The transformations of the city and the expansion of football in Montevideo (1870-1900)

Abstract

The practice of football began in Uruguay during the second half of the 19th century within the British community of Montevideo. Initially, it was practiced by a social elite, with a strong gender bias (male sport, for men) and of English origin and their descendants. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, football underwent a rapid process of local adaptation from the elites to the rest of the population in a cascade fashion, achieving rapid popularisation in the Uruguayan capital. The purpose of this work is to analyse the relationships between adaptation and popularization of sport (specifically football) and the demographic and urban transformations of the city of Montevideo during the second half of the 19th century. The work concludes by showing how social, demographic and urban changes facilitated the expansion of football throughout the city of Montevideo.