Michael Jackson and Brazil on our Doorstep!

Who knew the Brazilian national team and Michael Jackson had such close ties with Exeter City FC!

Brazil Exeter City fc football Michael Jackson
3pm approaches on a Saturday afternoon and the students who live up and down Vic Street hear the chants of the Exeter City supporters as they cheer their team on to another match in League One.
 
It is surprising how much noise 4,000 supporters can make, and I often wish that I hadn’t been so stingy and bought a ticket to see the game, rather than refreshing BBC Sport on my Internet browser.
 
This season Liverpool visited St James Park: in 2005 Manchester United made the journey south and Cristiano Ronaldo set Exeter alight with a fine performance in a 3-0 win. Rumours of him appearing in Timepiece were unfortunately untrue, but the fact that one of the world’s greatest players played their football on our doorstep is extraordinary.
 
Yet this is just the start of the story, because more famous faces have graced the St James Park turf, and more are expected to follow.
 
Roll back almost a hundred years; how many of you knew that the Brazilian national team played their first ever game against Exeter City? So it was held in Buenos Aires and not Exeter, but even so it is a claim to fame for most Grecian fans who can argue they helped produce the world’ s greatest footballing nation.
 
Played before just 6000 fans, the score from that afternoon is still heavily disputed, with some sources claiming a 2-0 victory for Brazil and others a 3-3 draw.
 
More importantly to us students however, City representatives flew over to Rio De Janerio just a couple of weeks back to discuss the possibility of a centenary match between the two teams.
 
The 100th anniversary of the Brazilian national team is fast approaching and I, like many of you, are praying that the Brazilian side travel over here this time so we can clamber into St James Park to watch some of the world’s greatest. I’ll certainly be forking out £20 to see that.

As if this wasn’t enough, Michael Jackson, (before you ask: not a tribute act or a lookalike) was made an honorary director of Exeter City in June 2002, and walked onto the pitch to greet the fans.

Why he decided to became a director of the club, and what his affiliation was with Exeter, we will probably never know. But to have one of the most iconic celebrities in history play a part in a club so near to the student population is amazing.

Unfortunately he didn’t sing, but it well worth watching the Youtube clip just to confirm with your own eyes that he actually visited St James Park!