Religious players of third division club Guarani believed the figure, which was added to their kit in May, was bringing the team bad luck.
Coincidentally, the addition of the figure marked the start of a dismal run in which the team won just one of six games.
"They confused the indian with a religious symbol and some athletes and fans thought it was linked to (the Afro-Brazilian religions of) macumba and candomble," Guarani's marketing director Marcelo Tasso told Reuters.
"Some of the Protestant and Catholic players didn't feel comfortable using that symbol so we decided to take it off the shirt."
The kit change worked like a charm for the Campinas side, whom have lost just one of the five games played in their new green-and-white striped jersey.
The club, which prides itself on being the only Brazilian side from outside a state capital to win the First Division, have since climbed out of the relegation zone and are hoping to continue their momentum and perhaps even grab a place in the promotion play offs.
However, the controversy split the club and Tasso said he was hurt by the players' ignorance of Guarani's history.
Not only is the name short for Tupi-Guarani, the biggest indigenous tribe in Brazil, the club's symbol is an indigenous figure and their nickname is Bugre, an old slang term for non-Christian indians.
Four bugres have been painted into the pavement around their stadium since the 1970s and they have had an indian on their shirts before.
But Tasso acknowledged that religion and superstition play a huge role in Brazilian football.
Almost every dressing room has a Catholic shrine and many clubs have priests and pastors on call. Stories abound of frogs being buried under pitches and bulls, goats and cattle handed over as sacrificial offerings to the Gods.
Fans are not immune – many wear the same unwashed clothes to games as long as their team keep winning.
When Guarani won their only league title in 1978 their players did not step on the pitch without superstitiously walking round the corner flag first.
Tasso recognised all this but adopted a fatalist tone.
"It was very upsetting that people thought the indian was a religious figure," he said. "We've had the symbol of an indian at the club since the 1970s, it is part of the club's history."
"If we put the indian on the shirt and won the first game we'd still be using it today."
(Reporting by Andrew Downie; Editing by Martyn Herman)
Share
