History of Leicestershire Rugby Union – 1987 to 2012
Following the success of the special events organised during the Centenary season of 1986/87 the officers and Officials of the County Union returned to their normal duties. No one could foresee, however, the changes that would occur within Rugby Union during the next twenty five years. The introduction of league rugby across the board by 1989, compulsory registration of senior league players in 1990 followed by Mini/Junior players in 1993, the coming of professional rugby in 1996, the promotion of the Women and Girl’s game and the increase in Junior and Youth rugby have had a profound effect on the world of Rugby Union in general and the Community Game in particular.
The strength of the Union over those years has reduced in terms of the number of member clubs but improved in its financial strength. In the Centenary year 1986/1987 there were, including Stamford RFC, 46 member clubs, Shepshed RFC being formed during the year. The number rose to 47 in 1993 but by 2011 the number had fallen to 35 with one of those being almost non existent. During the period Old Uppinghamians, Old Ratcliffians, Gartree Prison, Leicester Medics, the Prison Service (Midlands), Leicester Telephones, New Parks, South Wigston, Brooksby College, Braunstone Town and Leicestershire Constabulary all ceased to exist. South Wigston had been one of the original members of the Leicestershire Union when it had been formed on 23rd March 1887. Several new clubs were either formed or joined the Union but eventually fell by the wayside during the period. Amongst these were Loughborough Former Students, Flecktonians, Leicester Medics (now reformed but no longer a member of the Union), Foxhounds and Hallaton Barbarians. Castle Donnington were admitted to membership in 1990 but moved to Notts, Lincs and Derbyshire in 1992 whilst Stamford moved back to the same Constituent Body. In 1993 Leicester Polytechnic became De Montfort University and Scraptoft Mentors were swallowed up by them. Two club mergers took place, West Leicester joining with Old Bosworthians to become Leicester Forest in 1996/1997 and Wigston joining Westleigh in 1998/99 to become Leicester Lions. Two clubs changed their names, Old Ashbeians to Ashby RFC and Kibworth to Market Harborough RUFC. It is a sad reflection on the state of Rugby Union in Leicestershire that during the 25 year period only three new clubs have become members of the Union and survived, Shepshed in 1986/87, Cosby in 1991/92 and Sileby Town in 2006/07.
Over the last 25 years the constitution of the Leicestershire Union has changed several times. In 1992 the then President, Brian Elliott, convened a working party to look at the administration of the Union, make it more efficient and bring it up to date and at the Annual General Meeting in May 1993 the new structure was agreed for implementation from the beginning of the next season. There was to be a smaller Executive Committee with its own chairman and more emphasis on the playing side with two members from the Playing sub committee which would oversee the playing of County rugby from Mini level to Seniors and also Competitions and Development. In 1996 it was decided that the President’s term of office should be reduced from two years to one year and that there would be a President Elect, H. A. Simms becoming the first incumbent.
During this period the Union has been represented on the RFU Council by three honourable gentlemen, John Simpson, who was President of Leicestershire for several years including the Centenary year, Mike Wilson who was well known as a member of the RFU Competitions Committee being a leader in league competition organisation and Malcolm Ross who has now served for over thirteen years and been at the forefront of County and Midlands playing development particularly at Under 21/20 level. John Simpson was only the second Leicestershire representative to ever become President of the Rugby Football Union.
It would be difficult to point out any one President of the Union over the last twenty five years who stands out from any other and I do not propose to do this. No doubt readers will have their own recollections of the prominent ones. A list of those who have served the County is given later. Along with the Presidents the other senior officers have included Mike Wilson, Alan Wells and Richard Green as Honorary Secretaries and the late Brian Hillyer, Malcolm Ross, the late Bill Beynon and John Allen as Honorary Treasurers who have all steered the Union along a successful administrative and financial path.
Over the years various changes were made to the sub committees to reflect the changing needs of the RFU and rugby in general. However around 1993 the RFU began to urge Constituent Bodies and clubs to look at becoming incorporated as limited companies to protect their Officers, Officials and members from court action. This had become an issue following several high profile court cases. The Union asked their legal adviser, the late John Simpson, to look at this but in 1994 he reported back that “the LRU should not become incorporated as there were no debts outstanding against their assets”. However, by 1996 the question of incorporation had again raised its head particularly as the Union were considering setting up a Resources Centre which would mean purchasing or leasing a ground and other facilities. The matter rumbled on until 2000 when Leicestershire became incorporated as an Industrial and Provident Society. By 2001 two member clubs had also become incorporated bodies and of the twenty eight clubs currently in membership of the Union that are eligible to become incorporated twenty one have now done so. It is expected/hoped that the other seven will soon follow suit to limit the liabilities of their officers, committees and members.
