The Origins Of Leicester City: 140 Years Ago Today
The opponents on that historic day, nearly a century and a half ago, were Syston Fosse, who were defeated 5-0.
A history of Leicester Fosse, published in 1893 – roughly around the time the image above was taken – records that the colours adopted by the new club for this very first game ‘were black jerseys with a diagonal blue sash and white knickers’.
This has since been confirmed in a letter which Club Historian John Hutchinson came across about 15 years ago, written by Gillian Ashby. She was a great-granddaughter of Arthur Douglas Ashby, one of the members of that first Fosse team. Her grandmother kept Arthur’s shirt from that first game for 40 years, before using it as a duster.
Gillian’s letter also confirms that the Club was formed at a meeting in a shed in the garden of a house on Fosse Road. She explains that this house belonged to Gillian’s great-grandfather, William Ashby, who owned a boot and shoe factory near Gwendolen Road. He had nine sons, one of whom was Arthur Douglas Ashby, known as ADA, whose shirt from the first game became a duster 40 years later.
Present at this meeting in the shed was a group of young lads, many of whom had attended the Wyggeston School which, in those days, stood on the corner of Peacock Lane. Many also attended the Bible Class run by the Reverend Llewellyn Parsons at the now-demolished Emanuel Chapel in nearby New Park Street.
Each of the boys subscribed nine old pennies for the purchase of a ball and another nine pennies for subscriptions. Rudimentary goal posts were painted amber and black. It is probable that a rope stretched between the goalposts acted as a crossbar. The posts were likely to have been eight feet apart and the rope eight feet high.
The team which played in that first game all lived within 500 metres of the Ashby home on Fosse Road from which the new Club took its name. Goalkeeper E. Smith lived on Norfolk Street, just behind Fosse Road, as did left winger S. Dingley.
Both of these houses have been demolished, as has the house on nearby Noble Street, where half-back F. Burdett lived. A. West, who was also the son of a boot and shoe manufacturer, and A. Ashby (ADA), whose garden shed was where the Club was formed, lived on Fosse Road itself, as did the three Johnson brothers whose father was the well-known women’s and children’s footwear manufacturer Joseph Johnson. Later, in 1891, he secured a field near Filbert Street as the Fosse’s future home.
Two more of the original team lived on King Richard’s Road. These were forwards F. Bromwich and B. Lewitt. Half-back Frank Gardner resided on Hinckley Road. The house has been knocked down and is now the site of a restaurant. Frank also held the vital post of Secretary for eight years. He guided the Club through its crucial formative years.
The goalscorers in that first game were West and H. Johnson (who scored two each). Dingley also scored. This first game was the only game that Leicester Fosse played on the field, which is now covered by Westleigh Avenue.
For the rest of that season, and for two seasons after that, Leicester Fosse played their home games on Victoria Park, before moving to the Belgrave Road Cycle and Cricket Ground in 1887/88, back to Victoria Park in 1888/89, then to Mill Lane between 1889 and 1891. After a brief sojourn at Grace Road Cricket Ground, the Club finally moved to Filbert Street in 1891/92. In 2002, Gillian provided a direct link to the Fosse’s first-ever game 140 years ago this week, when she had a brick placed on the stadium wall remembering Arthur (ADA) Ashby.
From those humble beginnings rose Leicester City – a name change which came in 1919. They have since won the second tier title a record eight times and the Women's Championship on one occasion. They've lifted the FA Cup once too, won the League Cup three times, sealed the FA Community Shield twice, and competed in six European campaigns, most notably in the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League, when the Club reached the quarter-finals. Their crowning achievement was to win the Premier League title in 2015/16, despite pre-season odds of 5,000/1, leading to the immortal line: ‘The amazing Leicester City!’