On the 10th of April 2024, at the Copper Box Arena, an Olympic venue from 2012 in our nation’s capital, in front of over 7000 supporters, the London Lions Women’s team defeated Besiktas 81-70, to secure a 149-145 aggregate win over the European powerhouse, becoming the first English team to ever win a major European trophy. That night, arguably the greatest in the history of our sport in this country, united the British basketball community like never before. The Lions were European Champions, as well as WBBL (now Super League Basketball or SLB) champions four years running. Their domestic record in the last four years is as simple as this… they’ve won everything… literally everything!
When the Eurocup holders travel to Ipswich to play at Copleston High School in the Super Basketball League trophy on Saturday 28th September, there really isn’t a frame of reference for how much of a ‘David and Goliath’ match up we have on our hands. Not to disrespect Ipswich who, in terms of the WNBL, have been the most successful team for the last five years (3 league titles, a playoff championship and the national cup) – but there are different levels at play. The SLB is a different competition to the WNBL, although a case could have been made over the years that a few National League Clubs could have at least been competitive with some of the lower level WBBL teams – nobody is suggesting that the top tier teams in National League operate in the same universe as the top professional-clubs, especially London Lions.
Ipswich’s invitation into the competition is based on their success last season; a season in which they were poised for a historic league, cup and playoff treble, before CoLA Southwark Pride upstaged them in the playoff final, taking a well-deserved win. But that loss didn’t change that, for almost all of the 23-24 season, Ipswich were the ‘team to beat’. However, this year's Suffolk side are a very different team to the group that took the floor last season, with only two starters returning. And yes, the same can very much be said of the Lions, who do not have a single player from last season’s roster returning. But that doesn’t change history. London Lions ARE the reigning Eurocup holders, they are the Super League Basketball Champions, SLB Trophy holders and Playoff Champions. And, Ipswich are the reigning WNBL league and cup champions.
Copleston is a far cry from the Copper Box. Ipswich have made no secret of the need for an indoor sports arena in the town. However, Copleston is a difficult place to get a win. A school sports hall by day is transformed into a national league venue at weekends, equipped with bleacher seating, game day hosts, courtside advertising and perhaps most importantly, a raucous home crowd. Seven thousand spectators may be a stretch, but expect a good few hundred to be inside the sports hall, making enough noise to make any away team know they are on the road. What is also noteworthy is the idea of Ipswich playing as such overwhelming underdogs on their home court, an alien concept to most of the WNBL. While the possibility of an upset, based on the last few seasons of success that the London Lions have enjoyed may seem like the most unrealistic of fairytales, the Ipswich programme’s entire ethos is built on the idea of ‘punching above their weight’. Ipswich, a relatively small market town of less than 150,000, just off the east coast of England, shouldn’t be the basketball powerhouse that it is – yet their conveyor belt of Great Britain Internationals and Scholarship athletes has always defied the odds. Throw in countless national championships over the last few years and you have just about enough of a glimmer of hope that they could pull off the greatest of great upsets! And if nothing else, Copleston will always be able to claim that the Eurocup holders came to town!
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