In terms of finance, the Union has always been strong and the £20,000 balance sheet figure of 1987 has increased in line with inflation, swelled by the profits made on Midlands matches in the 1990’s to today’s considerable balance. With a strong balance sheet the question of a County Ground/Resource Centre was floated as long ago as 1989 when serious consideration was given to purchasing the former Bentley Engineering sports ground as a “minor games venue, training facility and office for the Youth Development Officer who was soon to be appointed”. Eventually the proposal was dropped possibly due to cost but no reason was officially recorded. However, in March 1992 the Resource Centre again raised its head and a Sub Committee was formed to look at the possibilities and report back as soon as possible. A preliminary report produced at the Executive Committee in December that year suggested that the Centre should be placed at an existing rugby club “not yet identified” rather than on a Greenfield site. A sum of money was identified within the Union’s resources to provide such a centre. There is no record in the minutes of a final report being produced but proposals came and went including purchasing/leasing the former Electricity sports ground on Aylestone Road and the University sports ground on Welford Road. In September 1995 Jerry Day, former President of the Union, produced a paper giving his thoughts on a proposed Resources Centre to include a training barn and floodlit pitches and the search for a suitable site was on again on. Nothing came of this and in 1998 the idea of a Resources Centre was again floated to deal with the perceived issue of the lack of training facilities within the County. Over the next few years, led by Ken Palfreyman, a small sub group visited several sites including three school sites which were identified as possibilities, with Soar Valley Community College coming out favourite. In 2001 the newly appointed YDO, Nick Scott, was provided with an office there in a temporary classroom and plans were drawn up and approved for floodlighting to the identified pitch and storage facilities for equipment. Some schools games were played at the College. However, progress was held up by the lack of reasonable quality changing facilities which were promised by the Local Authority and the failure of the Local Authority to agree a full lease rather than a licence. Eventually the changing facilities were upgraded along with the all weather pitches which Leicestershire would be allowed to use, but by this time proposals had been made for building a Sixth Form College on the site including the area proposed for use by the Union. By the middle of 2005 the Soar Valley Resource Centre proposal was dropped and the YDO, who was by now a Rugby Development Officer, was relocated to Loughborough University. The search for a suitable site rumbled on and expressions of interest were invited from all Leicestershire clubs and schools against a specification drawn up by a sub committee under the chairmanship of Alan Wells. Responses were received from three clubs, two universities and three colleges. Again a suitable site was identified at the Covert Lane grounds of Stoneygate and Aylestone St. James in 2006 but this was put on hold due to the possibility of an Midlands East facility, which never materialised, and worries over sinking large amounts of capital into such a venture. Eventually in 2007 it was decided that the provision of a County Resources Centre was no longer appropriate and the search was called off. The County squads continue to be nomadic using various grounds around Leicestershire for their training needs and County representative matches. Although this may not be the most efficient way of running County squads it does at least allow clubs to benefit financially from the use of their facilities.
Communication has changed dramatically over the last twenty five years and whereas at the Centenary all communication was by post or landline telephone, it is usual now to communicate by electronic means. Around 1994, Leicestershire were one of the first constituent bodies to receive a computer from the RFU for use by the Hon. Secretary and to embrace the use of email but unfortunately were late to embrace the use of a website, the first attempt being in 2007. Eventually, following comments that the site was not particularly effective or “modern”, it was agreed that a trial using the RFU RugbyFirst website should replace the original one. This took place early in 2011 and it will be interesting to see how long before further changes are required such is the speed at which electronic communication advances. No doubt the use of social networking sites will be the next step. Efforts to produce an electronic newsletter during the early years of the current century were unsuccessful and, after only a few issues had been produced, the idea was dropped due to the lack of volunteers to provide content and produce it.
