Futebol Clube Serpa revives great games of the National title of 57/57. Club “plays” its future in training. eight teams with 200 practitioners.
Never has a football game had so much historical significance for a club., a city and a county, like the one that Futebol Clube de Serpa will play against Sporting da Covilhã for the 3rd round of the Portuguese Cup.
in the season of 1956/57, the serpent team was pontificated by the Hungarian coach Josef Fabian and the serpent players Picareta and Coureles and Manolo Vidal, the mythical director of Sporting already deceased, won the title of National Champion of the 3rd Division. Days after this brilliant feat, the Serra da Estrela team came to Serpa to look for the coach and the two players from Alentejo and the following season won the 2nd division title and rose to the top level of Portuguese football.
F.C.Serpa branch and equipment to Porto.
But the history of the Alentejo emblem was not always written in green and white. According to a brochure edited by the club itself, in July 1957, to celebrate the title of National Champion, It became known that Futebol Clube de Serpa was born as a subsidiary of F.C.Porto, influenced by Luís Lobo, a northern man, to date vice-president of the chamber.
In “Jornal de Serpa” in a series of articles entitled “How football was born in Serpa”, under the pseudonym of ANTOJA, António Jacinto Afonso, which would later become one of the guiding bulwarks with a club with António “Cigarilha” described more details about Futebol Clube de Serpa: "Under the technical command of the aforementioned Luís Lobo, and equipping Porto, vertical striped sweater, blue and white and white shorts, Serpa would win the first title of District Champion andm 1947/48, three years after the foundation".
In 1956/57, o F.C.Serpa National Champion of the 3rd Division and also District
According to the brochure edited by the club, there are several historical references to the life of the Left Bank emblem. The first reveals that it was in 1953/54, that “João Diogo Cano, then chairman of the board, showing true love for the club and its land, hired at your expense, some players, valuable reinforcements, who came to join the best the team already had".
Then he says that at that time the Serpent emblem started by winning the District Title and only then played the National Stage, where he would achieve the greatest achievement in his history.
In the District, F.C.Serpa played eight games and achieved as many triumphs, against Aljustrelense, Moorish and Awakening. In the 1st Phase of the National, the Serpent team played 10 games, against São Domingos, Aljustrelense, Lusitano de Vila Real, Lagos and Sambrazense, getting 8 wins, 1 tie (in Vila Real de Santo António and a defeat (3-0 Sao Bras de Alportel). In the 2nd phase, Serpa played 6 games, having as opponents the Lusitano de Vila Real, Estrela de Portalegre and O Elvas, achieving three wins and 3 draws, all in case of opponents. The semi-finals follow and in two games Serpa, having an opponent the Vilafranquense Eagle, get two triumphs. At the final, in Coimbra, with goals from Picareta and Teixeira da Silva, Futebol Clube de Serpa defeats the Trás-os-Montes team of Sport Clube de Vila Real and wins the 3rd Division title.
Josef Fabian, the title coach, but not limited to
Was 1953 who headed to Portugal and Sporting in 1953, but a serious injury, made him end his playing career. Fabian arrived at Futebol Clube de Serpa at the beginning of the 2nd Phase of the National Championship, the most difficult of the competition and led the club to the title.
Before the arrival of Fabian, the serpent emblem was trained by Rana, former “O Elvas e do Benfica” player. The work of the latter was also of great quality and cannot be dissociated from the maximum title.
The "Green Dragon"
There is no reference, if it was influenced by João Diogo Cano or António Jacinto Afonso, that the club colors changed to green and white. However a letter from the latter, dated 27 January 1955, sent to the “Os Belenenses” Football Club and sent from the Serpa Court, gives an account of the finalization of the process of the former serpent player José Torrão Pires. Na missive, in addition to asking for two hundred and sixty-seven escudos and ten cents, for a certificate for the player's Identity Card and Ballot, António Jacinto Afonso shoots: “I take this opportunity to make myself available to Belenenses in this location (despite LION), where I count some friends and two godchildren (the Pires brothers, who by me were nominated for this club)". at this stage of the club, may be the explanation for the change from blue and white to green and white like the colors of Futebol Clube de Serpa.
