LEICESTERSHIRE RUGBY UNION – AN ABRIDGED HISTORY
Abridged from the book by S. I. "Van" Hopkins:
Leicestershire Rugby Union 1887-1987
One Hundred Years of Rugby development in the County
with additions since 1987 by the Hon. Secretary
Early Years
In Leicestershire, Rugby Football caught on quickly. Many of the teams in the early days were based on churches and Sunday Schools’, and that is not particularly surprising. Many clergy were involved as players since Rugby Football largely developed in the public schools, notably Rugby School, and many of the clergy of the time were products of those schools and the universities. Factories too were quick to produce sides, no doubt as part of the drive to produce team spirit amongst the workers.
Frank Daisley wrote in 1906: “ A rugby team in connection with St Margaret’s was started by the Reverend Pertwee in 1869 which played both codes as the St Margaret’s United up to 1872 and from then Rugby only up to about 1880. Leicester Athletic Society started a Rugby team about 1872 – Mr Henry Howe was the 1st Captain and in the 2nd season, Mr J Collier. The Amateurs then started in 1873, and then the Alert came about 1875. Later, about 1878 (sic) came a general amalgamation under the title of Leicester Rugby Football Club, or Tigers. Amateurs claim to have played Lutterworth about 1875 (several amateur players having recollections of changing in a Baker house).”
The writer’s memory errs somewhat as the amalgamation of Leicester Football Club actually took place in 1880.
Formation of the Union
There is no report of any attempt to form an official body to control the development of Rugby Football on an organised area basis until we come to the 1886/87 season – 18 years after the first clubs were reported to have been operating.
Apart from LFC there were several early clubs in Leicester and Leicestershire, St Margaret’s Church Guild had a team in 1869, Leicester Athletic Society FC 1870, Leicester Alert 1876, Leicester Amateur 1871, Lutterworth 1873, Kibworth 1874, Ravenstone 1876, Victoria FC 1876, Market Harborough 1877, Belgrave St Peters 1881, Hinckley 1881, Loughborough Rangers 1882, Bellows (later to become Swifts) 1883, Old Nelson 1884, Dover Street (later Crusaders) 1885, St Leonard’s 1885, Wimbledon 1885, Tyro 1885, South Wigston 1886, Knighton 1886.
Discussions between clubs, players and committee-men resulted in a meeting of representatives of Leicester Clubs on 23rd March 1887, held at 21 Gallowtree Gate, Leicester with the purpose of the meeting being the organisation of inter-club competitions.
A further recorded meeting took place on 24th September 1890, held at the Old Horse, London Road, Leicester at which 12 clubs were represented. This meeting capitalised on the work done during the previous three years and stabilised the organisation.
In August 1893, it was passed that the Leicestershire Rugby Union should become affiliated to the English Rugby Union.
A year later in 1894 saw the formation of the Leicestershire Schools Rugby Union.
In 1895 the Referees Association, which was run by the officers of Leicestershire Rugby Union, at that time, joined the Midland Counties Referees Association. They then formed into the Referees Society in September 1897 to run its own affairs independently and to appoint referees to all matches under the aegis of the Leicestershire Rugby Union, which they have continued to do ever since.
Formation of Clubs
Between the years 1887 and 1900, at least another 2 dozen teams were formed though with mixed lease of life. Many only lasting for a season. The success of the Leicester Club and The Crusaders also caused several local clubs to fold up, as their better players were attracted away to play for them.
By 1900 there where 14 clubs affiliated to the Union and a year later, 2 more making a total of 16.
The opening decade of the 20th century saw the growth of still more teams, as new residential areas developed and the City expanded. 1903 –1905 saw a vast increase in the number of clubs, from 37 to almost 70. However, this was a high-water mark and there was a sharp decline after about 1911.
By 1904 there was in existence a Leicestershire and District Rugby Combination, a Sunday Schools’ Combination and a Thursday Combination. All 3 combinations were organisations of teams competing for various shields and cups.
The LRU played several matches against Nuneaton and Northamptonshire and in the earlier days had an annual fixture with Leicester. During 1909 it was resolved to award all players taking part in 3 representative Union matches should be awarded a County Cap.
