LEICESTER CITY: 2015/16 World's Sports Capital.
Claims have already emerged that Leicester has this sporting year emerged as the Sporting Capital of the United Kingdom. Leicester City’s infamous premier league win, that has become every underdogs dream come true, is the force behind this bold declaration. Also alongside it is the fact that Leicester Tigers’ are in the hunt for an 11th English Rugby Union title, Leicester Riders’ success on the Basketball court and Loughborough University’s 35 consecutive British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUSCS) titles to add to the compelling debate.
Leicester City Football Club:
When the season began Leicester was given odds of 5000/1 of winning the premier league title. This was due to the fact that they had just battled from the relegation zone and narrowly survived the cut from the 2014/15 season. This season however, they started with all guns blazing as Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and Ngolo Kante spearheaded their fantastic start. Leicester slowly found themselves top of the table with the regulars trailing them and this aroused a conversation as to whether they could actually do the unthinkable. By December they were seating top of the table and a many of the pundits including I thought that they were going to slip up especially with the January transfer window coming up but they never looked back. Despite Arsenal snatching the lead for a while they regained it and opened up a 7 point lead that has seen them comfortably seating at the helm. The manager in-charge was Claudio Ranieri and many pundits again thought that he was going to be the first manager sacked but now he has had the last laugh. His team went to Old Trafford on Sunday hoping for a victory to secure the title but Man Utd forced them to a draw. They then were to be subjected to wait for the Chelsea vs Tottenham game to decide their fate. Tottenham needed a win to at least keep pressure on to the league leaders but a resilient Chelsea fought back from 2-nil down to earn a 2-2 draw and hand Leicester the title. These Army of blue proved to the world that Money isn’t everything as they put their hearts and let the passion steer them to their first title in their 132-year old history. The trophy will be handed to them after their Saturday Home game against Everton at the King Power Stadium.
Mark Selby:
On the same night that Leicester City was being crowned Champion of England another special event was taking place at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. 32-year Old Mark Selby was playing against China’s Ding Junhui in the World Snooker Championship Final. The Leicester local missed Leicester’s bus parade when the Foxes clinched the Championship in 2014 as he was beating Ronnie O’Sullivan to win his first world title. And like they say history has a funny way of repeating itself, Selby won the 2016 World Snooker Championship on Monday. Selby’s joy was to later double as Chelsea drew Tottenham at Stamford Bridge to grant Leicester the title and this time round Selby had already won his second Snooker Championship and hence will not be missing the Bus Parade this year making it a year of Joy for Leicester.
Leicester Tigers:
Leicester Tigers are in the Premiership Rugby Union Play-offs and are on the hunt for an 11th English title, having finished in the top four for a 12th successive season. This year also saw the Tigers get to the Semi-finals of the European Champions Cup but they lost to Dan Carter’s Racing 92 of France.
Leicester Riders:
The Leicester Riders have added to the Leicester Celebration having won the British Basketball League and the BBL Trophy. They are also chasing a domestic treble after reaching the BBL play-off final against Sheffield Sharks. This match will be played at London’s O2 Arena on Sunday 8th May.
Leicester City Women:
The Leicester City Women won the Women’s Premier League Midlands Division One title, which is the fourth tier of women’s football in England. This victory was done in style as they won it with a 100% record winning all their 22 games, scoring 93 goals and conceding just 19 goals.
This is evidence enough that the Sporting Capital of the UK has for this sporting Calendar shifted to the City of Leicester and the people will have a lot to celebrate when this calendar year ends. They are the 2015/16 UK’s Sporting Capital and could even argue out their stake as the world’s sporting capital based on their success and how big it is across the world.
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