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SOCCER

Luigi’s love interests, I would dare to state without fear of contradiction/opposition from the ladies, are, in descending order of importance: family, soccer (very close 2^nd.), music, women, money, women, spiritual “endeavors”, …women.

Luigi played, watched, coached (mentored), organized, and administered the game with heartfelt fervor.

2-v-2 ON THE FRONT LAWN:
Before (and during) the Alpha Jnr years (see “Alpha Jnr Page” within this website), Luigi, exhibiting his leadership tendencies, “organized” almost daily 2-v-2 “scrimmage” games at home which quickly devastated Mom’s well-manicured lawn eventually turning it into a veritable “dust bowl” to the utter dismay of Mom. Back then it was Luigi & Dirty Harry versus Mike & Richard and the way we “went at it” any spectator to those fiercely competitive “youthful” games would wonder if we all came from the same womb!. No “quarters” expected, none given, none taken. Luigi would “coach” both sides imploring his younger siblings to use guile/brain instead of grit/brawn to stop attackers and/or to go around defenders. This was before TV first was introduced to JA and so we tried to mimic moves (1) we had heard over the radio, (2) we had read about in the newspaper, and (3) we had seen at the many games Dad took us to watch. At times, after a “body-shift” or shoulder nudge one of us would “disappear” into the edging (shrubs) which “rimmed” the lawn but Luigi would quickly exhort us to “shake it off” and re-engage. Needless to say these games taught us all the lessons necessary to hone our skills for readiness to successfully confront any condition which the larger game could possibly throw at us. It must be documented here in ETERNAL GRATITUDE TO Luigi that while we younger siblings all gained from playing with/against older opponent(s), Luigi, by virtue of being the eldest, did not experience this particular benefit!! In much the same vein, Kenneth, being the youngest at that time, benefited most of all and so one can recognize why he developed into the most fully rounded of all the footballing Davy brothers!!

SOCCER @ ALPHA JNR:
These “homemade” skills early nurturing on the front lawn, were readily transferred to daily play in the school yard at Alpha Jnr albeit on asphalt thereby enabling/requiring increased deftness (to avoid falls) and toughness (to “rebound” quickly from falls). Luigi, being a year older than Skill and, when they both reached the “upper” classes, often collaborated with Alan to organize the many games (and not just soccer) staged then. Of course, Luigi made sure (insisted) that younger brothers Michael, Richard, and Kenneth all got into all of these games even when others our age had to sit and watch. Again, playing with/against much older kids really advanced our skills. Even after school when much older past students (then attending Holy Trinity, Windsor, St GC, KC etc.) would sort of “pass through” to “kick it with the youths”, Luigi would make sure that his younger siblings “made the cut” and played rather than watch.

5^th. Street “PARK”…Cable & Wireless (C&W)….TARRANT Snr School….Jam Civil Service Assoc (JACISERA):
Despite the stern, strongly-protective parenting doled out by his parents, Luigi was lured by the urge to “branch out” from under the “corralling wings” of the rigid discipline of Mom, Dad and the Nuns/Priests and soon ventured not only down to the gate (yes there was a standing “order” not to even go down to the gate lest we “innocent” catholic Davy boys be contaminated/spoilt by kids who were allowed to play in/on the neighborhood streets) but out into the streets, the nearby PARK, C&W, TARRANT, JACISERA park etc. Each Venue exposed us to an increasingly wider, higher, and more diverse level of soccer competition. Again, with Luigi leading the way for his younger siblings and ensuring that they played and not just sit and watch, we all got exposed to competing with/against the likes of Delroy “Mutty” Scott, Lawrence “Yagga Yaw” Rowe (yes that was his original nickname and he was just as good a soccer player!!), Errol Stewart (Olympic team sprinter while still a schoolboy and a great ‘baller), Calvin "Webba" Stewart, Joey McGlocklin (RIP), Calbert Cohen (Steths, Cavalier), Audley "4", Frank & Newton Creighton (KC), Delano "Denny" Williams (St.GC), Moochie, brothers "GiGi" (RIP -mistakenly killed during the search for Dudus) & "Clarkie", Karey Coke (KC, Molynes), Rupie "Slimes", Isaac "Zackie" (YMCA), Howard "Dandy" & Philip Daniels, Oswald Bailey (GK for KC), "Gas", Neville "Mello" Morgan (T-Town Skipper), "Mutty" Silvera & Paul Powell (both of Ardenne), Patrick Smith (St GC), Bruce Black (Wolmers, Real Mona, All-Jamaica), Winston "Stella" Hobson (Camperdown), Neville “Tinga” Stewart (yes he was a darn good baller), Winston "Ramo" Mitchell (st. GC & XLCR) and a veritable “All-Jamaica” line-up of other talented players. AGAIN, LUIGI’S YOUNGER SIBLINGS ARE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL FOR THIS EARLY NURTURING DURING THE FORMATIVE STAGES OF OUR SOCCER CAREER.

