Southampton's Charles 'Nipper' Miller took football to Brazil in 1894

Hampshire has links with many individuals who have had an impact on the football world over the years, but perhaps none more so than Charles William Miller.

In 1894 “Nipper” Miller left Southampton with a football, a pair of boots and a book of rules, and headed for South America to inspire a passion for the game that has never faded.

Charles 'Nipper' Miller

Brazil, the country now so synonymous with football, amazingly didn’t even play the game until little more than 120 years ago and it was Nipper, having learnt to play in Southampton, who started the revolution.

Charles Miller was born on November 24, 1874, in Sao Paulo to a Brazilian mother of English descent, Carlota Fox, and a Scottish father, John, who along with 3,000 other British workers had gone to South America to work on a major railway construction project.

In 1884 Miller, then aged nine, was sent to England to be educated at Banister Court in Southampton, and his name can be found on the school’s 1891 census return, as a boarder.

Banister Court was a small private school founded by the Rev George Ellaby, initially to offer education to the sons of Peninsular Steam Navigation Company captains.

By the time Nipper arrived, it was being run by George’s son, Christopher Ellaby, a keen footballer who had captained his college team during his time at Oxford. The new headmaster was quick to pass on this enthusiasm to his pupils.

After Christopher Ellaby’s retirement in 1927, Banister Court closed down and was later demolished.

Charles Miller

Being a skilled athlete, Miller took to this new game of football instantly and soon became captain of the school team. Being slightly built he earned himself the nickname Nipper, but his size didn’t stop him becoming a prolific centre forward and sprightly winger.

A school report at the time described him as “our best forward”

and “a wonderfully quick dribbler and consistent kicker”.

Miller scored 45 goals in just 34 matches, which earned him places in the St Mary’s side, which later became Southampton Football Club, Hampshire and Corinthians.

First league When he eventually returned to Brazil in 1894, he couldn’t stand the thought of leaving his beloved football behind, so he took it with him, together with a ball, a pair of boots and a copy of the rulebook.

Since the day he arrived back in Sao Paulo, he made it his mission to teach the country the sport he loved.

Developing new rules for the game among the community in Sao Paulo, he was involved in setting up Sao Paulo Athletic Club (SPAC) and the Liga Paulista, Brazil’s first football league.

His days in Southampton gave Miller an advantage over the other less experienced players, and with him as striker, SPAC won the first three league titles from 1902 to 1904.

Throughout his life Miller maintained close ties with English football with teams from Southampton and Corinthians Club travelling to Brazil to play against SPAC and other sides in Sao Paulo.

After a Corinthians tour in 1910, a new team in Brazil adopted the name of Corinthians after a suggestion from Miller, and this team still exists in Brazil’s top division today.

Charles Miller died on June 30, 1953, having seen Brazil host its first World Cup in 1950.

It was not until 1958 that the country won the first of its five titles, but Charles Miller had the satisfaction of seeing the amazing growth of the sport he himself introduced just half a century earlier.

Tomorrow night the Brazilian side takes on Croatia in the first game of the World Cup.

Hampshire football fans can be proud to know that without “Nipper” Miller, who learnt his trade in Southampton, Brazil might not have been there at all.