Gloucester Lions Korfball Club

SWKL Fixtures 2009/10

For the latest results from the Lions in the 2009/10 South West Korfball League check out below:

October 11th - Taunton (1) 12 - 12 Gloucester Lions (1)

Taunton (2) 2 - 4 Gloucester Lions (2)

Oxford Summer Tournament (29th August 09)

Two Lions teams made the short trip to Oxford for a sunny day's korfball by the Oxford ring-road! Despite the roar of traffic, there was still some serious korfing to be played. Both sets of teams had mixed mornings, with the inexperienced Lions 2 putting in some brave performances, including against local rival Bristol City as well as with the occasional help of an England International! Lions 1 had slightly more luck, with a mixed bag of wins, draws and defeats. This set up the afternoon pools with Lions 2 playing for 9th, whilst Lions 1 played for 5th.

The afternoon continued to be a mixed bag of results. Despite this, Lions 1 managed, amazingly to finish joint 5th with Bristol City (despite losing to them!), with Lions 2 bringing up the rear in 12th. However some valuable experience was gained from the day, not least from the girls, who seemed to play every single game of the tournament! (being ringers for other teams).

Cardiff Summer Tournament (22nd August 09)

Heading off to Cardiff, the Lions were looking to improve on last year's 20th (and last!) place at the Cardiff Tournament. The first game started in a good fashion, with six ringers needing to be called in as most of the players were stuck on the motorway! However, this gave the team some confidence and the morning session ended with four wins (including one against Birmingham City) and only one defeat, with that being to the eventual winners the Wildcats.

In the afternoon, the Lions were still playing for the title. However that didn't last very long, as they were up against National League site Nomads. Despite holding them close at times and putting in some good collects, a 3-6 defeat was not an accurate reflection of the effort the players made. To make things worse, the next opponents appeared, in the form of Bec - another National League side! However, determined to put in a similar performance as they did against Nomads, the Lions really thought they were up against it, with Bec controlling much of the initial play. However they could not establish a lead and the Lions clawed back into the game, and took the lead with minutes to go and holding on for a famous 3-2 victory and one of the best performances of the summer.

This positivity was taken into the next game, against another Bec side. However, after a long, hard day, the Lions couldn't repeat their performance and duely lost. Despite this, another 6th place finish marked yet another fantastic tournament and performances against well established korfball teams.

Didcot Summer Tournament (1st August 09)

In slightly damp conditions, the Lions headed to pastures new in deepest Oxfordshire. As the weather slowly deteriorated throughout the day, the Lions adapted to the conditions to finish a solid 6th once again!

Exeter Summer Tournament

Attended by clubs from SWKA and a thoroughly enjoyable day resulted in Lions finishing in 6th only on goals scored!

Bristol City Summer Tournament 2009

Following on from the success of the Lions tournament the weekend before, Gloucester headed to Bristol in confident mood. This confidence was soon justified, as the Lions topped their group in the morning session, winning 4 and drawing 1.

The afternoon session was a series of play-offs for final placings. The Lions begun with a good victory over Cardiff City 2, coming back from 0-2 down to win 5-2. This meant that the Lions would be playing off for the top 4 positions for the first time in their short history.

The semi-final was against Reading, who had come from no-where at the Gloucester Tournament to reach the final. The match was a close and tight affair, with Reading coming out 2-1 victors, despite the Lions going ahead.

The 3rd-4th place play-off was against a Highbury "Old Boys" team, aka the Brown Bears. Once again, the Lions pitted themselves well, despite going 2-0 down once again, and were unlucky not to draw level in the final minute. However, a 4th place finish is Gloucester's best ever finish in only their seond summer tournament season. Something to be proud of, and goes to show the potential the Lions have to equip themselves against the more established korfball clubs up and down the land.

Gloucester Lions Summer Tournament 2009

Results of the 2nd annual Lions Summer Tournament can be found here. A report will follow:

1st - Bristol City
2nd - Reading
3rd - Highbury
4th - Cardiff Dragons
5th - Gloucester Lions 1
6th - Exeter
7th - Cardiff Uni
8th - Woking
9th - Oxford City
10th - Oxford Isis 1
11th - Horfield
12th - Gloucester Lions 2
13th - Cardiff City
14th - Oxford Isis 2
15th - MK Roos
16th - Gloucester Cubs

West Midlands Korfball League - Results

The Lions will be taking the fixtures of another team in the West Midlands Korfball League from now until the end of the season. All results and mini match reports will be posted here:

Birmingham University 2 10 - 7 Gloucester Lions (18/01/09)

The Lions put in an encouraging performance in this narrow defeat against the University. Coming into the match cold without time for a decent warm-up, it wasn't surprising that they went 3-0 down early on. This appeared to spur the team into action however, and the Lions began to work the ball around much better, ending the first half at 6-3. The second half was a much closer affair, with 4 goals traded apiece, including 2 penalties converted by Gloucester. The University were on the back foot towards the end as the Lions defended hard and created a few opportunities towards the end of the game, but the 50 minute match ended 10 minutes too early for the team. This was a good performance, with 3 inexperienced players in the team proving that they have got what it takes to be competitive.

Goals:

Ed W - 2
Lois - 2
Pete F - 2
Tom - 1

Fixtures/Results 08/09 Season

From the 08/09 season, all South West Korfball League fixtures, result, tables and scorers are being hosted by the English Korfball Association Website. So to keep up-to-date on the latest Lions results and scoring Lions, head to:

http://www.englandkorfball.co.uk/comps/index.php

Click on the drop down menu of leagues, and select South West 1 or South West 2. Enjoy!

County Championships 2008

Congratulations to everyone who made the County Squad for the recent County Championships. I think we can all agree that it was a great weekend and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Click on the link below to take you to the internet summary from a Gloucestershire point of view on the glosmedia site:

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/County-Korfball/article-247419-detail/article.html

For information, the county squad for 2008 comprised of:

Amy Barnes,
Holly Barnes,
Peter Forsey,
Heather Geddes,
Lois Haddock,
Stuart Hall (Captain),
Phillippa Keen,
Tom Richards,
Ed Willougby,
Laura Willougby,
Rich Willoughby.

On the 31st May 2008, Gloucester Lions held it's inaugural summer tournament in the glorious sunshine at Caincross Rugby Club. Following a day of hard korfballing, (see photo gallery) played by 13 teams from all over the country, the players and supporters were entertained by local sensation MonkeyJam!

For those of you interested, the final standings were:

1st - Cardiff City
2nd - Birmingham University
3rd - Exeter
4th - Bristol City
5th - Abingdon
6th - Bristol University
7th - Gloucester Lions 1
8th - Oxford City
9th - Horfield 1
10th - Oxford Isis
11th - Horfield 2
12th - Gloucester Lions 2
13th - Cardiff University