In 1987/88 league football was introduced and the Leicester Football Club became the first champions of the then National League 1. With the rest of the game embracing leagues in 1989/90, the LRU representative on the RFU Council, John Simpson, stated that “he suspected that only clubs with a Youth Policy would survive into the next decade and players would move towards those clubs that were successful as league football developed”. Thankfully events have not confirmed the statement about the policy of embracing youth rugby but there has been an understandably increasing movement of talented players towards the top league clubs. This has been compounded by the advent of the “Open” game which followed the International Rugby Boards edict in 1995 that from May 1996 there would be no ban on financial rewards to players, something that had been increasingly happening at the top clubs, although in a secretive way, “boot money” as it was called. The clubs in the top leagues including Leicester soon established themselves as professional clubs whilst others within the County started to provide financial inducements to players not only to join them but to reward them for playing and in some cases solely, or additionally, for winning. Most of these clubs became semi professional and several arranged work for their players just as had happened in the earlier years of Rugby Union. However, many of these “semi professional” clubs found that the payment of players, which in most cases they had tried to keep hidden, could not be sustained and early successes in climbing the league structure suddenly became major declines. It is inappropriate to name clubs who suffered this fate but perhaps it is worth mentioning one club who were probably the first Leicestershire club to admit to rewarding players financially and who have been able to sustain their success, Leicester Lions. Having attained National League status they have remained there as a semi professional club for several years whilst other clubs who have rewarded their players have either attained that status but have fallen back or have not managed to become so successful. With the current economic problems which are hitting not only the world and national economies but also no doubt those of local rugby clubs and businesses it will be interesting to see how long the current open game lasts or whether there will be a move to distance fully amateur clubs from the professional and semi professional ones.
With the advent of leagues came the increase in complaints of “player poaching” by those clubs in the upper levels of the game. The Centenary history of Leicestershire highlighted that this had been a problem for well over 90 years and no doubt will still be a problem at the bicentenary. An unwelcome and more worrying problem within the game now, however, is the poaching of players at the older Youth age groups.
South Wigston were the first casualty of the league system and dropped out of the leagues in 1990 feeling they could not compete and their membership was dropping due to the constant losses against far better sides. They eventually fell completely by the wayside. Other clubs dropped out in succeeding years, mainly due to the travel distances incurred on Saturdays which many players did not want to contemplate.
In September 1997 the Leicestershire Second Team Merit Table was set up by the then Competitions sub committee chairman George Donnelly although fewer clubs than anticipated took part. This was to help with the arrangement of fixtures and provide competitive rugby for those players not in the first team league structure. A small amount of backing for this Merit Table was received from Everards Brewery.
During season 1998/99 the first Leicestershire “Junior Clubs” Merit Table was introduced by George for the first XV’s of those clubs not participating in the RFU leagues including AEI Rugby, Birstall, Burbage, Cosby, Rugby Welsh and Shepshed. Anstey and Aylestone Athletic who were to continue playing in the RFU leagues entered their second XV’s. From this small beginning of two local Merit Tables, and with encouragement and financial backing from the RFU, in 2005 George started to run a full Leicestershire League system for all clubs and teams not participating in National/Midlands league rugby. There are now seven local Leicestershire Leagues being successfully run by Henri Ginvert with around sixty participating club teams. The competition has become so all embracing that even Her Majesty’s Prison Stocken had a team entered until recently although they were only able to honour home games!!! The Leicestershire leagues are intended to operate with the minimum of bureaucracy and in the main the spirit of the “old fashioned” rugby sportsmanship is maintained. The clubs invariably recognise each others problems and see the playing of a game of rugby to be as important as league points.
Leicestershire have successfully continued to organise Cup competitions at all levels of the game, the Senior County cup having been sponsored for many years by Insurance Brokers Marsh Pearce Murphy until 1989 and later by Marsh & Co thanks to Alan Pearce and Alan Marsh. This is the oldest competition in Leicestershire which is still running and currently has no sponsor. Over the years the difference in playing standards between the Leicestershire clubs has become ever increasing to such an extent that many of the lower level clubs have felt unable to take on the “big boys” in cup competitions and to this end the format of the County Cup competition has changed over the years with the result that alongside the County Cup, which is usually contested by the top Leicestershire clubs playing outside the National Leagues – levels 1 to 4, are the County Bowl and the County Shield for those clubs that do not have a realistic chance of successfully competing in the main Cup competition.
Recent winners of the County Bowl have been Stoneygate in 2010 and Oakham in 2011 with Oakham winning the County Shield in 2010 and Anstey in 2011.
The other long running cup competition is the County Colts Cup which was sponsored by F. B. Ross & Co for many years. In 2011 the trophy was renamed the “Laurence Fenton Cup” in recognition of the hard work put in by Laurence over many years of involvement with Youth and particularly Colts rugby before his untimely death in 2011.
