Leicester Tigers : Geneneral History Page

General History

Founded in 1880, Leicester Football Club, or Leicester Tigers as they are more commonly known, have gone on to become one of the most successful and well-known rugby clubs in the world.

The club was formed in August 1880 at a meeting in the George Hotel, Leicester and was an amalgamation of three clubs: Leicester Societies AFC, Leicester Amateur FC and Leicester Alert. Leicester Football Club played their first game that October against Moseley at the Belgrave Cricket and Cycle Ground in their original club colours of black.

It was as early as 1885 that the team took up the Tigers name when the Leicester Daily Post stated that "the Tiger stripes were keeping well together." It is still not certain whether the name came from the brown and yellow kit then worn by the side or a connection with the local regiment who were nicknamed the Tigers after serving in India.

The club started as it meant to go on and in 1897 won the Midlands Counties Cup – the premier tournament for Midlands-based rugby clubs. Leicester then dominated this tournament into the twentieth century, securing eight successive wins up until 1905 when they dropped out “to give other teams a chance”.

Heineken Cup Double Winners

In 1920, the Crumbie Stand was built and a terrace added just a year later along with an extension to the members’ stand, taking the ground capacity up to 10,250. It would be another 75 years until further extensions were made to Welford Road with the Alliance & Leicester Stand being built in 1995.

It was towards the end of the 1970s that Tigers really began to grow. At the start of the decade the club had just 600-700 members and gates less of than 1,000. By end of the '70s, Tigers had reached their first cup final and the club was on its way towards a substantial period of growth.

Supporters and players alike attributed this change in attitude to teh presence of Chalkie White, who came to Leicester in 1968. He was a very forward thinking coach with high standards in terms of fitness and tactical awreness. His unique style of coaching brought the team success on the pitch and with that success came an increase in supporter numbers.

The 70s was a fantastic era for the famous Barbarians fixture where, in contrast with the usual 750-2000 spectators, the team played in front of a packed house at Welford Road.

In the 1980s, the club still enjoyed the benefits of amateur rugby with nights away and Easter tours, but off the pitch they were taking their first steps towards corporate sponsorship.

The turn of the century saw an impressive run of success for Leicester Tigers as they took the Premiership title for four years in a row from 1998-2002 and became the first team to win the European Cup in successive seasons.

In the 2000/2001 season, Tigers made history by winning a Zurich Premiership, Zurich Championship and Heineken Cup treble. Although the Heineken Cup win of the following year was followed by four seasons without a trophy, Tigers finished the 2006/07 season by coming within 80 minutes of another treble-winning campaign as they fell to defeat in the European Cup Final having secured Guinness Premiership and EDF Energy Cup glory earlier in the year. Two more Twickenham finals apperances followed in the 2007/08 season as Tigers finished runners up in both domestic competitions.