La Clery Are SPFL Tier 1 Champions!

The first-ever Saint Lucia Semi-Pro Football League (SPFL) Tier 1 championship game was played on Saturday evening at the Dennery Playing Field, La Clery defeating previously unbeaten Central Castries 3-1 in a very eventful game between two teams on the rise.  Just two years ago, La Clery won promotion to the Island Cup Premier League, then the uppermost echelon of inter-district football on island. The boys from Castries North played unbeaten in the then Super League, winning all eight games in the second division. In the two years since, La Clery finished runners-up to Gros Islet, then beat Dennery to lift the last edition of the now defunct Premier League title. With astute recruiting and clever coaching, La Clery had squared the circle, rising from virtual obscurity to stardom. The ascendancy for Central Castries has been even more sudden. Football has a heady history in the capital, but since the glory days of the eighties, the most recent inter-district league tournament victory for Central was in the 2011 season. This year, Central Castries ended the league phase unbeaten, scoring 17 goals and allowing only five in eight games to top the table. La Clery won five of nine games, scored...