Parque Antártica, the green Brazilian hell
[photo=SEPmini.jpg id=76 align=right]The Parque Antártica is a 32,000 seat stadium located with in a magnificent sporting complex in the Western zone of São Paulo, which home’s Societá Sportiva Palestra Itália, better known as Palmeiras. The Verdão – nickname of the Paulist club – was founded on August 26th 1914 on the impulse of four men, Ezequiel de Simone (the first co president of the club with Augusto Vacari), Luigi Cervo, Luigi Emanuelle Marzo and Vicenzo Ragognetti who wanted to create a club to represent the strong Italian colony present at São Paulo.
The unusual characteristic of this legendary stadium is to have a space of 4 meters separating the rival supporters, often useful in Brazil; this makes Park Antartica one of the more secure of Brazil’s stadia.
The neighbouring buildings get an unspoilt view on the stage that benefits every weekend the lucky residents of Rua Turiassú. The beauty of the trees and plants surrounding the ground often gives the stadium the nickname of “Hanging gardens".
Parque Antártica held its first ‘Classico’ game on June 22th 1913 between Corinthians with Santos, with a 6-3 final score for the Santista. Five months after the stadiums foundation, on January 25th 1915 Palestra Itália played their first game, winning 2 – 0 against Savóia, another club with a strong Italian background, based in the district of Sorocaba, with striker, Bianco, scoring from the penalty spot.
During this same year, Palestra Itália played five other games finishing with four defeats and one draw. On April 27th 1920, the Company Antartica Paulista decided to sell the stadium to Palmeiras. After much work, the second inauguration took place on August 13th 1933 with a game between Palmeiras and Bangu which finished with a 6-0 victory against the Rio side.
[photo=timemini.JPG id=76 align=left]Parque Antártica played host to the Brazilian national team for the first time on October 22nd 1922 during the Copa Roca, won 2-1 against Argentina. In 1933, the Verdão gained the first Rio-São Paulo Tournament in front of São Paulo FC, and inflicted the largest defeat during their game against Corinthians, 8-0, with a quadruplet from Romeu Pellicciari.
In 1942, under the dictatorship of Getulio Vargas, Brazil entered WW2 on the sides of Allies and the name of Palestra Itália disappeared only to reappear in 1958 at the time of the visit of the Italian President Mr. Giovanni Gronchi.
The record attendance at the ground occurred on August 18th 1976 with 35,913 fans coming to attend the game between Palmeiras and XV de Novembro.
On 16 June 1999, under the presidency of Mustafa Contursi Goffar Majzoub and the control of Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Parque Antártica had its biggest night with an unforgettable victory in the Copa Libertadores 2-1 for the Verdão against the Colombian team of Deportivo Cali.
An extraordinary noise erupted in the green cauldron after Oséas’s goal in the 76th minute, which still rings around today.
Today President Affonso Della Monica Netto tries to preserve the strong Italian culture with in the club and the Verdão stars of yester-years like Ademir da Guia and Dudu, take their seats in the grandstands every weekend giving thanks to the stadium that made them world famous.
Recommended links:
The stadium pictures taken at the time of our travel to Brazil
The Parque Antártica in details
Palmeiras: Italian origin, Brazilian success
