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Leicester Lions
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tigerburnie View Drop Down
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    Posted: 26 May 2023 at 09:46
Following on from a comment re the Lions, I thought I'd introduce the side. Firstly I am only a member, I don't have anything to do with running the club, I am a former Wigston player, most of those running the Lions are former team mates of mine, I also went to school with most of them.
This is from Wiki

What it doesn't give is the story behind the side coming together, Westleigh and Wigston were fierce local rivals, their club grounds were barely two miles apart, back in the day, along with Hinckley, they were the clubs thought of as the top junior sides in the county.
When the game went pro and the leagues began a meeting brought about the desire to get a Leicestershire side in the National leagues. Wigston owned their own clubhouse, but the pitches were rented, Westleigh owned the lot, so the decision was taken to form the Lions at Westleigh Park, sell the Wigston club house to a local soccer team and start the journey. Ambition was to get into Nat 2 and consolidate their position, they came close to being relegated once and just missed out on promotion once as well. I've not spoken to anyone at the club recently, so not privy to any plans for the new campaign in Nat 1, but I do know they are looking forward to it and some plans on the commercial side are already under way.
They have a new £2 million club house and it is successful as a local amenity, the club has three adult sides and a thriving mini and junior section, with some of their own talent now just breaking into the first team squad. In the past they have had dual registered players from both Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints, though last season there was just one from the Tigers.
I'm sure you will get a warm welcome for those who have not met the Lions before, pretty sure those who have not played at Blaby for a while will be delighted to know the old wooden clubhouse is no more, it is now the car park and the old first team pitch has a small housing estate on it, the sale of the bit of land paid for the new facilities.
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jimbojetset View Drop Down
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Points: 450 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote jimbojetset Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 May 2023 at 11:55
We played down at Leicester Lions the day we won National 2 North and I believe were the first visiting team to use the new clubhouse. A very warm welcome by the club and their supporters who also joined in with our celebrations post match. This was remarked upon by everyone who travelled down on the day, so, I suspect this will be one of our club "awaydays" this season :-)
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Points: 4296 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Halliford Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 May 2023 at 12:05
I went there with Esher in 21/22. The lunch was enjoyable but my waistline struggled with tangerines and chips followed by apple pie and custard! Good ground, nice atmosphere!
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I still just have bad memories of watered-down beer* in the old clubhouse. The next, and last, time we went (another friendly) we were assured the brand new clubhouse would be open, but wasn't, for some reason.


*Not deliberately; it was raining in through a hole in the roof, and landed in my pint. Yes, seriously. LOL
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Cohazelnut rugby, you cannae beat it lol.
Lions have a way to go to meet the Premiership minimum standards lol, but it is still a good venue to visit now.
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Originally posted by tigerburnie tigerburnie wrote:

Following on from a comment re the Lions, I thought I'd introduce the side. Firstly I am only a member, I don't have anything to do with running the club, I am a former Wigston player, most of those running the Lions are former team mates of mine, I also went to school with most of them.
This is from Wiki

What it doesn't give is the story behind the side coming together, Westleigh and Wigston were fierce local rivals, their club grounds were barely two miles apart, back in the day, along with Hinckley, they were the clubs thought of as the top junior sides in the county.
When the game went pro and the leagues began a meeting brought about the desire to get a Leicestershire side in the National leagues. Wigston owned their own clubhouse, but the pitches were rented, Westleigh owned the lot, so the decision was taken to form the Lions at Westleigh Park, sell the Wigston club house to a local soccer team and start the journey. Ambition was to get into Nat 2 and consolidate their position, they came close to being relegated once and just missed out on promotion once as well. I've not spoken to anyone at the club recently, so not privy to any plans for the new campaign in Nat 1, but I do know they are looking forward to it and some plans on the commercial side are already under way.
They have a new £2 million club house and it is successful as a local amenity, the club has three adult sides and a thriving mini and junior section, with some of their own talent now just breaking into the first team squad. In the past they have had dual registered players from both Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints, though last season there was just one from the Tigers.
I'm sure you will get a warm welcome for those who have not met the Lions before, pretty sure those who have not played at Blaby for a while will be delighted to know the old wooden clubhouse is no more, it is now the car park and the old first team pitch has a small housing estate on it, the sale of the bit of land paid for the new facilities.

Interesting background.

How did the 2 clubs go from being rivals to merging?

