Taking these initial considerations into account, the aim of this article was to discuss the presence of sport in Rio de Janeiro, as of the early years of the second half of the nineteenth century (1851-1855), based on the representations of three pioneers of Brazilian chronicling: José Maria Paranhos, Francisco Otaviano and José de Alencar. The chronicles by Francisco Picot and Justiniano da Rocha were also used, as they followed up on the series by the first two chroniclers above. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis.