|
One
Of The Many Fables Regarding Our Nickname
People have
often asked Cowdenbeath supporters how Cowden got
the nickname ‘The Blue Brazil’,
we have researched this phenomenon and have found
an amazing story behind the name...
Years ago,
Fife was the leading light in the coal mining industry.
For those people that are of an age not to know
what a miner is, then this was a man that burrowed
in the ground and extracted a rare mineral which
was sold on to rich people who set fire to it for
there own comfort. As Cowdenbeath was, at that time,
surrounded by several of mines one of which stood
right next to Central Park (The No. 7 pit) Cowden
became known as ‘The Miners’.
The majority
of the Fife populace, including football players
from the majority of senior Scottish football clubs,
were involved in coal mining in some form and the
men used to earn a pittance as a basic wage. This
pittance was boosted by bonuses for achieving target
volumes that had been set by the mine management;
it therefore was financially beneficial for workers
to constantly mine further and further into the
bowels of the earth. At the time of one of the early
recessions (about 1891) when miners were paid based
on the number of tons produced, one of the No.7
mine shafts came through on the surface. At first
the miners had thought they had tunneled over to
Edinburgh when they saw the strange clothing that
the locals were wearing, this was also down to the
fact that they could hardly understand a word that
they were saying. What they had actually done was
to dig a mineshaft across the globe to a small shantytown
just south of Rio De Janeiro.
When the men
emerged from the pit, the locals of the area thought
that they were demons and fled leaving a group of
young men, who had failed to notice the occurrence,
playing football. Following their long journey,
the miners (about a dozen or so) sat down and had
their tea break. Flasks were opened and sandwiches
were consumed with some of this veritable banquet
being shared with the local footballers. An immediate
friendship was established and a challenge match
was played. Some of the local lads impressed a couple
of the miners, who were Cowden players at the time,
and they immediately informed their manager who
was a face worker on another shaft. The Cowden boss
took one look at the gifted youngsters and decided
to get them to play for Cowden in their last league
match of the season against Dunfermline which Dunfermline
had to win to become league champions. The only
problem that he had was to get them signed and registered
before the game. The registration was refused on
the grounds that they would be classed as illegal
aliens.
The boss was
not to be denied though and on the Saturday, three
of the ‘new signings’ took the field for
Cowden. When the Cowden captain was asked by the
referee who the new players were, he replied "These
are regular players who have just finished a shift
down the pit and didn’t have the time to have
a bath before the match!" The referee allowed
play to proceed and Cowden ran out 11-1 winners
with the 3 ‘trialists’ claiming all the
goals. The Cowdenbeath community hailed these 3
lads as heroes and as they didn’t know their
names they were christened ‘The Blue
Brazilians’.
This nickname
has never left the team who failed to retain the
services of the ‘Rio Trio’ as they felt
it was too cold to play ‘beautiful football’
in Scotland and returned to a sunnier climate to
sign for Brazilian champions Santos. Although they
stayed but a short while, their impact was immediate
and the 11-1 result against the Townies is to this
day a club record and they also left us with a nickname
which is known throughout Scottish football - THE
BLUE BRAZIL.
And
that is a true story!
|
