World Footy News

Once again history has been made in Danish football with relative newcomers, the Odense Lions, reaching the DAFL finals for the first time. As expected, there is one very excited and emotional football club on the island of Funen. For a city already well known as the birth place of children’s story teller, Hans Christian Andersen, the Lions (and their Lionesses) are hoping to bring another type of fame to the city.

“For the first time the Odense Lions have made it to the Danish Australian Football League’s finals. They will meet Copenhagen Barracudas in the semi-final, a hard opposition that has only lost one game all year. It is the Lions third season and the development has been slow but steady.”

“The 2016 season was looking to be a big one when the Lions started pre-season in January. The many new players from when the club was founded all now had a few seasons under their belt. Additions to the team were made: both new talents and experienced players and the playing group were ready to work hard to improve.”

“The club had secured a new field in the city centre, making it easier for people to attend training than in previous years and school field at the edge of town was used. A new and bigger field, change rooms and even clubrooms were all a part of the new setup. This secured facilities for social events and a feeling of “Our Home Ground” that had not been there before when we were sharing change rooms with pre-school kids.”

“To make sure the Lions were ready for the DAFL season, a hard pre-season was planned with weekly running track sessions and intra club games. The Lions also got their first trophy when winning the Indoor Cup and it was the first time the club song was used singing ‘History Here In The Making’”

“The pre-season also included an international Lions game when Rheinland Lions from Germany came to visit Odense and was defeated. Games in Paris and Amsterdam were also played meaning the team had a few games already when the season started here in Denmark.”

“The start to the season was close to perfect with two wins in a row, giving us the hope we could make finals this year. Unfortunately we ran into some injuries and busy school schedules which all made it hard to get our best team together for a few games. This meant with four games left we were one win short to claim the last spot in the semi-finals.”

“The Lions did not go on a summer break as most clubs in Denmark do. Instead we continued to train and came out after the summer break close to securing the finals spot. The Lions lost with eight points but played a great game and the intensity was at a new high for the club. In this period the Lions showed their character and kept believing it could be our year. The end result was two wins in the last three games and the Lions are now ready, for the first time in the clubs history, to play finals.”

“No matter the result this Saturday, all Lions will keep their head high and look back at the 2016 season as the season where Odense took Australian Rules football to a new high level that before was unseen in our part of Denmark.”

It is a wonderful story of development, perseverance and belief. The Lions start the game as rank outsiders with only the brave believing they can win. But then, even fewer believed that the Copenhagen Giants would surprise everyone to win their flag, so hope must still live in the hearts of Lions.