The Phoenix | |
Club information | |
---|---|
Full name | Leicester Storm Rugby League Football Club |
Nickname(s) | The Storm |
Colours | Navy Purple & White |
Founded | 1986 |
Exited | 2018 |
Website | leicesterstorm.co.uk |
Former details | |
Ground(s) |
|
Chairman | Ty Watson |
Coach | Dean Thomas |
Captain | Max Oxton-Morris |
Competition | 1st Grade: Co-Op Conference League South Academy: 3v Sport Midlands Rugby League |
Leicester Storm was an amateur community rugby league football club based in Leicester, England. They competed in the Conference League South and their Academy Team competed in the Midlands Rugby League. The club's home was Phoenix Park which is in the suburb of Saffron Lane, South-West Leicester, where they played since 2006. Leicester were one of the oldest clubs in the Rugby League Conference.
The club was founded in 1986 by Howard Ludbrooke and Phil Jackson under the name of Leicester Rugby League, after playing in the East Midlands Amateur Rugby League Association (initially known as the Nottingham & Mansfield Amateur Rugby League Association).Player coach Paul Walmsley joined the club in 1990 & Leicester became a dominant force in Midlands rugby League throughout the 90s. The LRLFC were one of the 10 founder members of the Rugby League Conference (then the Southern Conference League) in 1997, reaching the grand final in the inaugural season. In the 1998 season Leicester Rugby League was rebranded Leicester Phoenix. In 2007 Paul Walmsley stepped down as coach and retired from playing.
2010 saw the club rebrand itself as Leicester Storm. The Storm name and colours come from the unique association that Leicester shares with Melbourne Storm.
For the 2013 season, Storm appointed Jamaica national rugby league team coach Dean Thomas as their new head coach, and the club will be competing in the newly formed Conference League South, along with Nottingham, St Albans, Bristol, Northampton and Sheffield Hallam Eagles.