The Leicestershire County Cup is an annual

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

knock-out club competition organized by the

Leicestershire Rugby Union The Leicestershire Rugby Union (LRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for those counties. The LRU admin ...

. It was first introduced in 1890 with the inaugural winners being

South Wigston South Wigston is a large village to the south of Leicester, England. It is outside the city boundary, forming part of the Oadby and Wigston district of Leicestershire. The population of the ward rose slightly from 7,471 at the 2001 census to 7,4 ...

. The competition was known as the Leicestershire League Cup until 1893 when it was changed to Leicestershire Senior Cup. The first competition was open to the top sides in the county apart from the Leicester FC first XV, who were considered too strong and would instead enter an 'A' team up until 1906. Smaller clubs in the county, as well as senior club second sides, played in the Leicestershire Junior Cup which had its inaugural competition three seasons earlier in 1887. The Senior Cup was discontinued after the 1926-27 season as it lost its appeal with the clubs involved. Clubs would instead take part in the LRU 7-a-side competition which was introduced for the following year. Rather confusingly the winners of this competition would be rewarded with the Rolleston Charity Cup - another Leicestershire club competition, also discontinued that year - while the runners up would receive the Senior Cup. This seven-a-side competition would continue until 1979. A proper 15-a-side county cup competition would not be introduced until the 1970-71 season when a format was recommended by Westleigh Rugby Club - a parent club of Leicester Lions. This new competition was first known as the 'Westleigh Cup' and was won by Stoneygate. The following season the cup would be known by its present name, the Leicestershire County Cup and up until the 2004-05 season would be a qualification method for clubs in the county for the English National Cup competition (now Anglo-Welsh Cup). The Leicestershire County Cup is currently the premier county cup competition for club sides based in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

that typically play in tier 5 (

National League 3 Midlands National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

) to tier 7 (

Midlands 2 East (North) Midlands 2 East (North) is a level 7 English Rugby Union league and level 2 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the northern part of the East Midlands region including clubs from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and the occa ...

Midlands 2 East (South) Midlands 2 East (South) is a level 7 English Rugby Union league and level 2 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the southern part of the East Midlands region including sides from Bedfordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and occ ...

) of the English rugby union league system - although teams in lower ranked regional leagues have also taken part. The current format is a knock-out competition with a first round, quarter finals, semi finals (held at neutral venues) and final (held at Welford Road). There is also a Leicestershire Bowl competition for lower ranked clubs (tier 8 and below) that are not taking part in the County Cup.

Leicestershire County Cup winners

Number of wins

* Syston (9) *

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughbor ...

(8) * Loughborough Students (7) * South Leicester (7) *

Belgrave Belgrave may refer to: Places *Belgrave, Cheshire, an English village *Belgrave, Leicester an English district *Belgrave, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia ** Belgrave railway line **Belgrave railway station, Melbourne **Belgrave (Puffing ...

(5) * Westleigh (5) * Leicester A (5) *

Leicester Lions Leicester Lions are a speedway team which originally operated from 1968 until 1983.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. The club returned to speedway for the 2011 Premier League season, moving up to the Elite League ...

(3) * Oadby Wyggestonian (3) * Stoneygate (3) *

Vipers The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

(3) * Aylestone St James (2) * Leicester Crusaders (2) *

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...

(2) *

(2) * Belgrave Premier Works (1) * Burfield Rangers (1) * Granville (1) * Leicester Swifts (1) *

Lutterworth Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located north of Rugby, ...

(1) *

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth is a market town and civil parish in western Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle of ...

(1) * Medway Athletic (1) *

Wigston Wigston, or Wigston Magna, is a town in Leicestershire, England, just south of Leicester on the A5199. It had a population of 32,321 in 2011. Geography Wigston is south of the city of Leicester, at the centre of Leicestershire and the East ...

(1)

Notes

References

External links

Leicestershire RFU
{{Rugby union in England Recurring sporting events established in 1890 1890 establishments in England Rugby union cup competitions in England Rugby union in Leicestershire

Leicestershire County Cup winners

Number of wins

Notes

See also

References

External links