Winners of the Colts Trophy over the last 25 years have been:
1987 – Stoneygate 1988 –
1989 – 1990 –
1991 – 1992 –
1993 – 1994 –
1995 – 1996 –
1997 – 1998 – Hinckley
1999 – Market Bosworth 2000 – Market Bosworth
2001 – Leicester Lions 2002 – Vipers
2003 – Market Bosworth 2004 – Leicester Lions
2005 – Market Bosworth 2006 – Hinckley
2007 – Hinckley 2008 – South Leicester
2009 – South Leicester 2010 – Shared between Syston and Lutterworth
2011 - Hinckley
The back to back finals of the County Cup and the Colts County Cup have become a regular event usually held at the Leicester Tigers ground around Easter time each year. Current holders of the Senior cup are South Leicester and Hinckley hold the Colts cup.
Winners of the Senior County Cup over the last 25 years have been:
1987 – 1988 –
1989 - 1990 –
1991 - 1992 –
1993 - 1994 –
1995 - 1996 –
1997 - 1998 – Hinckley
1999 – Loughborough Students 2000 – Leicester Lions
2001 – Leicester Lions 2002 – South Leicester
2003 – Loughborough Students 2004 – Leicester Lions
2005 – Market Bosworth 2006 – Loughborough Students
2007 – Hinckley 2008 – South Leicester
2009 – South Leicester 2010 – Syston
2011 – South Leicester
Other cup competitions have been started including the Second XV competition originally a midweek evening floodlit competition organised by Westleigh the running of which was taken over by the County and eventually turned into a Saturday tournament with a floodlit final held at a suitable club ground. Recent winners have been:
2008 - 2009 – Leicester Lions
2010 – South Leicester 2011 - Syston
The Spring Cup was set up in 1992 for those clubs not participating in the Midlands leagues and the first winners were Birstall. The decision on which clubs would be invited to take part was in the gift of the President of the Union although often it just fell to the lowest six or eight clubs and has included one or two clubs who had played league rugby. The competition was eventually renamed the Doug Norman Spring Cup in 1996 although of late it has once again been called just the Spring Cup. Invitations are still in the gift of the Union President and one or two out of County non league clubs have been invited to compete for the trophy.
In 2002, in a bid to encourage players to continue playing beyond their 35th birthday, Leicestershire inaugurated competitions for the Veterans sides of Leicestershire clubs including the Veterans Cup. This competition is hotly contested by those clubs able to get a fit veterans side together and has almost become the property of South Leicester, their Vets having won it for the last four seasons.
The County had participated in the national County Championship throughout the first hundred years from 1890 as part of the Midlands Counties and from 1919 as Leicestershire. They continued to do so during the last twenty five years although there is mention in the minutes of one committee meeting that consideration had been given to not taking part due to the inequalities in the teams selected. Where other clubs would select players from the National Leagues, levels 2, 3 and 4, Leicestershire were confined to those from levels 4 and below and eventually difficulties were experienced in getting players from clubs in level 4 released for County duties. Success therefore eluded them. However, a change in the format of the Championship in 2003 meant Leicestershire, who were seeded 25 out of 28 counties, started to play in the newly formed County Championship Plate competition and in 2008 the County Senior squad reached the final of the Plate competition playing Hampshire at Aldershot. Alan Wells, Senior Team Manager and Chairman of Selectors, in his report to the Annual General Meeting that year said “It is a pleasure to be able to report on what has been the County’s most successful season in many years, with Leicestershire reaching the Final of the County Championship Plate Tournament and gaining promotion into the Shield tournament for next season. The road to the final was exciting. Leicestershire won all their games in their pool group, beating Staffordshire at Syston by 43-16, then scraping home against Notts, Lincs and Derbyshire at Newark, 22-21, with a last minute converted try and then holding off Essex, again by a single point (13-12) at Syston again to qualify for a home semi-final. East Midlands arrived at South Leicester without having conceded a single point in their pool group, but, in front of RFU President, Bob Taylor, an East Midlands man, we outgunned our local rivals and reached the final with an emphatic 31-8 victory. Quite disgracefully, the RFU had reneged on their commitment to hold all the County Championship finals at Twickenham, and it was decreed that the final had to be played at the Military Stadium, Aldershot. Here we came up against a well drilled, physical Hampshire side, drawn predominantly from National League players. Playing into a strong wind in the first half, Leicestershire defended well but were unable to hold out against Hampshire’s near constant onslaught to leave Leicestershire 12-0 down at half-time. Tries by Kyle Coltman and Neil Harbour, one converted by Mark Lord, in the second half brought us back into the game, but Hampshire’s greater fire power prevailed and they ran out worthy winners and Plate champions at 22-12”. And so it was that Leicestershire, now ranked 16th, were now in the County Championship Shield. Further changes to the Championship structure in 2010 allowed Leicestershire to select whether they played in an upper competition, now named the Bill Beaumont County Championship consisting of constituent bodies who wanted to include players in level 4 and above in their sides or the County Championship Shield where selection was only from level 5 and below. With the difficulties in obtaining release of players from clubs in level 4 it was decided to opt for the “lower league” and again won through to the final, this time held at Twickenham. The Hon. Secretaries report for the season stated “Leicestershire went straight into the Championship, with a 43 pts to 19 win over Essex at Market Harborough, a 33pts to 12 win over Oxfordshire at Hinckley and a 13pts to 44 win away at Peterborough over East Midlands. These wins gave us home advantage in the semi final against Cumbria which was played at Lutterworth RFC. This was won by Leicestershire by 37pts to 35. The Final was played at Twickenham against Dorset and Wiltshire, as a preliminary to the England versus Barbarians game. Leicestershire were leading 16pts to 10 at half time, but Dorset and Wiltshire scored from the restart, closely followed by a second converted try, and the final score was 26pts to 36 against Leicestershire”. County senior rugby has therefore seen something of a resurgence over recent years and the pride in wearing the County shirt and the attainment of a County Cap is now as strong as ever.
