Soldiers and officers of B ‘Leicestershire’ Company of the Second Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment (The Poachers), gathered for a remembrance service to unveil the Leicester Tigers Foundation monument which commemorates the Leicester Tigers players and soldiers that have fallen in conflict.
The event saw a gathering of local people, veterans of the regiment and representatives from Leicester Tigers and former England Captain, Rory Underwood MBE.
The monument celebrates the lives of the 54 Leicester Tigers players who lost their lives in conflict and acknowledging longstanding links with the armed services has been unveiled at the club’s iconic home.
The Leicester Tigers Foundation Monument, installed on the plaza between the Tigers’ Mattioli Woods Welford Road stadium and the new Hotel Brooklyn, features a bronze tiger head on a four-metre column carrying the names of the past players.
It also recognises the close ties between the Leicestershire Regiment and the Tigers since the club’s formation in 1880, displaying the names of its players who served and survived.
Peter Wheeler, former Leicester Tigers captain and director, and a Past President of the Rugby Football Union, performed the Monument’s official unveiling with guests from the game of rugby, the military and the local community.
Leicestershire Regiment representatives included Major General Anthony Pollard CBE DL, Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Swallow OBE and Captain Bob Allen MBE, alongside Leicester Tigers Foundation trustee Vice Lord-Lieutenant Murray Colville; the Revd Canon Emma Davies, the Canon Precentor and Canon Residentiary at Leicester Cathedral, who led the ceremony and provided a blessing; and Monument sponsor Ian Mattioli MBE
Leicester Tigers are the most successful team in English Rugby, and have the biggest crowds of any team in the UK. From our foundation in 1880, through the era of lettered-shirted amateurs, to becoming the most consistent and trophy-laden team in the professional era Tigers boast an unrivalled heritage.
