La Clery’s run in the 2024 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Shield came to an early close on Saturday evening, as the Saint Lucian side suffered a 2-0 defeat to former tournament winners SV Robinhood at Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago’s iconic Hasely Crawford Stadium. The two-time champions of the Saint Lucia Semi-Professional League were knocked out in the tournament’s Round of 16, bringing their regional competition journey to an end.
The match carried special contextual significance, as it was held just 24 hours after the 50th anniversary of Hasely Crawford’s historic 100m gold medal win at the 1974 Olympic Games — the first Olympic gold medal ever secured by a Trinidad and Tobago athlete. The venue, renamed to honor Crawford’s legacy, provided a fitting backdrop for top-tier regional club football on this milestone weekend.
La Clery earned their spot in the Round of 16 after a qualifying victory over Anguilla’s Roaring Lions, but they could not overcome a fast-starting Robinhood side. The Surinamese champions, who dominated regional football in 2023 by claiming both the CFU Club Shield title and the inaugural Concacaf Caribbean Cup, got off to a blistering start against the Saint Lucians. Robinhood broke the deadlock from the penalty spot in just the 11th minute of play, before forward Gilberto Cronie doubled the side’s advantage only seven minutes later. The two early goals proved enough to see the former champions through, with La Clery unable to claw back into the match.
This knockout result marks the second time in two years that a Saint Lucian club has fallen to Robinhood in CFU competition. In 2023, the Suriname side secured a lopsided 5-0 victory over Saint Lucia’s B1 FC on their way to lifting that year’s trophy.
Robinhood is not the only side to secure a spot in the quarterfinals from this round of play. Guyana’s top club Slingerz FC and Barbados champions Weymouth Wales also claimed wins in their respective Round of 16 matches to book their places in the final eight of the competition.