José Travassos and the Cinco Violinos, Sporting's forward line

On 13 February 2002 the Sporting family said goodbye to José Travassos with a strong, emotional round of applause. He had died in Lisbon the day before, on a Tuesday, ten days short of his 76th birthday. Hilário, who had played alongside him, told the sports paper Record that Travassos “left us without a single enemy”.2 sources2 sources

Travassos had been retired for more than 40 years. People still knew him as one of the Cinco Violinos, the Five Violins, the forward line that won three league titles in a row for Sporting in the late 1940s. Older fans also knew him as “Zé da Europa”, Europe's Joe, a nickname he earned in Belfast in 1955.2 sources2 sources

Of the five, Fernando Peyroteo had died in 1978 and Albano in 1990. Vasques and Jesus Correia, the last two, both died in 2003.2 sources2 sources

Portugal's national league was young. An experimental league began in 1934/35, and the official first division, whose winners were national champions, only started in 1938/39. Before that the title of Champion of Portugal went to the winner of a knockout cup.1 source1 source

Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded in Lisbon in 1906, won its first two national league titles in 1940/41 and 1943/44. Both came under Joseph Szabo, a Hungarian who had first come to Portugal as a player in 1926. He coached Sporting for 11 seasons in all and is still the club's coach with the most games, 299, and the most trophies, 12.3 sources3 sources

Szabo trained his players hard and fined those who came late. He brought Jesus Correia from Paço de Arcos to the club, and he gave the young centre forward Peyroteo extra coaching sessions. When a skinny 13-year-old called José Travassos came for a trial, Szabo sent him home. Club tradition says the boy was told to eat more cod and potatoes.4 sources4 sources

Teams of the 1940s attacked with five forwards in a row: two wingers, two inside forwards and a centre forward. Sporting's line had Jesus Correia on the right wing, Peyroteo in the centre, Travassos at inside left and Albano on the left wing, with Vasques completing it. The journalist and coach Tavares da Silva called them the Five Violins because they played like an orchestra.2 sources2 sources

Travassos was born on 22 February 1926 at the Quinta do Lumiar in Lisbon, where Sporting then had its ground. Sporting's website gives his birth year as 1922, but Lisbon City Council, Mais Futebol and his age at death all point to 1926. He went to work at 16 in the shipyards of CUF (Companhia União Fabril), a big industrial group, and played for its football team. He was also a sprinter in Sporting's athletics section.4 sources4 sources

In 1946 FC Porto almost signed him. Its officials kept him for some days in a hotel in Porto and then in Escaramão, a village in the Minho. His brother helped him get back to Lisbon, the Porto officials believing he was going to a military medical inspection, and the next day he signed for Sporting instead.2 sources2 sources

Vasques grew up in Barreiro, across the Tagus from Lisbon, and was a carpenter's apprentice at CUF at 12 before moving to an office job. Benfica had not wanted him. He joined Sporting in 1946, stayed until 1958 and won eight league titles, and Observador counts him the club's third-highest scorer of all time.1 source1 source

Albano, a small left winger from Seixal, came through the youth teams of Barreirense and cost Sporting 20 contos in 1943, a fee the fans thought too high at first. He was known for his dribbling. Jesus Correia, a fast and skilful right winger, had been turned down by Belenenses before Szabo took him to Sporting.2 sources2 sources

The five first played together on 6 October 1946, in a Lisbon championship game against Belenenses. Their first league game together came on 24 November at Famalicão. Sporting conceded after 43 seconds and won 9–5; Peyroteo scored five, Vasques two, Travassos and Albano one each.2 sources2 sources

That season Sporting won 23 of their 26 league games, drew one and lost two, and scored 123 goals, almost five a game. Peyroteo scored 43. At home to Benfica they won 6–1, with three goals by Travassos, who was given a gold watch for it. The coach was an Englishman, Robert Kelly.4 sources4 sources

The second title, in 1947/48, came down to a derby. Sporting and Benfica finished level on 41 points, and Sporting had lost 3–1 at home to Benfica. In April 1948, at Benfica's ground, Sporting needed a win by a clear margin. They won 4–1, and Peyroteo scored all four. In the final table Sporting's goals, 92 for and 40 against, were three better than Benfica's 84 and 35, and that settled the title, though Observador's accounts of the exact tie-break differ.3 sources3 sources

Cândido de Oliveira, who was also a journalist, took charge for 1947/48 and 1948/49. In the third season Sporting scored 100 league goals and finished five points clear of Benfica. They also reached the final of the Latin Cup, an early international club tournament, beating Torino on the way and losing the final 2–1 to Barcelona.4 sources4 sources

Fernando Peyroteo was born on 10 March 1918 at Humpata, in Angola, then a Portuguese colony. He reached Lisbon on 26 June 1937, aged 19, and scored twice on his debut that September, a 5–3 win over Benfica.3 sources3 sources

His goal totals depend on who counts and which games count. Diário de Notícias gives 544 goals in 334 official games for Sporting between 1937 and 1949; Observador has given both 544 and 541 in 332. In the league, RSSSF counts 330 goals in 197 games and Diário de Notícias 331, an average of 1.68 a game. A Bola notes that none of his league goals was a penalty.5 sources5 sources

