Leicester Tigers : Geneneral History Page

General History

Founded in 1880 Leicester Football Club, or Leicester Tigers as they are more commonly known, has 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 (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 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 to 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 that was built in 1995.

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

Supporters and players alike put this turn in attitude down to Chalkie White who came to Leicester in 1968. He was a very forward thinking coach with high standards in terms of fitness and thinking about the game. His unique style of coaching brought the team success on the pitch and with that success came an increase in supporters.

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

In the 80s 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 a run of success for Leicester Tigers who took the Premiership title four years in a row from 1998-2002 and became the first team to win the European Cup two years in a row.

In the 2000/2001 Tigers made history and took the treble by winning the Zurich Premiership, the Zurich Championship and the Heineken Cup.