle it.

Water sports: – Given the scant information at our disposal, it is difficult at present to fix an exact date or starting point for a historical account of Madeiran sporting activity on the water.

Madeira – an island with a coastline open on every side to a sea that is, on the whole, calm – is an ideal place for every kind of water sport. Only the inertia or indolence of its inhabitants, perhaps a fault of the climate, explains how little sport is practised in the bay, such as sailing and rowing, or indeed swimming and water-polo.

It is very likely that before 1910 – besides rowing contests between crews from ships anchored in our bay – some nautical events were held, for, as one would expect, people have always swum, at least on the beaches along the island’s coast, especially in summer. However, the first year in which we know that competitive events were organised is the one given above. For simplicity, we shall now summarise the main facts.

On 4 and 12 October 1913, to mark the 3rd anniversary of the proclamation of the Portuguese Republic, several nautical festivals were held, promoted by the newspaper Athenista, in which João Tiago de Castro, then an accomplished swimmer, distinguished himself.

In 1917 the Club Naval Madeirense was founded on the initiative of the late Viscount of Ribeira Brava, an enthusiastic sportsman. This began a phase of great activity: regattas with magnificent gigs, sailing races in graceful ‘monotypes’, and grand nautical festivals in which many Madeiran sportsmen stood out, such as Travassos Lopes, Humberto dos Passos Freitas, José Florêncio de Abreu, Afonso Coelho, Américo Patrício, Manuel Perestrelo, Dr João Miguel Rodrigues and others.

From then on, several nautical festivals were held every year at the Molhe da Pontinha, almost always for charitable purposes. Among the various sporting events, such as swimming races, the greasy pole, catching the duck, high dives (from the masts of anchored ships or from the islet), etc., games of water-polo were introduced, which found two great promoters in António Costa and Vasco Figueira.

In 1922 the Liga Madeirense de Desportos Náuticos (Madeiran Nautical Sports League) was founded. For some time it organised annual swimming events and the Madeira Water-polo Championship, the first champion of which was the now defunct Império Futebol Club.

On this League’s initiative, a team made up of the best swimmers from mainland Portugal came to Madeira in September 1924.

The Liga Madeirense de Desportos Náuticos ceased its activity in 1930. From then on, official swimming and water-polo competitions also ceased, and these sports were practised only at the occasional private festival organised at the ‘Lido’ swimming pool or at the bathing establishments on the beach of Campo Almirante Reis.

In 1940 the Associação de Natação do Funchal (Funchal Swimming Association) was founded, and the District Swimming Championships have been held every year. They have aroused little interest in recent years, however, for lack of the chief requirement for practising this sport in the manner of the great centres: a swimming pool or aquatic stadium.

Athletics: – Although athletics was practised in Madeira as early as 1899, at a festival organised by the Excelsior Madeira Cricket Club, the sport scarcely went beyond private events organised by newspapers or clubs, or the customary contests held at the ceremonies of swearing allegiance to the flag in our military units.

Of these private events, in which the clubs took part, the most important were the Funchal–Câmara de Lobos–Funchal marathons of 1911 and 1927, won respectively by Manuel Perestrelo and Alberto Malho.

In 1927 the Liga Madeirense de Sports Atléticos (Madeiran Athletic Sports League) was founded; it lasted no more than two or three years.

Tennis: – Tennis is the favourite sport of Madeira's sporting elite – as, indeed, it is almost everywhere – and it is so firmly established that countless quintas (country estates) of wealthy families, foreign or Madeiran, have courts laid out for playing it.

It is not easy at present to say exactly how long this splendid sport has been played here, for it goes back many years.

The chronicles record that during the visit of Their Majesties King Carlos I and Queen Empress Amélie to Madeira in 1901, several tennis matches were played at the Quinta do Palheiro, in which the King, a great sportsman, took part.

Many tennis tournaments have been organised here, from the earliest times to the present day, and the most valuable and splendid trophies have been contested.

The world's finest players have passed through Madeira, especially on pleasure trips. They have stayed here for many days, lodging in our best hotels, almost always during the winter season, and have taken part alongside our best players in various international tournaments and championships.

And because so very many talents have made their mark here in this fine sport, we refrain from mentioning any individual in this brief survey.