After The Great War
The advent of the First World War caused the demise of the Midland Counties Union to which Leicester and Leicestershire had contributed so notably, and in 1920 Leicestershire became a constituent body of the English Rugby Union.
The history of the Leicestershire Rugby Union is therefore practically in two parts – 1887 up to the First World War, when they were part of the Midland Counties Rugby Football Union. Then afterwards in 1920 when the Midland Counties and the East Midlands were re-grouped, the Leicestershire Rugby Union taking an Individual part in the County Championship as an independent constituent body.
The first official meeting after the war was held on 20th May 1919 at the Junior Training Hall, Aylestone Road, Leicester. This time, however, there were but eight clubs represented, in addition to the Schools’ Union and the Referees’ Society.
In December of that year, a meeting of the Union was informed that the Counties Championship Committee had approved a scheme that included Nottinghamshire and Rutland within the umbrella of the Leicestershire Union. This was later approved by the ERU general meeting in May 1920.
The Annual General Meeting held at the Junior Training Hall on 10th June 1920 was the first meeting of the recognised Union which now embraced the counties of Nottingham and Rutland. The name of the Union was altered from “Leicestershire County Football Union” to “The Leicestershire Rugby Union”.
The practice of having a President hold office until he himself decided to resign came to an end with the passing of a resolution at the April 1921 meeting, that he should henceforth hold office for one year only.
Though the new Union was still in its first year, it reached the County Championship Final. The County side at this time was almost entirely composed of Tigers players.
A New Wave of Clubs
In addition to success at County level, the junior clubs continued to flourish. Many pre-war sides failed to reform after the end of hostilities, some merged, others started from scratch as completely new clubs.
In 1920/21 season apart from Leicester FC there were Aylestone St James, Aylestone Athletic, Belgrave, Depot Leicestershire Regt, Fosse Road, Granville, Hinckley, Knighton Old Boys, Loughborough Technical College, Lutterworth, Moat Road Athletic, Melton Mowbray, Medway Athletic (Alliance & Friendly), Newark, Nottingham, Oadby, Old Newtonians, Stoneygate, South Leicester, St Hilda’s, South Wigston and Westleigh.
During the next 15 years there were added Avenue Athletic, Aylestonians, British United, Claremont, Coalville, Kibworth, 56 Leicester BP Scouts, Leicester Technical College, Vipers, Leicester YMCA, Loughborough, Market Harborough, Highfields Medway, Melbourne, Mellor Bromley, Oakham, Old Ellisonians, Old Ricardians, Old Wyggestonians, Syston and Wolsey.
Newark and Nottingham left to become part of the newly formed Notts, Lincs and Derby RU in 1925/26.
The period 1919 to 1939 saw almost nothing like the involvement with Junior Club Rugby that had been such a feature of the first decade of the century. The first and third decades of the century had both suffered from severe unemployment, but while the first decade saw the growth of dozens of Rugby Clubs for the young men of the time, the 1930’s saw nothing like that.
1939 to 1945
The intervention of war cancelled out the 1939/40 programme. Fortunately, during the war years a band of enthusiasts succeeded in keeping the game alive. Representatives of ten clubs formed a committee who managed to cope with a long succession of handicaps, in particular relating to playing equipment and grounds, rail and road travel.
Obviously, regular fixtures had gone by the board. But were boosted by a new organisation, the Leicestershire Harlequins, formed to give a game to servicemen passing through the County, local players home on leave and anyone still in the area who wanted to play. The arrival of the 1942/3 season found them running two teams each week.
Recovering Ground
Plans were made for County football to commence again in 1946/7. The red and green colours were to be discontinued, and the new ones to be adopted were a maroon jersey, with a running fox as the logo.
The aftermath of the war was to be felt for a long time. Extra pitches were urgently required for the increasing number of teams as clubs reformed and expanded. Victoria Park, which had been the home of so many clubs in earlier years, was still not ready in 1952 and even when it did become available, the majority of pitches went to soccer teams. The old Pavilion had been destroyed by a German bomb, and during the war much of the park had been used as “Dig for Victory” allotments. Recovery was slow.
