Rapha ‘Flash’ Intervil: Speeding away from Haiti’s crises using soccer

CAP-HAITIEN — We’re on the North Atlantic Ocean in May 2024, where the reigning Haitian soccer league champions, Real Hope Football Academy players, are sitting on a small ship for a cruise near Cap-Haïtien. The players are sporting their white away jerseys, matching the ship’s color. Rapha Intervil, the teenage soccer sensation nicknamed Flash for his speed, is holding the trophy in his right hand and a bottle of champagne in the other. 

The 18-year-old gazes at the trophy and gently kisses it. It means the world to him because winning lit a spark in his young career, which he thought would have been over last year. The hand with which Intervil is holding the trophy was nearly amputated in June 2023 because he waited too long to treat a dislocated forearm due to a lack of funds.

“I’m proud of what I’ve become,” Intervil said. “Many people told me to give up on soccer because no one was helping me, and I got hurt. But soccer is my only option. I’m playing it to save my life.”

The teenager is one of many youths and adults who are attempting to use soccer as an escape route from the multitude of crises Haiti is facing, such as ongoing gang violence, lack of jobs and the high cost of living. They hope to earn a contract with a club overseas after impressing with Haiti’s youth or senior team to move to a more sustainable country. 

In contrast, while many players around the world are playing for the love of the game and for the bragging rights of becoming a professional, in Haiti, the stakes are higher for some players. They’re playing to crawl out of the unbearable pain that comes with living in Haiti — or, as Intervil put it, to save their lives.

Even when Haitian players try to earn a contract overseas, they receive minimal assistance from 0the dysfunctional soccer sector. Clubs do not pay well; for instance, Intervil earns 25,000 gourdes, or $187 (USD), monthly. The healthcare system is in crisis, so they might not receive proper treatment if they get injured. Players do not eat well due to a lack of food and the high cost of living, and they are playing while trying to manage the insupportable stress that comes from living in Haiti.

Intervil, a pacy left winger, is one of the few players rising above all these challenges. He is one step closer to making his dream come true. This week, Intervil was selected to participate in a training camp with Haiti’s under-20 team in preparation for the Concacaf  World Cup qualifiers.

The training camp will start on June 25 and be held in Mexico where the qualifiers will take place, starting from July 21. Haiti will take on Mexico, Panama and Guatemala in the qualifiers.

Intervil will also play in another regional tournament, the Concacaf Caribbean Cup, starting in August. Real Hope qualified for the competition by reaching the final of the Haitian League. Intervil ended the season as the second top scorer, tallying four goals.

Spared from Cité Soleil’s mayhem

Intervil was born in Léogâne but was raised in Cité Soleil, the most populated and dangerous slum in Port-au-Prince. He used to see gang members walk in the streets carrying rifles. Intervil said he was spared from violence because he grew up in the area and played soccer.

Members of his family are among thousands who fled Port-au-Prince’s violence to move to the provinces, relocating to Léogâne in 2020. At the time, Intervil was in the Dominican Republic.

His father, Yvon Intervil, was a school principal but stopped working in that field due to gang violence in Port-au-Prince. Intervil’s father and mother were separated before his birth. And he did not meet his father until 2011 when he was five. 

Interval said his mother, Michel Nola, used to sell pate kòde (patties), spaghetti and aleken (cooked rice) on the streets. Nola died from complications of childbirth in 2014. Intervil has six siblings—three sisters and three brothers—but grew up with only three of them.

Intervil struggled to pay for school after his mother died and even remembered missing school days because he could not afford 1,100 gourdes or $8 (USD). Intervil began taking soccer seriously when he was in fifth grade because if he was on the school’s team, he would not have to pay tuition at the school where his father was the principal.

Outside of school, Intervil also played for a club called Vivario in Port-au-Prince. In the early stages of his career, he was an attacking midfielder. But, he was converted to a winger at Vivario when the coaching staff noticed how fast he was. Interval is regarded as one of the fastest players in Haiti. He said he gained his speed from playing lago, a running game, and from participating in races foreign nonprofit organizations used to hold in the area when he was a child.

“The guy is fast,” Intervil’s teammate at Real Hope, Clifford Louis Jean, said. “He moves a lot, always fighting to win the ball. He defends when he has to and attacks when he has to. He takes the game seriously and respects people on and off the field.”

After his time with Vivario, in 2017, Intervil joined F.C. Toro, one of Haiti’s most renowned youth teams. The club helped Intervil move to Pétion-Ville, a high-class neighborhood in southeast Port-au-Prince, due to frequent gang battles in Cité Soleil. F.C. Toro also provided for Intervil. He missed two opportunities to travel to the United States to play with F.C. Toro after being denied a visa. 

Intervil moved to the DR after his hope was shattered in Haiti. 

Following his father’s advice, Intervil moved to Puerto Plata, a city in the Dominican Republic, hoping to advance his career. 

“I wanted a good future for him, so I played in his head to make him move to the Dominican Republic because I knew if he were in Haiti, things would have been harder,” Yvon Intervil said. “I used to play soccer a lot, so seeing that my son is playing it makes me really happy.”

The young Intervil only made it to 10th grade and did not continue his schooling in the Dominican Republic. After tearing his opponents apart with his blistering speed at the amateur level, professional side Delfines del Este F.C. signed him. But shortly after, Intervil joined Atlántico Fútbol Club.

During his time with them, Intervil was called to play in an amateur tournament with Muñoz, a Haitian-Dominican club. They reached the final, and in that game, in April 2023, Intervil dislocated his forearm. A player kicked Intervil after losing the ball to him, and he fell on it. 

Then, he needed surgery. The cost was about $1,650 (USD), which Intervil did not have. Three months after dislocating his forearm, a doctor told him he might need to get amputated because he waited too long to treat the injury.

“I lost all hope,” Intervil said. “I was hoping to make it out of life with soccer and this happened abruptly. All hope was lost.”

Intervil went viral for his injury after influencers such as Andy Bordenave posted him on social media. Multiple people sent donations to Intervil, helping him pay for his surgery, which was done in June 2023.

Intervil returned to Haiti in 2024 to play in the Haitian League with Real Hope. The league had been on hiatus for three years due to gang violence in Port-au-Prince. 

U-20 World Cup qualifiers, here comes Flash

After winning the league with the Cap-Haïtien-based club, Intervil moved back to Léogâne to live with his older brother. A kind, no-party man, Intervil is single because he thinks having a partner could distract him from soccer.

The Under-20 World Cup qualifiers are just a little over a month away, and the speedster cannot wait to showcase his skills. While Intervil desperately wants to play overseas to live in a more sustainable country, what matters to him the most is putting Haiti on the map.

“I want to help Haiti qualify for the World Cup,” Intervil said. “I have to finish as the top scorer or the top player. I feel confident and I have an advantage — my speed.”