At Polis & Latchi Lions we have a team made up of men over 50 and women over 40 who all enjoy the fun atmosphere. team spirit and exercise walking football presents.
We are a friendly group of mixed abilities and experience from various nationalities taking part in training sessions, games and occasional friendly matches with other teams on the beautiful island of Cyprus. (We have been known to partake in after session drinks and socialising too).
Some of our team are revisiting football after playing regular football or 5 a side or Sunday football in their earlier adult life, while others had never kicked a ball at all or maybe our distant schooldays were the last time some of us played.
Who are the Lions?
Who are the Lions?
Our Sessions
Currently we meet twice per week in the evenings and have occasional games, tournaments and other events at other times which can be seen on our schedule.
A typical 90 minute session on Mondays will include approximately 30 minutes of training drills & skills followed by a friendly game. Our 1 hour sessions on Thursdays are more of a fun kick about game without any structured training. Each session is followed by a chat and drink or two in the venue.
See our schedule of training sessions, games and social events.
The Venue
Our venue is the Propylaia sports centre, less than 5 minutes from Polis just off the main B7 Polis to Paphos road.
Ladies - Be part of the Lionesses
Currently we train and play as a mixed team, however our ladies Lionesses contingent is gaining members and momentum all the time and we hope to have dedicated ladies sessions in the future as the demand increases.
Our ladies are also involved in an all Cyprus ladies team project that involves monthly training days and playing in friendlies and tournaments with visiting teams. The next 12 months is set to be very exciting for ladies walking football in Cyprus.
(By the way, all current ladies had never played football before)
How to get involved
If you fancy giving it a try please contact us or just pop along to one of our sessions to have a llook.
Walk with us for Fun, Fitness, Friendship & Football.
If you live in Cyprus or are visiting and fancy sharing your passion and expertise with the team, we are always on the lookout and welcome any coaching input.
Are you a football coach?
Team History
- Mike Ireson, Founder & Manager
I decided to retire and hang up my boots from our beautiful game at 40 years of age after breaking my tib and fib at football. We left the UK to live on the wonderful island of Cyprus in 2018 and I saw an advert for Walking football in Paphos! I went along one evening to give it a try, loved it and played every week for 7/8 months at Paphos Utd. Then came the pandemic and everything stopped.
In 2021 after the height of the pandemic I thought maybe, just maybe, I could start up my own team (as the travelling to Paphos got me down) for over 50s Men and over 40s Women. I wanted to embrace the former chairman of Paphos Utd, Malcolm Bushell’s ethos of Fun, Fitness, Friendships and Football… as well as a few refreshments after every training session as we still do today.
So, I researched a lot on how to go about putting everything together and put all the pieces in place, finding a pitch, recruiting players,etc etc .
Very soon after, I found our home and pitch A&E (as it was then), now called Propilea Sports Centre. I put articles on Facebook and spread the word for players to come and join us on Monday evenings.
Our very first session was Monday the 19th July 2021. Eight players attended and we all stood on the pitch looking at each other thinking, what happens next? The following week, to my delight and astonishment, we had 18 turn up. As the weeks went by it fluctuated but with a steady flow.
I was now the proud founder of my first walking football team Polis and Latchi Lions WFC. This was the third team on Cyprus joining the two existing teams, Aphrodities Wanderers and Paphos Utd. Sponsored by some good friends of mine, Lisa and Ian from Crazy Cow Gifts and our very own goalkeeper, Simon Pridham’s company CP Home Services, we managed to get our very first kit ordered within weeks of starting.
With help from team members and my wife Pam who collected the subs for the pitch every week from her little white chair and table, things started to take shape with myself as Manager, Big John Rogers as Coach and our first Captain was appointed. With help from our team members, especially Jon H, we designed our friendly logo lion as it is today.
We now have well over 20 (and growing) active men and women players plus some great supporters who turn up week in week out plus our fantastic sponsors CP Home services and our Main sponsor A20 Real Estate who we are very grateful and excited to have on board.
For our venue we are fortunate to have a wonderful family running the Propylaia sports centre looking after us well each week and at various social events throughout the year.
I have said many times since starting the team, I am a proud person to be helping members of the team I started, to get fit, make friends, strive to improve, but most of all is to ENJOY it.
Main Sponsor
