Football clubs earn nicknames for all sorts of reasons. More often than not, the reasons are fairly self-explanatory, such as Liverpool being called ‘the Reds’ because of the colour kit that they play in, or Wolverhampton Wanderers being called ‘Wolves’. There is a similar animal-nature to the nickname of Leicester City, who are known as ‘the Foxes’. The reasoning behind that, however, is a lot more complicated than the reason as to why Wolves are known by that name, being more to do with a shortening of their name than it is linked to any lupine-like behaviour. The question is, why?
The Fossils
The club that we know now as Leicester City was founded by a group of former students of Wyggeston School in 1884. At that time, the club was known as Leicester Fosse, joining the Football Association six years later. Because of the second word in the club’s name, they were referred to as ‘the Fossils’ by supporters, which might well have been seen as a far from ideal name by those associated with the club, but it nevertheless stuck. Having played at five different grounds before 1891, at that point they moved to Filbert Street, with a new nickname soon following.
For a time, the club became known as the Filberts, in honour of the Filbert Street ground that they were playing their matches at. Whilst this was almost certainly seen as preferable by the people associated with the club than being known as something that meant old and crusty, it wasn’t exactly the most original of nicknames. The outbreak of the First World War saw football all but grind to a halt, at least in an official capacity, and when the sport resumed properly in 1919, Leicester Fosse were in a perilous situation financially. As a result, the club’s financial difficulties forced it to cease trading.
The Foxes
The team was then reformed as Leicester City Football Club, which was seen as appropriate on the back of the area having been given city status reasonably recently. The relaunch of the club with a new name led to a local newspaper, the Leicester Mercury, suggesting that a new nickname should be sought. Some of the initial suggestions included ‘the Royal Knuts’, because of the fact that Filbert Street had previously been known as Walnut Street, and ‘the Hunters’, but in 1948 the club’s badge was changed. No longer was it the coat of arms of Leicester, instead being changed to feature the face of a fox.
That was due to the fact that Leicestershire had become known for fox hunting, with the area known for the tradition for centuries, being thought of as the birthplace of the barbaric tradition. This is reflected in the fact that Leicestershire County Cricket Club also uses a fox on their badge and is known as the Foxes. Thanks to the addition of a fox head on the badge, a new nickname for the football club was found. It was also one that stuck, with no more chopping and changing of it to reflect a new tradition. In fact, the nickname spurred on numerous nicknames of its own…
In 1941, the club began playing the ‘Post Horn Galop’ at home matches, initially seeing it played live on the pitch to welcome out the teams for the first-half, before a modern version of it is played over the public address system when the two sides emerge after the half-time break. The club also has the motto, ‘Foxes Never Quit’, put above the tunnel inside the stadium. Whilst they might not quite, foxes can and do get relegated, which has seen the football club both enter and leave the English top-flight numerous times over the years.