STGC:
Luigi’s soccer experiences during his tenure at St GC are documented on the St GC page within this website. As a member of St GC’s Championship-winning Colts teams which went undefeated for a couple of seasons, Luigi by being the first Davy brother to win a Championship, had actually also set the STANDARD and “planted the legacy” for his younger siblings to also lead their teams to numerous undefeated, Championship-winning seasons at the High School, University, and Professional levels.

MINOR LEAGUE:
Highly respected St GC alumnus Keith “Skip” Noad, having been impressed with Luigi’s acrobatic goalkeeping exploits at the Jnr Colts and Colts levels, eagerly tabbed Luigi as goalkeeper for his Swallowfield team in the inaugural season (1967) of his creation - The Minor League (U-17) soccer competition to be conducted during the summer months. Skip, insightfully, had recognized and sought to “fill the gaps” so to speak between two aspects of JA football (1) there was no organized “intermediate competition for players between the post-Colts U-14 age group and the Manning Cup U-19 age group and (2) there was no organized competition during the summer months when schoolboys are on vacation.

Skip “surrounded” Luigi with a star-studded squad and engaged the highly successful George (George T, Mr. T) Thompson (RIP) as coach and Carl "Weewahs" Wellington (older brother of National Cricketer Bruce Wellington) as assistant coach. This Swallowfield squad also included: Undel (Siddie) Williams (an St GC alumnus), legendary Allan (Skill) Cole, Calvin (Webba) Stewart, “Cool” Bobby Coombs (Vere), and Noel (Ev, “coach”) Thompson among others.

With Luigi acrobatically and vociferously parading his “between-the-sticks, custodial” skills, he teamed with these stalwarts to defeat Vineyard Town in the quarter-finals and Harbor View in the semi-finals.
·Vineyard Town: unbelievably, V-Town had surged to an unthinkable 3-0 lead before the 60-minute game was even a quarter of the way through. Russell Bell, Lennox Robinson, Khann Cross, and Kesang “Kippy” Chin (Georgians all who had played with Luigi on those all-conquering St GC Colts teams) had somehow “carved-up” the Swallowfield defense and had “breached” Luigi three times before many Swallowfield supporters had even arrived!!. “Logic” and superior skill soon, eventually, however, brought some semblance of “sanity to the proceedings” as Luigi “maintained a clean sheet” thereafter and Skill & Undell each secured hat-tricks to document a 6-3 final score!
· Harbor View: Although Swallowfield were challenged mightily by the twin-towered offensive (Nigel “Pummie” Goodison) and defensive (Donald “Billy” Perkins) threats, Luigi registered his 6^th. shutout of this 1967 season and Undel & Skill shared in a solid, hard-fought 2-0 victory thereby catapulting the team into the finals (click Here to view Gleaner report on 1967 Minor League semi-finals)

