Sports, health, and banking: soccer in the lives of bank workers in São Paulo, 1929-1932

Abstract

This study investigates how soccer was part of the lives of bank workers in the city of São Paulo between 1929 and 1932, looking at who these workers were and the meaning they attributed to sports in the Banking Athletic Sports League (Liga Bancária de Esportes Atléticos). Sources included reports, documents, and publications of the São Paulo State Bank Employees' Association. Reflections on "class" and "class culture," the concept of "experience," and the notion of "middle class" were all utilized in analyzing the sources, and revealed variations in representations of sports and soccer among these employees.