Leicester Lions
Leicester Lions
SPEEDWAY TEAM
T
he return of speedway to Leicester was one of the top stories in
the sport of this current decade. The club was made homeless
following the sale of the Stadium for re-development in 1983 and with
no readymade suitable location in the County to immediately re-house
the Lions the club inevitably folded.
My involvement as a feature writer for the Match
Day Magazine; Speedway Correspondent for
Centre Radio the local commercial radio
station and as a Match Day Commentator
for a video company ended there.
However, despite the demise of the
Lions, people still held onto a dream that
one day speedway would once again sit
alongside football, rugby, cricket and
basketball as a major sporting attraction
in Leicestershire.
Eventually it took a group of like-minded
enthusiasts who came together to make
the return of the sport to Leicestershire after
an absence of twenty-eight years a reality. A
new purpose built stadium in the Beaumont
Leys area of the City was constructed and the
Lions were re-born in 2011.
My previous background led to my
involvement which began two years
earlier during the lead-up to the Grand
Opening when I was appointed as
Press Officer of Leicester Speedway
and in addition I was one of several
people who developed the business
processes.
The club entered the Premier League,
spending three years racing at this
level before gaining acceptance into
the top division (Elite League, now
re-branded Premiership) where we are
currently one of eight clubs. It has been
Images courtesy of Steve Dixon Photography
13 Issue 15
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