Guardian General Hope International Football Club has been crowned the Premier Division champions of the 2019/2020 St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation National Club Championships.
Hope International, which led the division from the get go, was installed officially as champions last Friday, when Jebelle stopped Hope International’s main rival- System Three.
System Three losing to Je Belle meant that Hope International’s 47 points, gained from 15 wins, two draws and two losses, was unassailable, with two matches still in hand.
It was a welcomed triumph for Hope International, which is celebrating its Silver Anniversary this year.
Taking the 2019/2020 title was first and foremost on the minds of the Hope International’s management.
Akin John, one of the lead administrators of the club, disclosed that they had set about rebuilding their brand.
“At the end of the 2018/2019 season, the coaches and managers of the club realised that some hard decisions had to be made in terms of the future direction both from the make-up of our team, the culture and from a technical perspective,” John informed.
“We were an ageing club, a number of older players who were in their mid to late 30s were still actively involved, and although we had a lot of young players, we realised that it was not sustainable in the long term,” John further explained.
He noted that among those who decided to give way were Dwayne Dennie and Paul Farrell, who moved immediately to take up positions on the Technical Staff of the club.
“As the season went on, we very early gained the belief that once we were consistent that we would be able to bring the title, and this we did,” John commented.
He summed up the club’s performance as a ” total team effort … a lot of credit must go to the players; they did a great job, along with the coaches Dwayne (Dennie) and Paul (Farrell), and our ever present Manager – Roddy Dowers, our club Secretary and other members of the Technical Staff.”
Apart from winning the title and pocketing the first place cash prize of $ 20 000, Hope International has earned the right to be SVG’s representative at the 2021 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield.
The Premier Division of the 2019/2020 National Club Championships closes officially this Sunday.