Over the last twenty five years Leicestershire continued their long held tradition of overseas tours and under the leadership of David Webb, Rob Tebbutt and Professor Alan Wells have undertaken several, mainly to reward their players but also to help their playing development. Memorable tours are those to France in 1989 playing against Burgundy and Racing Club Challonnaise, Holland in 1991 when the County played a Holland “B” XV, the Dutch Students side and a North West District Select XV, winning all three, and to Canada in 1995 and 2008 playing against Balmy Beach Rugby Club, Niagara Thunder Rugby and Ontario Rugby, a select side made up from elite players of the four home unions. There were also tours to Portugal in 1997, a tour which is best forgotten, the opposition being poor, and a successful Milleniium tour to Italy in 2000 where games were played against North Italy Under 21’s and a Padua Select side. This last tour was a repeat of a successful tour carried out in the centenary year of 1987. Leicestershire also entertained the Swedish national team at Syston when Sweden were undertaking an Easter tour to this country.
Women’s and Girl’s rugby flourished over the period with several Leicestershire clubs setting up sections to embrace the need. It was minuted in 1999 that what is thought to be the first County Senior Women’s match was played against Surrey. Female rugby was finally integrated into the CB in 2006 when representation was allowed onto the newly formed CB Rugby Development Partnership committee. Since 2008 the ladies have been represented on the Leicestershire Management Committee by Claire Antcliffe, the Midlands Women’s Rugby Development Manager.
Coaching within Leicestershire over the last 25 years, with several different persons at the helm, has been a very hit and miss affair with much apathy from the clubs. The New Coaching Society, established in 1988, was re-launched in 1990, reported to be failing in 1994, had a re-launch in 1995 cancelled, It was said to have little to do in 2002 as most of the work had been taken over by the Rugby Development Officer. It was, however, re-established that year and re-launched in 2003 but by 2006 it was said to be struggling. A re-launch in 2007 set it on a firmer footing but eventually the organisation and running of coaching courses was taken over by the RFU professional staff and run on a regional basis leaving the Coaching Society/sub committee with more of a monitoring and administrative role. This brought more success with a bigger uptake of courses by club members. It is hoped that this will continue although the cost of such courses is such that there is a deterrent against a much greater uptake.
During the last 25 years Leicestershire has been served by a succession of dedicated and understanding ex players who have given their time to sit on disciplinary panels to deal with those players, coaches, spectators and clubs who transgress the laws of the game whether on or off the pitch. Over these years Leicestershire has been put forward as a model of how indiscipline within the game should be dealt with, such that it is to the credit of the current panel chairman, Peter Howard, that he has been elevated to sit on National discipline panels. Whether or not it had anything to do with the advent of league football, as some people claim, the number of cases heard by the Leicestershire Discipline Panel rose in 1989/90 to what was at that time an all time record of 53. In 1986/87 the panel had heard only 23 cases although this number had risen to 35 during the intervening years. The number of hearings dropped back at the beginning of the 1990’s and steadied to between 40 to 50 cases a year but in 2001/02 59 cases were heard and in 2002/03 there was an all time record of 63 persons and clubs brought up before the panel. Thankfully the number has dropped back to around 30 to 35 cases per season although this may have been partly due to the removal of youth discipline proceedings from the County discipline panel, this being dealt with by the clubs and schools. A particular disciplinary problem has been the verbal abuse of referees although even in 1989 it was noted at the Annual General Meeting that there was an “increasing tendency of players not to accept referees decisions” leading to verbal abuse. The verbal abuse has spread to coaches and spectators on the sidelines as noted in the annual report for 1992 where it was stated that there was concern for the conduct of spectators and coaches at mini/junior matches. In recent years edicts from the RFU have directed discipline panels to take a strong line on such actions where they are reported by referees. Leicestershire has had a string of such cases to deal with including foul language used by coaches on the touchline and even “ladies” some of whose language would befit the most seedy of male only bars around the world.