THE FINALS:
The Frank Brown-coached Campbell Town team had stars of its own to match-up with Luigi's Swallowfield team including rugged center-half Milverton Brooks, Glen Campbell, Errol "EB" Barrett, Michael "Pudding" Ashman, Val Heron, and Luigi’s counterpart - Glen Crosby - guarding their goal. It was a fairly even tussle and Luigi managed to maintain a “clean sheet” until the very dying moments when somehow Val Heron (who was to “infiltrate” Luigi’s life many years later) slipped in between two defenders and shunted to Ashman who "slotted home" past the helpless Luigi for a 1-0 victory (click HERE to view Gleaner article reporting on this 1967 Minor League Final game). It should be noted that Val and Luigi later teamed up in Brooklyn, New York to organize and play for the Prospect Park-based Brooklyn Raiders and, at Luigi’s wake, Val parlayed his vocal talents to “serenade” Luigi with some beautiful, original renditions which Luigi’s family and friends will long remember.

It should also be noted that Luigi had become the first of the Davy brothers to be guided by the tutelage of renowned National Coach George T. and just a couple of years after his historic, unique double-triple successes with the 1964/65 KC teams. George T would later go on to coach three of Luigi’s siblings at the National level both at home and abroad.


CAVALIER
Luigi went on to represent Cavalier at the Div II level after participating for a couple of years in numerous scrimmages with the National U-19 programme under the direction of George T.

WHY/HOW DUBBED LUIGI… 1970 WORLD CUP (WC) FINALS
It is pure, classical JA culturally opportunistic capturing and descriptive “coining” of links to individuals, that while the circumstances and events surrounding the dynamics of Glen being tagged with the moniker “Luigi” by younger brother Michael may seem ordinary and basic, which it was back in 1970, the extent to which the nickname became “glued” to Glen and the widespread use it enjoyed and the creative modifications/mutations it attracted far exceeds the humble “origins” of the assigning of this seemingly appropriate nickname.

Leading up to the 1970 World Cup finals slated to be held in Mexico, Luigi, his siblings, and his neighborhood friends each had accumulated voluminous magazine and newspaper files containing (1) the rich history of the WC, (2) team “stats” on the sixteen (16) finalists, and (3) profiles of each team’s star players. Even before the first ball was kicked in that year’s tournament, everyone had previewed/declared whom their favorite team was and of course who their favorite player was. Since Glen had been gushingly extolling his favorite team - Italy - and how because of their bustling, speedy, southpaw-leaning, goal-scoring machine of a Left Winger Luigi “GiGi” Riva “… No way “Italy can lose”. The then 26 year-old already well-credentialed Riva, seemingly at the top of world class soccer, had previously established himself as an astounding goal scorer having (1) led Italy to the 1968 European Championships after scoring the winning goal in the final and (2) led his club team to the Serie “A” Italian league title in the 1969/70 season scoring at the “unbelievable” rate of 21 goals in just 29 games!!

Throughout that 1970 WC, as Riva continued his goal-scoring rampage so too did Glen multiply his embrace of his hero and when Riva scored the winning goal in a “warlike”, seven goal thriller of an overtime semi-final match against West Germany (for those younger eyes visiting this site…. Germany was “split”/divided in those days) Glen filled everyone’s ears with “…I told you so’s…”

Then, when younger brother Michael remarked “bwoy Glen yuh acting like seh Riva better than “King” Pele and is like yuh want think Italy going to beat Brazil in the finals…” Glen quickly shot back heaping so much praise on Riva that Michael started calling his older brother Luigi and ….the rest as they say…is history.

History in that this nickname and Glen became inexorably intertwined to the extent where some/many brethren who met him post-1970 think his first name was/is Luigi and many newspaper articles often dropped off his actual “given” name Glen and just referred to him as LUIGI. Of course in the case of those “sisters” who met Glen post-1970, they likely all thought he was given the nickname because he was as smooth as the proverbial “Italian Lothario”???.

