Internacional Porto Alegre

Description:

The football club known as Sport Club Internacional were founded on April 4, 1909 under the leadership of three brothers from São Paulo - José, Luiz e Henrique Poppe. The brothers had arrived in Porto Alegre a year earlier and had tried to join other local clubs, including the well-established Grêmio. The brothers were rejected because they were newcomers to the area and they deliberately formed a club with no discrimination based on race, religion or class - a rarity at the time.

In São Paulo Henrique Poppe had played with a club called Sport Club Internacional and this team's name was the inspiration for the one formed in Porto Alegre. As mentioned they were intentionally open to members of all race and social class and had no specific ethnic origin, unlike many other Brazilian clubs of the era - Vasco da Gama, Palestra Italia (later Palmeiras) to name just two. The name Internacional was symbolic of this.

During the Second World War Brazil aligned itself with the Allies and against the Axis countries of Germany and Italy among others. A number of clubs with German or Italian origins were forced to change their names and membership regulations. Inter's arch-rivals Grêmio (with German roots) were apparently involved in planting rumors that Inter Porto Alegre's name was inspired by Internazionale of Milan as a means of discrediting them. Although there is no truth to the story the rumor stuck and is still widely reported (including by Albion Road until very recently!).

Estádio José Pinheiro Borda - Beira-Rio:

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