50 years ago, football bully died defending gays – 05/03/2023 – Sport

Members of the dance group Dzi Croquettes, still in costume and makeup, were drinking at Bar Jerz, at Galeria Alaska, in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro. They were celebrating their last performance when, from the next table, shouts of “faggots”, “faggots” and other homophobic insults began.

A man stood up to defend the dancers, which soon became a heated argument. Two firearm shots were fired. One of them hit Almir Morais de Albuquerque, 35, in the head. 50 years ago, Almir Pernambuquinho, a unique character in Brazilian football, died.

A crack, troublemaker, brawler, temperamental to the extreme, “White Pelé” and with the image of an alpha male, cultivated by himself, the attacking midfielder lost his life in the early hours of February 6, 1973, thanks to the shot fired by the Portuguese Arthur Garcia Soares, by taking the pain of homosexuals who were in the same bar.

“This story has a beautiful side: a macho man like him dies defending a gay group”, defined writer Mario Prata, in O Estado de S. Paulo. He was also at Bar Jerz that night.

“He wasn’t afraid of size, strength, of anyone or anything. He was a real bully. But he was a very good person at heart. A great friend of his friends. He died defending someone he didn’t even know. And he had already got into several other troubles in Santos as well”, says Cabralzinho, who was Almir’s colleague, opponent and friend.

Despite his recognized talent, he marked his career with the word used by Cabralzinho: confusion. He was unable to resist teasing and would also do so frequently and without prior notice. Title on cover of Sheet of February 7, 1973 stamped: “Almir dies as he lived: violently”.

“I was a football marginal. I played as a professional for 11 years in Brazil, Argentina and Italy. Here in Brazil and Argentina a legend accompanied me: the violent one. But I scored many goals, built moves for many scorers, helped some clubs that won titles: Vasco, Santos, Flamengo. I was even called the white Pelé when Corinthians hired me full of hopes, in 1960. However, I was only loved by the fans of the clubs where I played. part of the sports chronicle, I was just that: a marginal”, defined the midfielder himself in his book “Eu e o Futebol”, a seminal work on the backstage of the backstage of sport in the country.

Born in Recife, Almir was discovered by Vasco in 1957. He won Rio-São Paulo and Carioca the following year. In a match for the Brazilian national team against Uruguay, in 1959, he provoked a general fight after receiving a violent tackle. The confrontation was paralyzed for almost 20 minutes, but Brazil won 3-1.

He was the great signing of Corinthians in 1960. It would be the answer of the then president Vicente Matheus to Santos, who was already the main force of São Paulo football. Almir received the nickname of white Pelé.

Matheus would have sold a building he owned to finance the hiring of the number 10, a story that remains unclear. He got it all wrong.

“It was a big disappointment. The biggest gossip was that Luizinho [um dos maiores ídolos da história corintiana] he would be jealous of Almir and would have led a boycott against him, who earned a lot and would have to run. But he denies this in his book, he praises Luizinho and says that the envious one was [goleiro] Gylmar”, describes journalist Celso Unzelte, author of books on the history of Corinthians.

Partly because of his personality, for not being intimidated and for his thirst for revenge, Almir was predominant in Santos’ biggest title, at the moment when, ironically, the white Pelé replaced the original Pelé, who was injured: the 1963 World Cup final against Milan.

After losing in Italy, the Brazilian team won two games at Maracanã to keep the trophy for the second time. Two finals in which Almir confesses that he didn’t enter just to play football, but also to intimidate his opponents. Especially one of them.

“That decision was such a nice thing that made me dream many times about everything that happened. I entered the field willing to do anything and very angry with the guys who, back in Italy, had beaten us a lot. I tried to show that I wasn’t about to joke and then I gave Amarildo a dick. I left sharing balls like a madman. The gringos complained, but I didn’t want to talk. The bigger the gringo, the more I hit”, he recalled.

For the other Santos players who were on the field in those two matches, the two results would not have happened without Almir. He would later confess to having acted under the influence of stimulants and the same would have happened to other alvinegros, a fact never confirmed by any other player.

“O [técnico] Lula could have put Toninho Guerreiro in Pelé’s place. But due to the fact that the matches were at Maracanã and because of the tough nature, he put Almir on and he was right. He was very important”, recalled Pepe.

The attacking midfielder entered the field with a pass from Santos directors, who authorized him to do whatever was necessary for the team to win. Used to rioting even in training because he hated losing more than anything in the world, he didn’t need to hear any more.

His love for fights and hatred for defeats made him create, star in and end one of the greatest battles in the history of Brazilian football. With Flamengo trailing 3-0 in the 1966 Campeonato Carioca final, Almir was sent off by referee Airton Vieira de Moraes. All it took was an incentive not to let things end that peaceful way.

“Get back there, Almir. Put an end to this clowning!” was the cry he heard from someone in the Maracanã stadium.

He turned around and started a historic melee, in which he dealt blows, ran after opponents and ended the game early.

“It had to end that way. Right from the beginning I felt that it wasn’t possible. Goalkeeper Valdomiro was scared, he shouldn’t have entered. Bangu took off and increased the advantage. In that momentum, we were going to take it in stride. I decided to end the match. carnival. Whoever was in front of me, got hit. I kicked, kicked, punched, headbutted. Apart from the insults I said to everyone”, he confessed.

Bangu asked for Almir’s elimination from football on the grounds that he was “an incorrigible cad”.

“About a month after the 1966 final I met Almir. Bangu was in the [aeroporto] Santos Dumont to travel to the Northeast and we met him at the cafeteria. He was half crestfallen, half embarrassed. He said: ‘Wow, what a joke I made. I couldn’t have done any of that.’ People couldn’t get angry with him, want revenge”, adds Cabralzinho, who worked in Bangu.

Seven years later, fat, even more bald and away from football, Almir was at home, next to his wife Eunice, when he accepted an invitation from two friends to go to Bar Jerz. He also couldn’t resist invitations for a beer. Possibly he didn’t have the idea of ​​fighting with anyone in his head. But he fought for the last time.