Mexico Juega Futbol Americano

36 pp. booklet in Spanish, illustrated throughout. Oblong 8vo. Very good. Illus. stiff wraps, extremities rubbed. [1749]

Promotional booklet issued by a Mexican tobacco manufacturer to promote American football, which once rivaled soccer as the country's most popular collegiate sport. The game first came to Mexico in the 1920s, imported from the United States by Mexican students returning from American prep schools. In 1927, two brothers -- both fans of Notre Dame -- launched the first formal Mexican football team at National Autonomous University of Mexico. The UNAM "Pumas" eventually became so dominant in Mexico that the team drew attention across the border in the United States, attracting invitations to participate in regional Bowls and tournaments. Everything changed in 1968, when the football season was canceled across Mexico in the wake of the Tlatelolco massacre, which killed hundreds of UNAM students. During the years to follow, as the Mexican government sought to disrupt large gatherings of young people, collegiate football was discouraged and fell into disfavor. The booklet is a rare survival, and we can find no copies in OCLC, or in the marketplace.