Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.

The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home matches at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in the south of the city. The club has been known by the nickname Tigers since at least 1885. In the 2020-21 Premiership Rugby season Tigers finished 6th, this entitled them to compete in the 2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup. The current head coach is Richard Wigglesworth, who was appointed as interim head coach in December 2022.

Leicester have won 21 major titles. They were European Champions twice, back-to-back in 2001 and 2002; have won a record 11 English Championships, and have won eight Anglo-Welsh Cups, most recently in 2017. Leicester last won the Premiership Rugby title in the 2022 season, and appeared in a record nine successive Premiership finals, from 2005 to 2013. Leicester is one of only four teams never to have been relegated from the top division. Leicester have appeared in five European finals, the joint-second most overall, as well as the two victories they have also lost finals three times, in 1997, 2007 and 2009. In 2021 they played in the European Rugby Challenge Cup final.

Five Leicester Tigers players were members of the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final winning side including captain Martin Johnson.

History

Foundation and Tom Crumbie era (1880–1928)

Leicester Football Club was formed on 3 August 1880 by the merger of three smaller teams: Leicester Athletic Society, Leicester Amateurs and Leicester Alert. The club's first game was a scoreless draw on 23 October against Moseley at the Belgrave Road Cycle and Cricket Ground. On 10 September 1892 Leicester played their first game at Welford Road against a Leicestershire XV. Tom Crumbie was appointed secretary on 2 August 1895, a position he held for the next 33 years. Crumbie has been credited with dragging the club to national prominence. He disbanded reserve and third teams making the First XV an invitation side and introducing players from all over the country. Tigers first silverware was the Midlands Counties Cup won for the first time in 1898 against Moseley. Having won the Midlands Counties Cup every year from 1898 to 1905, they dropped out "to give other teams a chance". On their return to the competition in 1909 Tigers won the cup again. In 1903 Jack Miles became the first home-produced England international. Leicester's status as a premier club was confirmed in 1905 when a crowd of 20,000 was on hand to see the club face The Original All Blacks, losing 28-0. December 1909 saw Tigers play the Barbarians for the first time, holding them to a 9-9 draw. The fixture became a vital feature in the club's calendar delivering large attendances until open professionalism and league rugby in the 1990s forced it to gradually be abandoned due to fixture congestion. Tigers won the Midlands Counties Cup three more times in four years to cement their place as the midland's premier side before the outbreak of war in 1914. The visit of the Invincible All Blacks on 4 October 1924 saw a record attendance at Welford Road of 35,000 that stands to this day. Tigers were beaten 27-0 by the tourists.

Lions captains, decline and club restructure (1928–1971)

Club captain Doug Prentice captained the 1930 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia. The first BBC
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