This Sunday, after the victory of the Alicante team against Lleida (2-1), the José Rico Pérez stadium experienced the third promotion of its starting team in its 50-year history. On this occasion he is promoted to Primera RFEF as champion, a feat that has been accompanied by a huge mobilization of the blue and white fans in Alicante.
The first time that the Alicante venue, inaugurated in 1974, experienced a promotion party was the 1983-84 season to the First Division. Hércules sealed their ticket to First Division against Castellón (2-0), on the penultimate matchday, with goals from Santi Bakero and Álvarez, just two years after having ended their golden era in the top category.
The second celebration for a promotion, this time to Second, came in 2005, when Hércules certified with a draw against Alcalá (1-1), in the second leg of the final of the promotion phase to Second, the advantage achieved a week before (1-3). In these two precedents there was a spontaneous invasion of the playing field, just as happened against Lleida.
Since the inauguration of Rico Pérez, Hércules has achieved other promotions, but they all materialized mathematically in fields such as Las Palmas, Badajoz or, the last, Irún. Hércules, which finished the season with Marcos Mendes as the top scorer, closes with this promotion a season marked by enthusiasm, since 9,000 subscribers were reached in the heat of the good results.