Miscellaneous: – Besides the sports mentioned above, many others have been practised in Madeira on a greater or lesser scale. Among them we shall mention the following:

Fencing and shooting: – If these were not introduced to Madeira by the late Viscount of Ribeira Brava – who practised fencing with every weapon with enthusiasm, dedication and acknowledged skill – this much-missed promoter of many sports was certainly one of their keenest champions, and he found a valuable collaborator in Carlos Nellis, from the mainland.

Nellis ran several fencing classes, and a number of tournaments were then held and contested with unusual interest.

Among his pupils, Jorge Gordon, Sotto Mayor, Humberto dos Passos Freitas, João de Oliveira Faria, António Vieira de Castro and Fernando Figueiredo stood out. Carlos Nellis had his pupils compete for the ‘Sebastião de Herédia’ cup (1920) – won two years running by Captain Raul Cohen – and the ‘Conde de Boussies’ cup (1920 to 1926), won in its first year by Raul Cohen, with António Vieira de Castro and Mr Hermos taking second places (with trophies). Fernando de Figueiredo also became a fine fencer; he kept the ‘Herédia’ cup for having won it three years running. He owns the cup that bears his name.

Another accomplished Madeiran fencer was Alberto Jardim, holder of the ‘Conde de Bousies’ cup, won after a hard-fought contest with Fernando de Figueiredo. Other Madeirans who also took an interest in this sport were Rui de Faria, Eduardo de Ascensão Velosa, José Ferreira Duarte Soares, Manuel Bianchi and Jorge Caldeira.

In the town (vila) of Ribeira Brava, during the lifetime of the titled nobleman of that name, several festivals were held in which the cream of the society of the day took part, and in which these sports featured prominently.

Table tennis: – This sport, widely known as ping-pong, was taken up in Madeira before it was in Lisbon.

This interesting sport was introduced here in 1917 by the late Arnaldo Azevedo Ramos, whose enthusiastic companions in the early days of the game were António Coutinho, António Mendes and João Crisóstomo Luís.

The sport grew and its followers and players increased, and from 1920 to 1925 every sports club on the island had suitable facilities for it; several inter-club tournaments were held at that time.

In 1936 the Madeira Ping-Pong Association (Associação de Ping-Pong da Madeira) was founded, and the sport then reached its greatest growth.

This body, however, was short-lived and soon disappeared, and today the sport is wholly without official support.

Motoring: – The first motor car arrived in Madeira on 30 December 1903, for Mr Harvey Foster; its owner took it with him when he returned to England the following year.

In 1907 another car arrived in Madeira, this one for the newly formed ‘Empresa Madeirense de Automóveis’. With it came a driver from the mainland named Francisco Franco, who stayed on our island for some time. Nine days after its arrival the car had an accident on the Caminho do Acioli, and all its passengers were injured.

The first Madeiran to drive motor vehicles was João Rodrigues (Morgado), who sat the ‘chauffeur’ examination on 11 February 1908.

As motoring developed on our island, excellent drivers emerged, and gymkhanas and other events were organised on several occasions, notably the 1st Barreiros Hill Climb in 1935, organised by the Automóvel Club de Portugal, in which some of the best amateur drivers from the mainland took part.

Cycling: – Although bicycles had fallen completely out of use in Madeira over the last ten to fifteen years, the sport had a great many followers here at the end of the 1800s and the dawn of the 1900s.

The first cycle race in Madeira dates from 1899, at a sports festival held by ‘The Madeira Cricket Club’, already mentioned. It was a comic event (a 100 m slow race), with R. Figueira placed 1st and C. Gomes 2nd.

In 1908 and 1911 several cycle rides were held from Funchal to Câmara de Lobos, as well as some town races (closed circuits), besides annual parades during the carnival festivities and various festivals in the Campo Almirante Reis.

But after cycling had vanished completely, so that for years not a single touring bicycle was to be seen in the streets of the city, it gradually reappeared. In 1938, on the initiative of the weekly Comércio do Funchal, then edited by Luís Quental, the 1st City Circuit was held; it aroused enormous enthusiasm and was won by Júlio Virissimo.

Since then several other races have been held with greater or lesser enthusiasm, the most important being the Funchal–Câmara de Lobos–Funchal race.

Basketball and volleyball: – These two sports also have their supporters here; the Funchal Basketball Association (Associação de Basket-Ball do Funchal) was founded in 1935 and the Volleyball Association (Associação de Volley-Ball) in 1945.

The former was active for about four years, and in recent years the sport has been left without any official organisation.