Clube Futebol Jerumelo

Jerumelo is a village in the parish of Milharado, in the saloio south of the Mafra municipality, and since 2 April 1961 it has had a football club with the Cross of Christ on its chest, crowned in gold and flame, as if the village had borrowed its crest from the caravels. Clube Futebol Jerumelo is football in its purest definition: its own 500-place ground on Avenida 4 de Fevereiro, a senior team in the AF Lisboa divisions, juniors, youth teams and veterans, and derbies against neighbouring villages where everyone is on first name terms. The president is Vera Ferreira, a woman leading a village club, still a rarity in Portuguese football, and the mascot is a saloio countryman in a hat with a ball, which states the club's purpose: to represent the land without taking itself too seriously. Sixty odd years after the founding, the mission is unchanged: making sure that on Sunday there is a match in Jerumelo.