Let's go Lions, let's go!

Something different - our first sports review...

London Lions vs Umana Reyer Venice : Copper Box Arena

Several years ago now, Isobel (our youngest) was given the opportunity to try out for the local sixth form college U12 basketball team (Oaklands Wolves) - it's fair to say she took quite the shine to it and is now coming to the end of her final season with the U14 team, which has involved some quite lengthy trips for away games at the weekend!.  As well as going to watch her play, I also get the job of ferrying her to watch their senior women's team who, quite obviously for a local sixth form college, play in the premier league so they get to take teams on from slightly more recognisable areas like Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Cardiff.  

The amount of money the teams have varies wildly (Wolves do surprisingly well against some teams) but one team somewhat overshadows them all - the London Lions haven't been beaten domestically for several years, so it's more a case of keeping the score as respectable as you can against them rather than imagining you might beat them.  And, whilst Isobel is definitely first and foremost a Wolves fan, the Lions are very much second in her affection.  

And part of that is they have a very nice stadium - I suspect it's the nicest in the country but I don't have many to compare it with.  The Copper Box arena is a 6,000 seater arena built for the 2012 Olympics and it's not been overly used so it's still in very good nick (and very accessible now thanks to the Elizabeth Line).

And so last night we headed over there to watch the Lions in the second leg of their EuroCup sem-final against Umana Reyer Venice.  The Lions held a slender one point advantage after the first leg - the hope was home advantage would be enough to see them through, but it certainly wasn't a done deal.  We were sat in the second row with excellent views of the court having spent the princely sum of £20 - and what does £20 get you these days?

Roared on by a vocal home crowd, the Lions started out strongly (which is good because you're not allowed to sit down until they've scored a point) but Venice came back into it in the second quarter to lead by two points at the half - giving them a one point lead across the two legs.  All of which lead to a very nervous daughter at half time!  However a slew of impressive three pointers in the third quarter saw them open up a double digit lead which they never relinquished leading to a pleasingly nerve-free last five minutes with the celebrations starting early!  After the game, the team went round the court high-fiving the spectators - which means my phone is now full of pictures of Isobel with various players and I have no idea who most of them are!

It's a great night out.  If you fancy some impressive and very reasonably priced action in a European cup final then I can thoroughly recommend heading along for the first leg on April 3rd - the Copper Box arena is a great spot (and very accessible thanks to the Elizabeth Line) and the crowd is very noisy and welcoming.  The men have a semi-final coming up as well, but as my daughter puts it "who cares about men's sport?"



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