Exeter businessman Martin McGahey is preparing to fly down to Rio for Exeter City's big game against Brazil. Here is his latest report on the build-up
WE know little of what preparation there was before the original tour in 1914. What we do know is that all the team were kitted out in lounge suits, donated by a group of Exeter City supporters for evening dinners aboard the first class liner the SS Andes.
Many of the players came from very modest industrial backgrounds and the wearing of a suit must have been very strange for them.
The two teams, a century apart have striking differences in their make up. The school leaving age in 1914 was just 12, so most footballers went to work before getting professional football contracts in their late teens. The majority of the 1914 squad came from great industrial backgrounds – Fort and Laga, coal miners, Lovett, Holt, Goodwin and Rigby, cotton workers, and Hunter, shipbuilding.
The two local lads were exceptions with good Devon jobs, Pym, fishing, and Loram, farming.
There was no one in the 1914 squad aged under 21, with the oldest being Jimmy Rigby, 31.
In comparison, many of the 2014 tourists are local lads born, brought up and schooled in Devon or in fact in Exeter, with the goalkeeper Christy Pym, Bramdean School, and midfielder Matt Grimes, St Peters.
Most Exeter players will have moved from school straight to the club's football academy, which includes courses at Exeter College.
David Wheeler has a university degree, while others like Pat Baldwin are studying degrees while playing.
The current City team is a young one, with the average age being under 21.
For our match at Laranjeiras on July 20, we will have a total of 158 fans travelling officially to Brazil for the game.
The number of fans reflects the wonderful support the club enjoys and with the advent of modern technology the party has discussed on a Google group many topics. They include the best buys in currency, travel adaptors, the choice of local beers and prices, advice on some of the possible excursions and how to keep safe on the streets.
The time before our departure from Heathrow to Lisbon for the first leg of the journey to Rio is rapidly shrinking.
Within that time we have the launch of Aidan Hamilton's book Have You Ever Played Brazil? and the first night of the play The Day We Played Brazil.
Nick Stimson, its writer, says it is the story of Exeter past and present. An Exeter to celebrate and to be proud of. Not just a football story, but a tale of love and hope, the heart of this great city. It really tells a story of Exeter for non football fans as much football fans. At the time, and despite their relatively low profile back home, the 1914, Exeter visiting team were given star treatment in Rio de Janeiro and generated a great deal of excitement. In the official written history of A Seleção, it says: "Thousands of people would wait hours on end outside the Hotel dos Estrangeiros, the swankiest in the city, where the English delegation was staying, in the hope of seeing the British players. Such was the fuss that surrounded Exeter's visit that the owner of a bar close to the hotel even auctioned off the chairs, table and glasses used by the players on a brief refreshment stop there."
It will be great to be there and see, after all the drama of the world cup, If the Exeter team and supporters can produce a similar stir in Rio.
Don't miss Martin's first dispatch from Brazil next week.
