Leicester no more the sporting backwater

Leicester’s history may date back thousands of years but, in common with many provincial English cities, there has long been a sense it is a place you have to leave to achieve ambition and fame.

Leonie Orton, sister of the late Leicester-born 20th Century playwright Joe Orton, once told the BBC that “poverty, routine and ordinary” were the words her brother used to describe his view of a home town he was happy to depart for London. But the city may soon be able to boast that it is the sporting, if not dramatic, capital of England.

Certainly, there has been nothing “routine or ordinary” about the way Leicester City Football Club, who have never been crowned champions of England in their 132-year history, have risen to the top of the Premier League this season.

The Foxes are now five points clear at the summit with four games left ahead of their match against Swansea on Sunday.

Sunday also sees Leicester’s rugby union club, the Tigers, playing a European Champions Cup semifinal in nearby Nottingham against French side Racing 92.

Now it is Leicester, not Liverpool, Birmingham or Manchester, who are in sight of saying they are home to both English football’s and European rugby union’s champion clubs, although ‘greedy’ London, courtesy of Tottenham Hotspur and Saracens, could yet take both titles away from the East Midlands city.

As if that were not enough, the Leicester Riders are currently top of the British Basketball League while even recently struggling Leicestershire County Cricket Club, who are also based in the city, have started their new season with a victory.

While the Tigers have long been one of English rugby union’s established powers, the Foxes were quoted as 5,000/1 outsiders to win the Premier League before the season started having only narrowly avoided relegation last season.

Leicester-born former England striker Gary Lineker, who started his career with the Foxes but found much greater fame and fortune playing for Everton (in Liverpool), Tottenham and Spanish giants Barcelona, struck a chord when he wrote in the Guardian last month: “Something extraordinary is happening in the world of football.

“Something truly magical. Something that makes me well up with emotion,” added Lineker, now a BBC television presenter, who has also achieved fame for a series of adverts promoting one of the city’s most famous products in Walkers Crisps.