London Lions F.C.

London Lions
Full name London Lions Football Club
Nickname(s) The Lions
Founded 1995
Ground Rowley Lane
Arkley
Barnet
Ground Capacity 1500 (100 seated)
Chairman Andrew Landesberg
Manager Tony Gold
League Herts Senior County League Premier Division
2014–15 Spartan South Midlands League Division One, 17th (resigned)

London Lions Football Club are a football club from Barnet, London, England, who are the Saturday team representing the Maccabi London Lions football club.

They won the Herts Senior County League Premier Division in 2010, earning them promotion to the Spartan South Midlands League Division One. In 2013 they won the Spartan South Midlands Division One title. Currently they play all home league games and certain cup matches at Hemel Hempstead.[1] The club is affiliated to the Hertfordshire County Football Association, and is a FA Charter Standard club[2]

History

In 1995 the players and officials of Sunday league side Maccabi Association London (MAL) decided to join the Hertfordshire Senior County League with the Club making its debut in the 1995–96 season and was renamed MALEX.[3][4] They remained an all-Jewish team, the squad in the first four years based on MAL players who were generally playing in the Hendon and District Sunday League and the Maccabi Southern Football League. The club was initially managed by Paul Wise and Malcolm Newman. They were succeeded by former Brentford striker Francis Joseph, sometimes assisted by Chris Ramsay in one of his first coaching roles.[4]

During the 1999 close season, the club revised its management structure, and decided to change its name to London Maccabi Lions, whilst retaining its all-Jewish status.[5] This brought in an influx of new players, from a number of Maccabi League Clubs and under the management team of Bobby Fisher and Adam Solomons the club lost only three league games as they won the Division 1 title by 4 points.

The club lifted more silverware in 2007 when they defeated Metropolitan Police to lift the Herts Centenary Trophy.[6] In the 2009–10 season the team under the stewardship of Tony Gold and Steve Grenfell won the Herts Senior County League premier division, winning promotion to the Spartan South Midlands League Division One.[7] This promotion was made possible too because the Lions moved from their home of Rowley Lane in Arkley to ground share with St Albans at Clarence Park, as this ground had flood lights and a 100 seater stand to meet the league requirements. In the 2010–11 season the club moved to Goffs Lane to share with Broxbourne Borough V. & E. F.C..[7] In the same season they added a second Herts Centenary Trophy beating Letchworth Garden City Eagles 3–2.[8] With Broxbourne folding Lions returned to Rowley Lane as their home ground though playing midweek fixtures and FA Cup matches at Hemel Hempstead FC.[1]

On 11 August 2012 London Lions became the first Jewish team to win a competitive match in the FA Cup since Wingate beat Acton Town 8-1 in 1948/49 season.[9] The 2012-13 season also saw the club win Division one of the Spartan South Midlands League, and gain promotion to the premier division.[10] They were relegated the following season, and in 2015 resigned from the SSML and re-joined the Herts Senior League.[11]

Ground

London Lions is based at Rowley Lane, Arkley, Barnet, EN5 3HW. With a 200 seat stand named the Alan Mattey Stand opened in 2015.

Honours

League honours

Cup Honours

Records

Club records

Player records

References

  1. 1 2 "Gold ready to unleash his Lions in FA Cup | The Jewish Chronicle". Thejc.com. 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  2. ↑ "HERTFORDSHIRE CHARTER STANDARD CLUBS (By FA Charter Standard Category)" (PDF). 2007-06-08. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  3. ↑ MALEX at the Football Club History Database
  4. 1 2 "Welcome to London Lions Online Club History". Londonlions.com. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 LONDON LIONS at the Football Club History Database
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Clubs". Goalrun. 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  7. 1 2 "Ground share deal for Broxbourne | Hertfordshire Sports News & Football Fixtures & Results | Hertfordshire Sports Headlines". Hertfordshiremercury.co.uk. 2013-03-21. Retrieved 2013-03-28.
  8. ↑ "Football Club History Database - Hertfordshire County Cups 2010-11". Fchd.info. Retrieved 2013-03-28.
  9. ↑ "Four-midable Lions march on in FA Cup | The Jewish Chronicle". Thejc.com. 2012-08-14. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  10. ↑ "London Team Is Built on One Religion but Has Evolving Identity". NYTimes.com. 2013-04-27. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ "Newsletter No 35 By Bill Scholes :: Spartan South Midlands Football League News | Goalrun". Spartansouthmidlands.goalrun.com. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
  13. ↑ "Welcome to London Lions Online". Londonlions.com. 2000-09-17. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  14. ↑ "Lions will learn from FA Cup defeat, says Gold | The Jewish Chronicle". Thejc.com. 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
  15. ↑ "London Lions progress in FA Vase | The Jewish Chronicle". Thejc.com. 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2012-09-28.

External links

Coordinates: 51°39′5.918″N 0°14′48.556″W / 51.65164389°N 0.24682111°W / 51.65164389; -0.24682111

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, March 13, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.