Commemorative Statue Unveiled at Leicester Tigers Rugby Club

Today, the innovative “When we were Tigers” monument is being formally unveiled in order to commemorate and celebrate the 54 Leicester Tigers rugby players who lost their lives as a consequence of war.

Standing at nearly 20ft tall in the heart of Leicester, outside the most followed Rugby Union club in the Premiership, the monument is an iconic contemporary piece of art that acts as a symbol of the bravery and courage to the players who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

The design of the monument was created by Harvey Gardiner, FRSA and the statue then evolved in conjunction with artist Steve Winterburn.
Interactive QR codes placed on the monument’s plaques enable you to download a film that takes you on a journey from Bida in Nigeria (where the first player LT A.C.Thomson was killed in 1897 in the African Conflicts), to Berlin in 1945 at the end of the Second World War.

LT. ARTHUR CLEGHORN THOMSON. 26.01.1987. AGED 26. BIDA, NIGERIA. LEICESTERSHIRE REGIMENT.

Created in Solid Bronze, Corten and Stainless steel, the giant tiger’s head faces towards Ypres where several players lost their lives in the First World War.

2ND LT C.R. FAUSSET. 02.05.1915. AGED 36. YPRES BELGIUM. ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT.

Designed to engage, we travel across the fifteen different countries where the players sadly died, to discover the monument’s secrets which lie in the amazing stories of the players – from British Lions, Internationals and Barbarians, from the Somme, the Battle of Britain, El Alamein, the River Kwai, the Liberation of Colditz and even the exploits of a Russian Prince!

BATTLE OF BRITAIN FLYING ACE GP. CAPT.F.V. BEAMISH DSO*, DFC, AFC. 28.03.1942. AGED 38. OVER CALAIS. R.A.F.

PT OFF. H.H. PRINCE ALEXANDER OBOLENSKY. 29.03.1940. AGED 24. MARTLESHAM HEATH, SUFFOLK.R.A.F.

LT.COL G.J.GERMAN.DSO. SENIOR BRITISH OFFICER IN CHARGE AT THE LIBERATION OF COLDITZ CASTLE. 16.04.1945. LEICESTERSHIRE REGIMENT.