In September 1950, the situation was such that 24 teams were allocated only 8 pitches on grounds controlled by the City’s Parks Committee.
In spite of all the difficulties, the County Committee went ahead energetically in expanding interest in Rugby football especially by encouraging Youth football and by 1952, there were 13 Junior Alliance sides, later to become Colts or Youth sides.
Leicestershire had always been in the forefront in promoting Rugby Football at all levels and there was in the County a long-established system of stepping stones, by which a player could progress from school to Junior Alliance to club, to County. It wasn’t until 1954 that the RFU decided that Constituent bodies would now be officially responsible for all schoolboy Ruby football in its area. Leicestershire had nothing to do in order to implement this – the organisation had been there for over 60 years.
For many years there had been a handbook known as Rowans Guide which had been a invaluable source of reference for all clubs. It had been edited by D J Norman on behalf off the Rowans firm of outfitters, but the firm, although discontinuing its production in 1953, offered £100 to launch a new style handbook for the Midlands. This became known as the Midlands Counties Handbook.
The end of the decade saw the County side in three semi-finals of the County Championship.
Restructuring
The beginning of the decade had seen the County break away from the stranglehold which the Tigers officials had had on it for nearly thirty years, and began its development as a far less autocratic body than it had previously been. The Committee discussed a suggestion that they form a council to which every club should send a representative, and from this council, an executive committee should be chosen. The intention was to bring clubs more into the day to day running of the Union, but the idea was thrown out as it was thought that such a council would be too unwieldy. Many years later the idea was translated into fact, with the formation of a General Committee of all club representatives meeting every three months, and an Executive Committee, elected from the General Committee, meeting once a month.
Considering the close affinity between the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland, it was rather surprising that the latter county’s application to be included in the title of the County Union was turned down. One of the reasons given for the rejection was that the inclusion of Rutland would make the title too long for printing purposes!
Around 1965, the annual 7-a-side competition held on the Tigers ground was beginning to lose its appeal and support, probably because of its format. The Committee changed it to make it a “family day” with matches played on the Aylestone St James and Stoneygate grounds that adjoined each other in Covert Lane. This competition has now been re-started as a County Clubs Sevens and held at the Syston ground.
By 1970 Leicestershire had existed 50 years as a Constituent body of the Rugby Union, after 33 years as a member of the Midlands Counties Football Union, and it celebrated the occasion in fine style with a match against Durham on the Welford Road ground on 29th September, followed by a Celebration Dinner at the Grand Hotel.
New Competitions
For the 1971/2 season the LRU approved a scheme put forward by the Westleigh club for a Club Championship in the County, with a trophy given by the club, and naturally called the “Westleigh Cup”. Eventually this competition was taken over by the Union and became the County Cup Competition.
Mini-Rugby started in the County in 1974, and later was asked to address the problem of declining interest in Rugby football within schools by extending its range to include boys under the age of 13 years. This was enshrined in the rules drawn up for the Mini-Rugby association in June 1978.
At the same time in addition to the work they were already doing in respect of Mini-Rugby, clubs were urged to provide Rugby football for the 12-16 year old age group.
Westleigh’s initiative in inaugurating a club competition was repeated in the 1978 season when they proposed to the Union that they would like to run a mid-week knockout competition for 2nd XV’s. This competition was to prove very popular and as with the County Cup Competition is now under the administration of the Union.
The end of 1984/5 season saw the County gain promotion to Division 2 of the County Championship, but it was a hollow success, as the Rugby Union called a halt to that system and returned to a divisional system.
During the mid 1980’s the question of the formation of leagues had been exercising the minds of Rugby players and administrators all over the country. In Leicestershire, an informal meeting of clubs was held to discuss the RFU paper on the “Practical Implications of Leagues”. Twenty clubs sent representatives and with the exception of Westleigh, they expressed the view that they were in favour not of leagues, but of merit tables for those who wished to join them.
Eighty years before this Rugby football in Leicestershire was almost completely run on a league basis and continued in this way into the 1920’s and 30’s. In the 1980’s, the clubs were anxious to keep the amateur spirit of the game.
In 1985, the Union celebrated its Centenary Year.
Continued in the second part - The Next Twenty Five Years.