When Devon Hodges returned to Rivoli this season,
When Devon Hodges returned to Rivoli this season,
he promised to return them to the Red Stripe Premier League. The former national striker, fresh from his sojourn in Vietnam, had been courted by many clubs in the top flight who were interested in having him in their front line. However, having resisted the overtures of them all , on Sunday June 2 he fulfilled his promise and wrote his name in the annals of the history of Rivoli United FC.
Playing away to August Town in the penultimate round of the RSPL playoffs, it seemed as though Rivoli had done enough to gain a point to remain atop the table, just above their hosts. But then, deep into stoppage time Rivoli were awarded a free kick just outside the area and up stepped Hodges to bury a sublime free kick in the back of the August Town’s net and send his team up with a round of matches still left to play.
The celebrations that greeted the final whistle moments later showed just how much it meant to the community of Rivoli, Spanish Town and the parish of St. Catherine.
Speaking after the game Hodges said, ” we have been working hard from the start and all that work has paid off, I’m just glad to be back at the top.”
Rivoli coach, Calvin Fitzgerald also spoke of what the win meant to the community : ”Every football coach, and every football team would like to participate in the highest league in the land, only twelve teams, so it’s a very good feeling to be in the elite of your country. We are in the top twelve team in Jamaica now and that brings pride to the Spanish Town community, it brings pride to the Rivoli community and we have been planning this.”
Fitzgerald also explained that the success this season was no fluke, “It is a programme, not something that just happened by the way, so we have a lot of young players, but we have a senior player for each position and two junior players. We are using this as a spring board now to see if we can get some of the younger players to come up to that level of football.”
Also on hand to witness the triumph of the Spanish Town based club was St. Catherine FA President, Peter Reid who echoed the sentiments of Fitzgerald, “we have been planning for this, we are raising the profile of football in the parish and we intend to play a larger role in the development of the game in the country,” an elated Reid beamed.
Rivoli will play their final game in the round-robin tournament today away to Wadadah who can still qualify for the RSPL if they win and August Town lose.
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