No doubt during the first hundred years of rugby in Leicestershire there were from time to time difficulties finding sufficient suitable volunteers to administer the game both at club and county level but in the Hon. Secretaries annual report of 1991 a particular warning was made that “there was a lack of administrators and volunteers particularly as the administration of clubs and unions was becoming more complicated”. Things don’t change and I have no doubt the same will be said in future histories of the amateur game. However, in 2001 in a bid to recruit more volunteers the RFU started to promote various initiatives to “Value the Volunteer” with gifts of special VIP ties and certificates. Leicestershire along with other Constituent Bodies set up the post of County Volunteer Coordinator to encourage clubs to identify persons in their organisations who would ensure a ready supply of volunteers for all the various jobs that needed to be done. This role was taken up by John Brindley who organised workshops and volunteer evenings to assist clubs to increase their number of volunteers. However, there was a disappointing attendance at some of the workshops indicating the general apathy of clubs towards the county, an apathy that has increased over the years as clubs have become more immersed in their own problems and growing administrative needs. Various RFU initiatives have also been taken up to try to increase the number of volunteers within the game in Leicestershire mainly included within those to increase the number of players such as the “This is Rugby” initiative recently promoted. In a bid to show more support for club volunteers/administrators recognition evenings were organised where certificates and gifts were given to the deserving volunteers from Leicestershire clubs. Eventually these gatherings were merged with the annual County Presentation Evenings originally started in 2008 by Ken Palfreyman to allow formal presentation of league and cup trophies and have been successfully run each year since that time. However, support dwindled for another County function, the annual dinner, run each year following the Centenary and the last one was held in 1999 when the after dinner speaker was Jason Leonard and entertainment was provided by the Leicester Barbershop choir amongst whose members was the then President David Swirles. It is not known whether it was the speaker or the entertainment that had hammered the last nail into the coffin of the annual dinner!!
One off events during the period have been few and far between mainly due to the difficulty with fitting them into an increasingly busier timetable. However, a successful one day conference for club administrators was run in 1994 attended by ninety three members from thirty Leicestershire clubs. An attempt to replicate this in 2006 was unsuccessful due to a lack of interest. This was disappointing to the organisers but indicated the changing needs of the clubs and their focus on competitive league rugby which has become predominant over the last twenty five years. Short workshops are now organised for clubs and cover various topics including Volunteering, Facilities and Funding and Referee/Coach Development.
In 1997 Jerry Day and Ken Palfreyman organised as a public relations exercise a very successful Festival of Rugby on Victoria Park, Leicester. There were matches at all age groups including Mini/Junior, Schools, Colts, Women’s, and County level and in 2008 Ken Palfreyman resurrected the event as a now annual event at the grounds of Stoneygate and Aylestone St. James. The event embraces Senior, Colts, Ladies, Mini/Junior and children with Special Needs.
One area where Leicestershire have been very successful is in Mini/Junior rugby and a separate section is devoted to this and the issue of Child Welfare in the official 125 Year Handbook.
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNION 1987 to 2012
1987 – 1989 J. R. Tate
1989 - 1991 D. E. Woodford
1991 - 1993 B. Elliott
1993 – 1995 M. J. Wilson
1995 – 1997 J. E. Tipper
1997 – 1998 H. A. Simms
1998 – 1999 D. Swirles
1999 – 2000 K. Wiggins
2000 – 2001 F. Fryer
2001 – 2002 D. Webb
2002 – 2004 J. Goddard
2004 – 2005 I. M. Roberts
2005 – 2006 A. Wells
2006 - 2007 D. Coe
2007 - 2008 K. Palfreyman
2008 - 2009 R. Annis
2009 - 2010 R. Foxon
2010 - 2011 R. Tyler
2011 - 2012 M. Ross