Then, as Riva added to his legendary status by (1) going on to become Italy’s all-time leading scorer (35 goals in just 42 games!!), (2) getting his jersey number (#11) retired by his club (still the only jersey # retired!!), and (3) ascending to the upper echelon of Italy’s National Soccer Executives including being instrumental in Italy’s 2006 WC winning team, so too did Glen/Luigi’s “recognition factor” escalate. Curiously, the typical JA mutating of nicknames gave rise to Glen being referred to as “SNAP-WEEGIE”, “I-WEEGIE”, or just plainly, simply, more widely … more lovingly… “WEEGIE”!!!

FERVENT SUPPORTOR OF SIBLINGS SOCCER EXPLOITS:
Luigi’s impact and influence on his siblings soccer career was not just limited to his early nurturing/coaching but continued long after they had “left his hand” and started representing schools, clubs, and the JA National Juvenile and Senior teams. The outspoken Luigi would remain intimately close to their exploits by (1) continually engaging school, club and National teams coaches in endless conversations undoubtedly highlighting how each sibling’s supreme talents could/should be utilized by each coach to enhance each team’s chances of success, (2) attending many practices and even informally assisting coaches, and (3) providing vociferous supports at games.
It was real easy to see that Luigi doggedly immersed himself very intimately in his efforts to shrewdly “guide” the soccer careers of his siblings to ensure that their full potential and talents were “sling-shotted” to their optimum level of prominence.

Those in attendance at the National Stadium on the night of that historic drought-breaking goal by Richard (for the National team vs Haiti) on his debut, may well recall that Luigi, in his inimitable, effervescent zeal, “invaded” the Stadium playing field to celebrate Real Kill’s dynamic goal and was most unceremoniously “corralled” by the security personnel and were it not for Richard’s pleadings, would have been likely removed not just from the field but also from the Stadium proper. Rumor has it that after this incident, Real Kill deliberately “bushed” two certain goals on purpose because he feared scoring again and Luigi getting ejected for any future “invasion-of-the-field” celebrations…. “twas never confirmed..”

The results of Luigi's mentoring efforts on his younger brothers soccer careers are best chronicled as follows:
Richard "Real Kill":
There indeed may well be no other Jamaican soccer player who can claim as richly-successful a 9-year career as Real Kill enjoyed from 1967 to 1975. From his U-14 Colts (1967) days to his University/Collegiate Senior season (1975) Real led his teams (JC, Wolmer's, Howard Univ) to Three Championships, Four 2nd. place/Runners-up, and no worse than a 4th. place in those nine years: Colts 2nd. place ( to XLCR 1967), Manning Cup champions ( at J.C. in 1968), Manning Cup runner-up (at Wolmer's in 1969 after forfeiting points which would have made them Champions), Manning Cup runner-up (at Wolmer's in 1970 to a strong Howard Bell-led KC team), All-island schoolboy TRIPLE CHAMPIONS (at Wolmer's in 1971 Manning Cup, Walker Cup, and Olivier Shield), runner-up (Howard U. 1972 NCAA Div 1), team on probation (Howard U. 1973 NCAA Div 1), NCAA Champions (Howard U. 1974 Div 1 with a perfect 19-0-0 season record which still stands unmatched), and semi-finalists (Howard U. 1975 NCAA Div 1).   In addition, Richard, in 1970, dismantled the single-season Manning Cup goal-scoring record setting a new mark of 23 goals which lasted almost three decades!! I can still remember Luigi "cornering" National coach George T in 1970 as the Manning Cup season was winding down and imploring that "my bredda is the leading scorer so him haffi deh pon de all-Manning team". To which Mr. Thompson replied "...Glenford... of course, we can't leave the league's top scorer off of the team..."

