The week illustrated. - No. 1, 26 May 1927 (1927-05-26)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
In the journalistic field of the 1920s,
a free press, where all and any modern and fashionable subject could be and was discussed, allowed the proliferation of newspapers and magazines of all kinds.
Record - All Sports - Nº 1 (1927-11-19)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
A large number of new sports publications (166)
appears in several cities of Portugal. This finally gave a national and popular dimension to the phenomenon of sport and sports journalism. They were characterized by the low duration of much of the publications, many not spending a few numbers or even just one!
Penalty Kick, for example, only had a number and weekly magazine the Eco Sportivo, directed by Abel Moreau, did not go from ten numbers. He dedicated particular attention to football, especially to the Lisbon Championship, and Boxing.
Periodical O Sport de Lisboa n. 481 (1922-11-25)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
Despite chronic fugacity,
three periodicals consolidated sports journalism in the country's two main urban centers: Sport de Lisboa (1915-1934) and Os Sports (1919-1945) dominated the Lisbon panorama. In Porto, the longed consolidation was achieved, thanks mainly to the quality and longevity of Sporting magazine (1921-1951).
"Sport". Movie theater . Theater - # 1, 1 January 1927 (1927)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
Some quality journals illuminated the decade, managing to keep in publication for more than a year or two.
Football: Sports Magazine Illustrated - # 1 (1920-01-24)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
Dominant magazine in the panorama of sports journalism Lisbon in the early 1920s, the Football magazine was owned by five former students of the house of Lisbon.
Football maintained a regular activity until the number 115 of July 15, 1922, and defined in its editorial line the phrase published in the header: «The good and evil will be said: the good without adulation; evil without sourness; And all without partiality.»
[Equestrian]. Hunting and Sports, nº 20 (1924-06)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
In 1924, the Monthly Caça & Sports (hunting) magazine appeared, launched by Casa Moura Bastos and Pina. It was highlighted by the illustrated covers of Almeida Cocket.
António Ribeiro dos Reis. Echo of Sports, nº 1 (1926-03-07)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
Innovative
Aimed at an adult audience and appreciator of good sports journalism illustrated, would be Eco dos Sports magazine, whose first number brought in the cover the photograph, retouched by color, a smiling Ribeiro dos Reis, one of the main figures of Portuguese football from the 1920s.
National Football Team. Echo of Sports, nº 7 (1926-04-18)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
The magazine quickly won the readers, mainly due to the magnificent sports covers and photographs that started to publish, especially on the central pages.
Sports diary
In a scenario of growth of the sporty press, it was a sporty diary, such as other countries in Europe. This happened in 1924 with Diário de Sport, which managed to publish 63 numbers.
The Newspaper Seller - # 1 (1924)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
Here's a 'fresh' newspaper!!!!!
The Vendedores de Jornais Foot-ball Club was founded in February 1921, on the initiative of a bunch of rrdina, to support young newspaper sellers who distributed the news, walked by bus and tram, and often had nowhere to sleep.
The Foot-Ball Club influenced the national midfield athletics and between January 1 and May 11, 1924 would be a journal (14 figures), directed by Armando Dias.
Club Informational Organs
The Boletim do Sporting Clube de Portugal (a bulletin) was a club's informational party that would mark the 1920s and the following decades while maintaining publication throughout the twentieth century. For sale on March 31, 1922, it would be «exclusively intended for propaganda between partners».
Sport Lisboa and Benfica. Official Bulletin. - No. 1 (1927-03)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
Sport Lisboa and Benfica: Official Bulletin was published in Lisbon, beginning in 1927, under the edition of Sport Lisboa and Benfica itself.
Sports biographies
They were in vogue at this time due to the need to create heroes, generators of hope in the breast of an increasingly disillusioned society, as was Portuguese.
The magazines dedicated to sports photography
They were a novelty at that time.
Like the Sport Ilustrado (illustrated magazine)...
Foto-Sport Periodical - fortnightly magazine, no. 15 (1925-04-15)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
... or Foto-Sport (photography magazine).
Specialized publications
Automotive, expanding mode in Portugal, was at the origin of several specialized publications. O Volante (The steering wheel), founded in 1926, would become one of the most important securities of the Portuguese automotive journalism of the twentieth century, with publication until 1971.
By the end of the 1920s, some press insisted on physical education as an instrument to socialize and control the working classes, allowing to improve the physical and moral capacities of the nation.
«O Az». Portuguese Sports Magazine (1929-07-28)National Sports Museum - IPDJ
At the end of the decade emerges O AZ (ace), a large quality magazine, which would be regularly published during 66 editions, until 19 January 1930.
In the farewell editorial I was regretted the Portuguese press to be living «a district time» ...
... victim of the high rates of the paper caused by the «new customs guidelines by mr. dr. O. Salazar», which were a «vibrating death in the small press, precisely in that which does not receive subsidies or policy healing, because it does not matter».
The press was one of the factors that most contributed for sports to begin to be part of the lives of the Portuguese more regularly.
The National Sport Library has a vast collection of sporting journals, including many number 1 editions.
Continue to visit
You have finished the visit to the 2nd part of the exhibition dedicated to the 1920's. Follow to the next.
Part 1: History and Physical Education
Part 3: Associativism
Part 4: Portugal in the Olympics
Part 5: Aviation
Exhibition «The 1920s - Part 2: Sports Journals»
Original version - 2022
Curatorship and Contents: National Sports Museum
Sources and excerpts:
"History of the Portuguese Sports Periodical Press (1875-2000)", by Francisco Pinheiro (PhD dissertation - University of Évora, 2009)
Note: The exhibition was developed based on the selection of the Museum's assets