The most recent life and history
The “White City” club has always lived off the players of its formation (see box: Xavier, World Champion in Riyadh) that were decisive in the district titles conquered and that allowed it to assume itself as one of the most representative clubs in the district.. Over the years the emblem of the “Green Dragon” has always had local players as references and the biggest name is Manuel Baião, whose merit was recognized and immortalized by the Serpa Chamber, which gave its name to the Municipal Sports Complex.
In 2018, an internal convulsion involving the coach and some players, left the club on the edge of the second district, but “the Serpent pride was stronger and with the support of former players and partners and supporters, the boat did not sink in the waters of the Guadiana river”, remember the president.
With the "tidy house", Francisco Picareta, called a former club player, Marco Borges, to coach the main team and after an atypical season because of the covid-19, “we returned to the nationals with great courage, to a new world. This transition can lead the club to the desired stability”, remembering that Serpa “fights for maintenance, in a 2nd phase to four teams, where we play six finals", concluded.
A large part of the team “has carried over from last season and many are the players in the formation. Team B plays in the 2nd District Division and is mostly made up of juniors. the dimension, characterization and stability of the club goes through this aspect", recalling that this season the club has “eight teams, from kids to seniors, with 200 athletes. At the end of the day, the two lawns look more like the beaches of Caparica", shoot Francisco Pickaxe.
Faced with pandemia, the club lives a lot from the support of the Chamber and Parish Council, plus the membership fee and revenue from the games. "We hope that the return to greater normality will allow the holding of events and with the opening of the headquarters (former PSP squad, that belonged to the autarchy), we have more sources of income. We will fight for the club's certification to pass from 2 to 3 stars. We have everything for the Serpa Football Club, be the biggest club in the Alentejo”, concluded.
Identity card
Foundation: 30/06/1945. Local games: Municipal Complex Manuel Baião, Serpa. partners: 350
Honours: 3rd Division National Champion (1956/1957). Titles in A.F.Beja: Senior District Champion (1947/48, 1970/71, 1976/77, 1980/81, 1993/94, 97/98, 2005/06), District Cup (1996/97, 2000/01 and 2011/12), Cup of Honor (1988/89), District Women Champion (2010/11) and District Initiates Champion (2001/02, 04/05
Curiosities
3rd Division National Champion
it was there 64 year old, happened at the time of 1956/57 and, is the highest point in the club's history.. Hungarian coach Josef Fabian, formed a "Dream Team" based on five players from the municipality of Serpa. It was the first club in the Beja district and the third in the Alentejo to win the title.
Xavier, World Champion in Riyadh
the player who in 1985 left Serpa and headed to Benfica, having 1989 conquered the U19 world title is the most notorious point of the serpent “cantera”. In the years 50, Manuel Baião, Pick and Coureles and two decades later Manuel Maria, junior international goalkeeper, noodle, Father, Ballet, Belinha and Rations, among others, are symbols of club formation.
campus
Guarda-redes: Rui Rosindo, Rui Peta and Henrique Soares. defenses: João Veiga, David Prata, Brenner, Diogo Petiz, Rodrigo and Carlos Daniel. average: John Grace, André Garcias, Diogo Conceição António Infante, João Malagueta, Luís Soudo and Marquinhos. advanced: Iaquinta, Rui Oca, Jorge Raposo, Luiz Henrique, John Michael, José Villao and Tiago Floreano.
Technical team: Marcos Borges (coach) Duarte Galego and Belinha Piçarra (attachments). President: Francisco Picareta sports director: Jose Fernando
Figure
Francisco Picareta (Chairman of the Board, 45 year old)
Three years ago, he assumed the presidency in one of the most complicated moments in the life of F.C.Serpa. The civil engineer gave stability to the club, he assumed training as decisive and the future is to “keep the team at Nacional and then move up step by step. Or title of 1956/57 it will not always be an eternal and glorious achievement”, refers Francisco, family of pickaxe, who gave the greatest achievement to the club.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