Kenneth "Dirty Harry":
Luigi had surmised that Harry's future at Cavalier was at the point where some change was in order and so he personally "hand-delivered" Harry to Pembroke Hall coach Robert "Bobby Fire" Duquesnay who shrewdly "tapped-into" Harry's "smoldering" offensive skills. Unleashing Harry "up front" resulted in an unheard of 4-goal onslaught by Harry in his very first Premier league game (click HERE to see Gleaner September 1975 article reporting on Harry's 4-goal rampage) against the Trevor "Dango-Dee" Dennis-led Great West team. This historic Premier league feat quickly catapulted Harry into receiving a long-deserved call-up to join the National Senior team then coached by Jackie Bell (RIP). Harry later was selected MVP of the U.S. College Soccer Senior Bowl after single-handedly leading his EAST All-Star team to a resounding 3-0 victory in Miami's Orange Bowl

Michael "Secretary-of-Defense":
After his goal-keeping exploits at Swallowfield, Luigi had thrusted Michael into the Swallowfield line-up and after two strong seasons, Luigi then "delivered" Michael to the Leighton Duncan-led Cavalier Club. At age 17, Michael quickly broke into the starting line-up and, after teaming with Delroy "Mutty" Scott (National Team captain), Calvin "Webba" Stewart (KC), and Alty "Gunner" McKoy (XLCR) to set an eleven game record of not conceding a single goal in Premier League (then Div1) competition, he was selected for a Jamaica Invitational XI (managed by YMCA mentor Lester Richards - RIP) to play against Champions Racing of Haiti in the Home-Electrix Tournament. Michael, still only just 18 years-old at the time, combined superbly with fellow center-half Geoffrey Maxwell to thwart the wondrously-talented St Vil brothers Guy and Roger helping to lead the Jamaican National team to a tight 1-0 victory. Michael also later teamed with Real on that historic, record-setting 1974 Howard University squad.

It's A Family Affair
Luigi's brothers Richard & Michael, employing the skills first "fine-tuned" under his guidance, effectively turned the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 1974 Division 1 Soccer Championships into a "family affair" since the Soccer America magazine which reported on that historic, undefeated season featured Michael on the Cover and Richard (who was the architect of the winning goal) on page 4.

A year later at the 1975 NCAA Division 1 Soccer Championships, the family affair "saga" was repeated, only this time the St. Louis Post-Dispatch "flipped the script", featuring Richard pictorially while highlighting Michael's "dramatic impact" on the Championships on page 10 of the Sports section (Sunday December 7, 1975).

WALTHAM COACH….ADMINISTRATION…..STUDENT OF THE GAME…
After his Goal-keeping days at St.G.C., then at Swallowfield and, finally, after a brief “stint” for the Leighton Duncan-led Cavalier Division II, Luigi closely collaborated with Everton “Mr. J” Jennings and Calvin “Webba” Stewart (K.C., Cavalier) to create, organize, manage, coach, and participate for a solid Waltham United team which SEASON-AFTER-SEASON garnered tremendous successes in the Alan Cole and Syd Bartlett leagues in the mid/late seventies. During this period, Luigi also was instrumental in “piloting” the soccer career of a fourth sibling - Vincent (Vin Soup) - who, under Luigi’s expert tutelage, vaulted to the top of the goal scoring lists in both leagues while employing his cunning, speedy “southpaw-leaning” soccer skills.

As “custodian” for this Waltham team, Luigi acrobatically, breathtakingly defied all odds by “saving” all of the Negus Aces 6 penalty kicks during the semi-final shootout to single-handedly catapult Waltham United into the finals of the 1976 Allan Cole League.

Luigi also served as the “Area” representative to (KSAFA) by attending monthly KSAFA board meetings presided over by then President “Billy” Marston (a contemporary of Luigi at St GC).

Luigi also had a brief informal “stint” as a referee back in 1979 when he was “”drafted” by then National coach Winthorpe Jackson “Jacka” Bell (RIP) to officiate an “exhibition” game between the JA national senior team (which included brother Richard) and a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF or Regiment) invitational XI at Up Park Camp.