The group used to gather at Café Lamas, in the Flamengo neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, and decided to form a rowing team. Rowing was the elite sport in Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century. The young men hoped that forming a rowing club, would make them popular, with the young ladies of the city's high society.
They could only afford a used boat named "Pherusa", which had to be completely rebuilt before it could be used in competition. The team debuted on October 6, 1895 when they sailed off the Caju Point, from the Maria Angu beach, heading off to Flamengo beach. However, strong winds turned over the boat and the rowers nearly drowned. They were rescued by a fishing boat named Leal ("Loyal"). Afterwards, as the Pherusa was undergoing repairs, the boat was stolen and never again found. The group then had to save up money to buy a new boat, the "Etoile", renamed "Scyra".
On the night of November 17, the group, gathered at Nestor de Barros's manor on Flamengo beach, founded the Flamengo Rowing Group ("Grupo de Regatas do Flamengo", in Portuguese) and elected its first board and president (Domingos Marques de Azevedo). The name was changed a few weeks later to "Clube de Regatas do Flamengo" ("Flamengo Rowing Club"). The founders also decided that the anniversary of the club foundation should be celebrated on November 15, so as to coincide with the Day of the Republic, a national holiday.
Flamengo only embraced football when a group of dissatisfied players from Fluminense Football Club broke away from the club following a dispute with the board. The players (Alberto Borghert, Othon de Figueiredo Baena, Píndaro de Carvalho Rodrigues, Emmanuel Augusto Nery, Ernesto Amarante, Armando de Almeida, Orlando Sampaio Matos, Gustavo Adolpho de Carvalho, Lawrence Andrews and Arnaldo Machado Guimarães) decided to join Flamengo because Borgeth, who was the team's captain, was also a rower for Flamengo. Admittance of the new members was approved on November 8, 1911. A motion against the club taking part in football tournaments was defeated, and the members assembly officially created the football team on December 24, 1911.
The new team used to train on Russel beach, and gradually gained the support of the locals, who closely watched their practice games. The first official match was played on May 3, 1912 and is, to this day, the most spectacular victory of the club, as the team defeated Mangueira 16 to 2. The first intracity rivalry, the Flamengo vs. Fluminense aka Fla-Flu was Fla-Flu (which would eventually become one of the most famous football derbies in the world) was also played in that year, on July 7, and was won by Fluminense, by 3–2.
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