Some of his matches are still remembered. He scored nine goals against Leça in 1942, five in 22 minutes in another match, and eight against Boavista in his last season. He was also the first man to score at the Estádio Nacional, in a 3–2 win over Benfica after extra time when it opened in 1944.3 sources3 sources

He retired in 1949, aged 31. A Bola says he wanted to give all his time to the sports shop he had opened in Lisbon; Observador adds that the shop was close to failing and that the takings of his farewell match, on 25 September 1949, were to pay off his debts. In 1961 he briefly coached Portugal and gave Eusébio his international debut, in a 4–2 defeat by Luxembourg. He died of a heart attack on 28 November 1978, aged 60.2 sources2 sources

Benfica won the league in 1949/50, the first season without Peyroteo. Sporting then won four titles in a row, from 1950/51 to 1953/54, the first time any Portuguese club had done so. Vasques was the league's top scorer in 1950/51 with 29 goals. The first three titles came under another Englishman, Randolph Galloway, and the fourth under Szabo.4 sources4 sources

The line was breaking up. Jesus Correia was also a roller hockey star, and at 28 he could no longer combine both sports with his job; he chose hockey. Travassos and Vasques stayed. In 1950/51, with other clubs at home and abroad interested in them, the club president, António Ribeiro Ferreira, raised their pay and put up a down payment so the two could set up a factory making refrigerators.4 sources4 sources

Travassos paid for his dribbling. He was tackled hard for years, and three of the four menisci in his knees had to be removed.2 sources2 sources

In the summer of 1955 Travassos was on holiday when an invitation arrived to play for a Rest of Europe team against Great Britain in Belfast. The match celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Irish Football Association. No Portuguese player had been picked for such a side before.3 sources3 sources

The game was played at Windsor Park on 13 August 1955 before about 35,000 people. Great Britain had Stanley Matthews, John Charles and Danny Blanchflower. The European side, chosen from eight countries, included Ernst Ocwirk of Austria, Raymond Kopa and Jean Vincent of France and the Yugoslav Bernard Vukas. Travassos played at inside left.2 sources2 sources

Robert Johnstone put Britain ahead after 25 minutes, and Vincent equalised two minutes later. Then Vukas scored three in eleven minutes near the end, the last a penalty, and Europe won 4–1. Travassos later said the British press praised Europe's three central forwards, calling them the wonder trio.2 sources2 sources

By then Travassos was a Portugal regular. He played in a 2–2 draw with Switzerland in Lisbon on 5 January 1947, and three weeks later helped beat Spain 4–1. He was in the side England beat 10–0 in Lisbon in May 1947, and in the one that beat England 3–1 in Porto on 22 May 1955. Mais Futebol credits him with 35 caps and six goals; Lisbon City Council's booklet gives 28 caps.2 sources2 sources

A crowd met him at Portela airport when he flew home, and from then on he was Zé da Europa. Sporting's account says he was paid £25 and given a commemorative plaque.3 sources3 sources

Three weeks later Travassos played in another first. The European Champion Clubs' Cup, today's Champions League, began in 1955/56, and clubs took part by invitation. Sporting had been chosen as champions of 1953/54, their seventh title in eight years. Benfica won the 1954/55 league, with Sporting third, but the invitation stood.3 sources3 sources

Sporting's new stadium at Alvalade was still being built, so on 4 September 1955 they played Partizan Belgrade at the Estádio Nacional at Jamor, before about 40,000 people. It was the first match of the competition. After 14 minutes João Martins scored the first goal in any UEFA club competition. UEFA's account says Vasques had won the ball from Partizan's centre half, Branko Zebec, to set it up.4 sources4 sources

Zebec was hurt in that challenge and, with no substitutes allowed, played on as a passenger. Partizan were the better side and led 3–2 until Martins equalised in the 78th minute. In Belgrade on 12 October, Miloš Milutinović scored four times and Partizan won 5–2. Travassos and Vasques played in both legs.4 sources4 sources

The Estádio José Alvalade opened on 10 June 1956. Travassos became captain in 1957, and in 1957/58 Sporting won the title on equal points with FC Porto, their first at the new stadium. It was his eighth league title. Fans carried him and Vasques off the pitch.3 sources3 sources

Sporting held a match in his honour on 7 September 1958 and beat Benfica 2–0. He played on into 1959, and his last game was a Portuguese Cup tie at Coimbra on 24 May 1959. Afterwards he coached Sporting's youngest players for a few years, winning titles with them, then gave it up for hunting, his other passion.3 sources3 sources

He won the Medal of Sporting Merit and, in 1986, Sporting's Stromp prize. Mais Futebol's obituary remembered a creative midfielder with rare vision, an unexpected pass and a hard shot.2 sources2 sources

Peyroteo's league record has lasted more than 75 years. A Bola counts 331 top-flight goals, 14 more than Eusébio and Fernando Gomes, and no one has come close to his rate of goals per game. In 2018, his centenary year, Sporting's board proposed making him member number 9, the number he wore.4 sources4 sources

The name still carries weight at the club. In 2017 Sporting played a pre-season friendly against Fiorentina for a trophy named after the Cinco Violinos, and Observador counted the five's combined record at 1,211 goals.1 source1 source

Lisbon put Travassos's name on a street beside the Estádio José Alvalade in 2007. The city's 2015 booklet about the street calls him one of the greatest players in the history of Sporting and of Portuguese football.1 source1 source