It seems a tricky road to walk.
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tigerburnie View Drop Down
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My memory of it was that they felt the two together rather than competing for players was the way to go forwards. Most of the off field people are ex Wigston, though there's still a membership of former Westleigh players, I think all are happy that the outcome has been a success both on and off the field. Lucky to have good support from sponsors, coaching staff and back room team. The players seem to have formed a unit capable of anything, I hope that they are all able to continue the journey.
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Originally posted by tigerburnie tigerburnie wrote:

My memory of it was that they felt the two together rather than competing for players was the way to go forwards. Most of the off field people are ex Wigston, though there's still a membership of former Westleigh players, I think all are happy that the outcome has been a success both on and off the field. Lucky to have good support from sponsors, coaching staff and back room team. The players seem to have formed a unit capable of anything, I hope that they are all able to continue the journey.

That's good to hear.
I'm from South Wales and the priority for my rugby has always been bragging rights with the neighbours even if I haven't lived in Wales for nearly 3 decades...
We'll face it soon enough.
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Had some great Easter tours to South Wales back in the 1970's with Wigston, we'd have a mixed side out so asked for a second team fixture. Of course they would field their first team to try and make sure they beat the English, but that didn't always work, we managed to win a few, even when we had to stop a game whilst one of our props went off to be sick and then return, bad Welsh beer we reckoned was the problem, can't have been the quantity we drank lol.
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Originally posted by tigerburnie tigerburnie wrote:

Had some great Easter tours to South Wales back in the 1970's with Wigston, we'd have a mixed side out so asked for a second team fixture. Of course they would field their first team to try and make sure they beat the English, but that didn't always work, we managed to win a few, even when we had to stop a game whilst one of our props went off to be sick and then return, bad Welsh beer we reckoned was the problem, can't have been the quantity we drank lol.

Very good!
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Originally posted by Paul10 Paul10 wrote:

Originally posted by tigerburnie tigerburnie wrote:

Had some great Easter tours to South Wales back in the 1970's with Wigston, we'd have a mixed side out so asked for a second team fixture. Of course they would field their first team to try and make sure they beat the English, but that didn't always work, we managed to win a few, even when we had to stop a game whilst one of our props went off to be sick and then return, bad Welsh beer we reckoned was the problem, can't have been the quantity we drank lol.

Very good!



Feelin Foul or Skull Attack?
There is truth and there is untruth, and if you cling to the truth even against the whole world, you are not mad.
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Paul10 View Drop Down
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Originally posted by RedPete RedPete wrote:

Originally posted by Paul10 Paul10 wrote:

Originally posted by tigerburnie tigerburnie wrote:

Had some great Easter tours to South Wales back in the 1970's with Wigston, we'd have a mixed side out so asked for a second team fixture. Of course they would field their first team to try and make sure they beat the English, but that didn't always work, we managed to win a few, even when we had to stop a game whilst one of our props went off to be sick and then return, bad Welsh beer we reckoned was the problem, can't have been the quantity we drank lol.

Very good!



Feelin Foul or Skull Attack?

RedPete sounds like the voice of experience.
Both are of course decent enough Ales.
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Points: 6595 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Kimbo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 2023 at 14:57
Originally posted by Paul10 Paul10 wrote:

Originally posted by RedPete RedPete wrote:

Originally posted by Paul10 Paul10 wrote:

Originally posted by tigerburnie tigerburnie wrote:

Had some great Easter tours to South Wales back in the 1970's with Wigston, we'd have a mixed side out so asked for a second team fixture. Of course they would field their first team to try and make sure they beat the English, but that didn't always work, we managed to win a few, even when we had to stop a game whilst one of our props went off to be sick and then return, bad Welsh beer we reckoned was the problem, can't have been the quantity we drank lol.
I've had some pretty rough Felinfoel. The other - no idea.
 

Very good!



Feelin Foul or Skull Attack?

RedPete sounds like the voice of experience.
Both are of course decent enough Ales.
I've had some pretty rough Felinfoel in the distant past.
The other, I've no idea about. 


Edited by Kimbo - 28 May 2023 at 14:59
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Points: 3427 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kingsheathlad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 May 2023 at 15:16
Brains OK. 
Cauliflower ear.
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Originally posted by kingsheathlad kingsheathlad wrote:

Brains OK. 
Mine isn't...
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It will be interesting to see what size crowds Leicester get in Nat 1, they have been showing figures in the 150 region so far can they cope with crowds of 600-800?
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Just put another shrimp on the barby, be alright.........................
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Originally posted by workerbee workerbee wrote:

It will be interesting to see what size crowds Leicester get in Nat 1, they have been showing figures in the 150 region so far can they cope with crowds of 600-800?
According to Wiki the grounds capacity is 2000.
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2000 with seating only if you bring your own!
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Originally posted by Halliford Halliford wrote:

2000 with seating only if you bring your own!
No-one mentioned seats...........................
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