As you’re probably well aware, we’re all in lockdown at the minute which means we’re not getting out much.
Well, no bother! England Lacrosse are here to transport you to a few of our favourite lacrosse destinations to fill that gaping void in our lives that is holidays, air-travel, and playing lacrosse overseas!
Our first stay at home and social distanced journey is 3,000 miles away in Israel, a destination we’ve become quite accustomed to visiting in recent years.
We wanted to delve a little deeper into two of England’s most memorable visits to Israel.
Both visits were to the country’s seventh largest city, Netanya; the first in 2018 for the Men’s World Lacrosse Championship and the second a year later, in 2019, for the Women’s European Lacrosse Championship.
2018 Men’s World Lacrosse Championship
Our first visit took place in 2018 for the Men’s World Lacrosse Championship.
This was a significant World Championship as it was the first time the tournament had been hosted by a country whose first language is not English.
And, interestingly, the tournament was originally scheduled to take place in Manchester, England but after a withdrawal, Netanya, Israel was selected.
A massive 46 teams took part across 14 divisions sporting such extravagant names as “Plum Division”, “Tan Division”, and “Olive Division”.
England were drawn in the (rather boringly named) “Blue Division” with the other nations that finished in the top six at the 2014 World Championship: USA, Canada, Iroquois Nationals, Australia, and Scotland.
Being in the top group at a World Championship means that every game in the pool stage is tough and that proved to be true in 2018 as, despite their best efforts, including a narrow 8-7 defeat to Australia, England came away with one win from five (an 11-8 victory over Scotland).
However, this saw them progress through to the play-in games meaning they could finish as high as fifth in the competition.
An narrow victory by one goal over close rivals Ireland and a fairly routine 11-4 victory over Puerto Rico saw England play Japan in the battle for fifth place.
Japan, who’d finished in eighth place at the 2014 World Championship, progressed to the play-in game with aplomb, winning both their pool stage games against Norway and Netherlands.
Two close play-in games came next for the East-Asian nation; the first an 11-7 win over Scotland before they defeated hosts, Israel, 10-9.
From a Japanese point of view, the fifth place game started well and they saw themselves 7-0 up after the first quarter.
A disaster for England but they did manage to get themselves back into the game and went in at half-time three goals behind with the score at 8-5 to Japan.
Now, the second half is when England really came into their own as they pushed and pushed to give themselves a real chance of beating this stubborn Japan side.
Just before the end of the third quarter, England pulled themselves level at 8-8 but, with seconds on the clock before quarter-time, Japan, yet again, put themselves in front making it 9-8 going into the final quarter.
Cue a massive display from the boys in the final quarter as they scored three goals without reply and any defensive frailties from the first quarter were put aside as they won the fifth place game 11-9.
You can watch highlights of that famous victory over Japan on our YouTube channel HERE.
2019 Women’s European Lacrosse Championship
Our second memorable visit to Israel was last year at the Women’s European Lacrosse Championship, again in Netanya.
This is a competition England are always confident of doing well in and the target was, as they had done six times before, to win the tournament and bring the trophy home!
In fact, a certain generation of England fan will have memories of no one else but England winning the Women’s European Lacrosse Championship as, before the 2019 competition, they had won the previous two editions in 2015 in Czech Republic and 2012 in Amsterdam.
So, England went into this tournament with some confidence that they’d be able to come away with a positive result and they showed their intent from their first pool stage game beating close rivals Ireland with relative ease 14-5.
This game began a winning streak that saw them reach the final for a record 10th time, brushing past Germany (16-2), Israel (12-3), Wales (11-6), and Scotland (15-4) in the pool stages.
Winning all the games in the pool stage meant England finished top of their group and qualified automatically for the semi-finals.
And it wasn’t until this semi-final vs Czech Republic that England were really tested, pushed, and forced to show what they can truly do.
With the scores tied 7-7 at half-time in the semi-final, it was all to play for and it was going to take something extra special to beat this determined Czech side.
And extra special is exactly what England gave us with a nice little five goal run in the third quarter meaning they had something to defend and hold on to.
England won the game 16-10 setting up a heavy-weight final versus the hosts, Israel (who England had already beaten in the pool stage).
A tough match that saw England go three nil up before being pegged back 6-5 early in the third quarter eventually ended in a well fought and hard earned 10-7 victory.
That’s right, the European Trophy came back to England for a record seventh time and third time in a row!
You can watch highlights from the 2019 Women’s European Lacrosse Championship on our YouTube channel HERE.
So, we reckon it’s fair to say that, with a fifth place finish at a Men’s World Championship and a gold medal at a Women’s European Championship, Israel, certainly in recent times, has been one of the best England lacrosse away destinations.
And with an average temperature in the summer months anywhere between 20 and 27 degrees Celsius coupled with some lovely white sandy beaches, we can’t wait to get back there and playing some lacrosse!