“For me, it’s a feeling when you walk into a place, that can only be created over time, tradition, and a rich history of success. I want to contribute to this club and be a part of its history one day.” – Handre Pollard
There's a distinct difficulty in putting into words what defines Leicester Tigers, what threads tie together such a storied past, what unquantifiable elements inform such an exciting future.
To reach the pinnacle of any craft takes an incredible amount of dedication and professional athletes are no different. Rugby players who have reached the top of the sport have displayed these qualities in spades, to even earn the opportunity to play a single minute at a Premiership level. To be a key part of cup-winning squads, title-winning squads is an even greater achievement, a chance to be in the top 1% of the top 0.01%.
The first ever Leicester Tigers team, standing proudly in their black and white kit, were part of an an ultimatum that has defined the club in the many year's that followed: Death or Glory.
“You can’t leave the jersey in a worse place than when you stepped into it. The depth of history the shirt has, you really do appreciate it, you never take running down the steps on the crumbie for granted" - Dan Kelly
Proud Past
The past is vast, a breadth that stretches from Thomas Crumbie in the distant to Tom Youngs in the recent. Consequently, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly which memories are first elicited in the minds of supporters when you talk about a club that has seen such victory in its lifetime, several generations of dreams fulfilled and glory achieved.
Leicester Tigers are the most successful team in English history. This is an indisputable fact, a history of triumphs stemming from the strong roots put down by Thomas Crumbie, to the cavalcade of cups secured by the silk of Les Cusworth and the boot of Dusty Hare.
Victory is at the forefront of a Premiership Rugby history bookended by becoming inaugural league champions in 1987/88 and our most recent triumph in 2021/22, the club’s 11th in their history, with brilliantly brutal driving tries from South African’s Hanro Liebenberg and Jasper Wiese setting the stage for Freddie Burns’ dropkick heard around the world.
Whenever you began watching this team take to the field, whether it be cheering on from the terraces as a youngster or catching a game on TV and becoming enamoured with the beautiful sport of rugby, you know that the players who compete for the badge, for the shirt are also doing so for you, the supporters. Their success is your success.
When you pull on the green, white and red stripes you are representing that success and exemplifying the pride you feel in that long list of legends to have graced Mattioli Woods Welford Road. When you pull on the Tigers kit, you embody the qualities that allowed these icons to achieve such a lofty status at England’s leading club: relentless hard work, an unflinching toughness and unmatched intensity.
“I think sometimes the shirt chooses you, not the other way around. You need to earn it, you’re not just playing for yourself, you are representing a lot of people. You try to leave it in a better place for the people that are going to wear it in the future” - Julián Montoya
Exciting Future
The future is much simpler to surmise, as striking as the geometric tiger roaring from the shoulder of the Tigers players. A first-ever women's team, on the precipice of a first Premiership Women's Rugby, a brand-new coaching team looking to take the club into a new chapter and a squad steadied by a young core embedded with foundations that have been the cornerstone for the success of years gone by.
When Dan McKellar was first announced as the club's new Head Coach, he made this very clear. “I see a squad of players at Leicester Tigers that I believe can evolve, can grow and have areas that I can add value to and help develop individuals to improve the team as a whole. It is important to me that the Leicester Tigers side I lead is one that represents what the club is about and what it stands for”.
When McKellar talks about what the club stands for, it's those values, so entrenched by the legends of the past, that has allowed the club to continue its success throughout its near 150 year existence.
The Roman philosopher Seneca believed that luck is when preparation meets opportunity and that sentiment echoes through training sessions that are as meticulously detailed as they are full-bloodily contested from every player. As the Guardian pointed out after Tigers’ 2010 Premiership final triumph against Saracens, a game in which Tigers saw themselves go behind five times over the 80 minutes, ‘luck is not a concept which carries much weight in the east-midlands’. Success is earned through vigorous dedication.
Everyone who arrives here must earn their stripes. It doesn’t matter what reputation precedes you. Mike Brown, when talking about why he signed a new contract at the club, said that he was welcomed into the group with open arms because he has bought into what it means to be a Leicester Tiger.
Young Tigers stars like Joe Heyes, George Martin, Freddie Steward, Tommy Reffell, Jack van Poortvliet and James Whitcombe know the journey of the club through their time in the academy together. They don’t begin their Tigers journey with the same kit as the senior squad, they must earn their way toward it. They begin their journey in the same way the club did, with a black and white kit, then work their way through the chocolate and orange years, right into the heritage green. They, too, earn their stripes.
“I still pinch myself sometimes to say I play for Leicester Tigers and to be able to wear the shirt. It’s immense pride and I’m really enjoying it. The classic old-school green is iconic it’s by far my favourite” - Natasha Jones
The Kit
This year’s kit design pays equal tribute to the generations of Tigers who laid the groundwork for what we enjoy today as well as those who look to lead the club into the future.
This kit weaves threads of our past into the future of our club. A future that supporters can believe in, one that will always strive for greatness.
The return of the home shirt to the heritage green design not only offers a retro twist but also a nod to the incredible young core of players who have came through the clubs academy over the years, who have played in the colours, put in the work to get to first-team level and have their own memories of success within them. The club's bright future is represented through the ultramodern geometric tiger on the shoulder, its sleek and ruthless design emblematic of an ideal rugby team, as well as a digital ‘glitch’ effect within the classic Tigers stripes.
This year’s change kit, sees a black and white colour scheme that pays homage to our first ever kit from 1880, the 'Death or Glory Boys' where all of this began, a bold design that features Leicester Tigers’ heritage crest emblazoned across the background of the shirt. History is woven into this kit.
These kits represent all those decades of incredible moments that you’ve seen from the terraces of Mattioli Woods Welford Road. They represent a club that is different. Not just because of the success we have enjoyed but because everyone associated with the club, from players to coaches to our amazing supporters, love our sport and believe in the values that make Leicester Tigers, Leicester Tigers.
After the 2010 Premiership final victory over Saracens, Richard Kitson reporting for the Guardian summed up exactly who the Tigers are as a club: ‘In the West Car Park late on Saturday evening a small group of Leicester-supporting kids, oblivious to the spitting rain and the gathering gloom, could be seen practising their mauling technique. (Head coach, Richard) Cockerill is quite right: there is something unique in the Tigers' DNA.’
The uniqueness is that pledge made over a hundred years ago, one woven into the fabric of every single current Tiger who takes to the field at Mattioli Woods Welford Road and those that cheer them on from the stands and around the world.
“When you pull on the jersey you represent the club and the supporters, the staff and all the people that come with it. It’s a big responsibility. You must perform. There are certain non-negotiables: you have to fight, you have to work hard for one another and you have to work hard for the fans” - Freddie Steward
