Футбол в Понта-Делгада: История и развитие

Governing body for association football and futsal in Ponta Delgada

The Ponta Delgada Football Association (Associação de Futebol de Ponta Delgada) is the governing body for association football and futsal competitions in the Portuguese former district of Ponta Delgada. This organization regulates football in the Azorean islands of São Miguel and Santa Maria.

The foundation of the Football Association began with the growth of many social and cultural institutes and organizations, unrelated to organized sport. One was the Ateneu Comercial de Ponta Delgada (Commercial Athenaeum of Ponta Delgada) at the edge of celebrating its first century of existence, and that inherited a voluminous and well elaborated place in the society and culture. The Associação de Socorros Mútuos União e Trabalho which began in the last century, and helped to motivate public training, that formed schools, including one in Lagoa. Both groups consisted of the early pioneers of football to the island: Rolando de Viveiros, Marquês de Jácome Correia, Weber Tavares, Edgardo Garcia and Alfredo Pinto, along with other locals, José de Carvalho, António Botelho da Câmara, José Morais Pereira, Padre James Machin (do Colégio Fisher), Raul Pregadeiro, Alberto Morais de Carvalho, Martiniano da Silva, Ernesto Pinto, Guilherme Machado de Faria e Maia, Manuel da Silva, Joaquim Correia e Silva, among others. Dr. Aristides Moreira da Mota, João de Morais Pereira and João José de Viveiros occupied the positions of leaders, thus stimulating, with the prestige of his name and his age, the sporting initiative. At end of the 19th and early 20th century, the newspapers, and specifically the paper A Persusão, directed by Francisco Maria Supico, celebrated the achievements of several organizations. But, it was just after the First World War, that football began to be practiced regularly, such as the Mata do Doca, where stationed North American forces during the war could be found, increasing local commerce.