The Botafogo anthem, sung in the stands of the Nilton Santos Stadium, originated from a challenge in the 1940s that was initially not well received by the club's management. The Glorious was not the only one to receive gifts from Lamartine Babo. The composer also wrote national anthems for other teams participating in the Rio de Janeiro League A. The BRG365! Let's learn about the story below.
The lyrics of the Botafogo anthem are as follows:
Check out the lyrics of the Botafogo anthem:
"Botafogo Gentil!
Pure Glory of Brazilian sports
The most virile expression
Of true energy and spirit!
To fight with zeal
You will make, correcting the youth,
That Brazil of tomorrow
Be the homeland of strength and health
Your future and your past
Defended without rest
Always make respected
This your glorious name!
Origin of the Botafogo Anthem
"Botafogo, Botafogo / Champion since 1910...". This famous Botafogo anthem was composed by Lamartine Babo in 1946 and still echoes in the stands today. It was the result of a challenge issued by presenter Heber de Boscoli on the show "Trem da Alegria", where he suggested that Babo compose an anthem that the Rio de Janeiro club could sing every week.
These compositions were released on vinyl and titled marches. The "Marcha do Botafogo" was recorded on the same album as the "Marcha do Olaria", featuring singer Nuno Roland and orchestra. In the early 1940s, Lamartine Babo had already created anthems for all 11 clubs participating in the Carioca Championship.
Lamartine Babo wanted to highlight the black-and-white glory at the beginning of the piece. After an unforgettable season in the Carioca Championship, where Botafogo achieved 9 wins in 10 matches, scored 66 goals, and conceded only 9, he turned to the 1910 Carioca champion. Botafogo earned the nickname "Glorious".
However, the "Marcha do Botafogo" faced institutional rejection.
Internally within the club, the president, directors, and members preferred to maintain the official march of the Botafogo football club, composed by Octacílio Gomes and Eduardo Souto. All this was because Lamartine wrote "Botafogo, Botafogo / Champion of 1910" in the composition of the march, which made some internal groups within the club uncomfortable, as they felt offended by the alleged intention of the composer to "erase the club's ancient glories".
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However, the march was very well received in the stands. With Lamartine Babo's success on the radio, the march began to gain popularity and all the club's supporters adopted it as the official song. In August 1959, Tazão, who was responsible for the Botafogo supporters at the time, promised in an interview with the newspaper "Diário Carioca" that before the match against Vasco, the Botafogo march, the Garrincha march, and if they won the classic, "Uma Casa Portuguesa," a song by Amália Rodrigues, would be played to irritate the Vasco supporters.
Champion since 1907
Over the years, the black-and-white supporters of Botafogo adopted a new version of the anthem. Many began to sing the first verse with "Champion since 1907", referring to the Carioca title they shared with Fluminense that year due to a controversy at the end of the Carioca Championship.
At that time, Botafogo and Fluminense finished with the same score, but Fluminense won the title due to a better goal difference. Botafogo did not accept this and requested a decisive match to determine the winner of the trophy. As there was no extra match or final decision, this situation was only resolved in 1996, when Eduardo Viana, who was the president of the Football Federation of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FERJ) at the time, officially declared that both clubs were champions in 1907.
You can't miss it... never!
In recent years, more precisely in the last decade, some of the black-and-white Botafogo supporters have added a phrase in the middle of the anthem. When they sing "You can't lose, to anyone," the supporters shout in unison the word "NEVER," to reinforce the idea that the club cannot be defeated under any circumstances.
However, the fans' practice is not unanimous. While some accept this chant, others completely reject it, as this alteration changes the structure of the song and also resulted in Botafogo supporters singing the anthem less often in the stadium, precisely because of this change in structure.
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"I have nothing against 'never' in the anthem. In fact, I think it's a silly discussion. It's something natural, not forced, so I accept it calmly. I think what is more concerning is that supporters sing the anthem much less often. We should sing more. This is much more important than this discussion." - said Marcelo Manoel, a Botafogo supporter.
"The intention of adding 'never' was to reinforce, but if Lamartine Babo were alive, he would be upset because this destroys the anthem's structure. Whenever 'never' is shouted loudly, the phrase 'in other sports' becomes much quieter and disrupts the order... In my opinion, the anthem's lyrics can change; we changed from 1910 to 1907, but for me, 'never' is killing the anthem in the stands." - said Heitor Carneiro, a Botafogo supporter.
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