3 July 1931: The Rulebook That Forbade Winning

WHY THIS ARTICLE

The triple fight of July 1931 passes for the proof of jiu-jitsu’s superiority. The analysis of the rulebook demonstrates the opposite: a configuration where, structurally, the capoeira cannot win. It is the central piece of the “defeats” file — and a lesson on what rules do to sporting truths.

The “best of the best”

Announced as early as May, fought on 3 July 1931 at the Botafogo F.C. field, the three fights unleash the press: the capoeiras are “the best and most perfect of the most perfect and best who ever existed in all times in Brazil.” The emphasis sells tickets, but the quality of the men is real. Members of the national Navy, trained at the academy of Jayme Martins Ferreira, they are saluted by the best expert of the time, Raul Pederneiras: “Manuel Tito Fereira, the Mané, of educated muscles and enviable dexterity; Eduardo José de Sant’Anna, the Colonel, well-proportioned of body and very agile; Oséas, very calm and smiling […]; Antonio Fereira de Menezes, the Bald, supple and light, skilful — the four rivalling in lightness of blows and promptness of defences.”

The rulebook, article by article

Now read the rules under which these men climbed: The falls do not count — “the capoeira could make his adversary fall as many times as he liked, the latter was not declared beaten unless he stayed on the ground more than ten seconds.” Blows to the face are forbidden. The space: “a ring of six square metres, with parquet on the floor, thus without a mat to cushion the falls.” The dress: kimono for the jiu-jitsu teachers, reinforced linen garments for the capoeiras — but “if the clothes worn by one of the capoeiras tore, it was foreseen that they be immediately replaced by a kimono, as the jiu-jitsu teachers had demanded.”

Do the calculation with the thesis: to win, one had to submit or knock out. Now “capoeira possessed, nor does it possess today, submission techniques” — and the knock-out passed through the face, forbidden. As for the game’s queen weapon, the provoked fall, it was regulatorily null. “Even if the capoeira made his adversary fall ten, twenty or thirty times, the latter was not declared beaten.” Only one option remained: “to wait for them to apply their attacks against them.” An amateur wrote to the paper A Noite three days later, with the good sense of the practitioner: “For capoeira, provided it is not armed, there are no prohibited blows: the capoeira excels first in not letting himself be caught — using for that his skill alone and seeking, with a ‘step’ of capoeiragem, to unbalance and make his adversary fall! Ask yourself: can there be a rulebook for that?”

Three fights, a tumult

The results conformed to the structure. George Gracie against the Colonel: the Gracie gives a punch to the face — forbidden — and it is… he who is declared loser by disqualification, pronounced with fair play by Jayme Martins Ferreira himself, director of the capoeira academy, against his own camp. Mané, scissored at the kidneys by the legs of Oswaldo Gracie, taps three times. Reynaldo, submitted by an arm lock — “the only capoeira presented who offered a little resistance,” handicapped by a head wound from the start. Three verdicts in the first round, where the press had promised fights “real, ferocious and violent.” “The spectacle ended in the tumult of the most excited spectators, who did not conform to the final decision.” Less than the defeat, “it was the feeling of having attended non-fights that provoked the anger.”

Had they even read the contract?

The thesis poses the question no one had posed: had the capoeiras accepted these rules knowingly? “The capoeiras were certainly part of that majority of illiterate Brazilians, estimated at nearly 80% of the total population during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Perhaps they understood the rulebook only once on the ring — otherwise why would one of them have struck his adversary in the face knowing this technique forbidden?” A written contract opposed to men who could not read it: the defeat of 3 July 1931 begins there — well before the first round.

SOURCES

National Library of Brazil: “Entre a capoeiragem e o jiu-jitzu,” A Batalha, 30 May 1931; “Jiu-jitsu contra capoeiras,” Correio da Manhã, 30 June 1931; “Os espectaculos de hontem no campo do Botafogo F.C.,” Diario de Noticias, 4 July 1931; “Os lutadores de jiu-jitsu venceram os capoeiras,” Correio da Manhã, 4 July 1931; “Jiu-jitsu x capoeira,” A Noite, 6 July 1931. — Malo, O., La capoeira et les arts de combat noirs : histoire effacée, techniques invisibles (1905–1984), doctoral thesis, Université des Antilles, 2020, Part II, chap. A.2.

IN THE CORPUS

→ Rewriting 1 May: The Counter-Legend of the “Moleque Cyrillo”

→ “I Am Still Not Convinced”: The Colonel’s Reply

→ Jayme Martins Ferreira, the Champion Who Disqualified His Own Protégé

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE

MALO, Olivier. 3 July 1931: The Rulebook That Forbade Winning. In: Black Combat Arts Institute — Articles [online]. No. 47. 2026 [accessed date]. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/articles/3-july-1931-the-rulebook-that-forbade-winning. Adapted from the author's doctoral thesis, Université des Antilles, 2020.