Leicester City FC
An assignment for Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter to visit Leicester City Football Club for a reportage about the city, the club and the fans.
In the city centre we saw the statue commemorating the success in one season (1996-97) of Leicester’s three sporting teams: Leicester City FC, the football club, the Tigers rugby union club, and Leicestershire County Cricket Club. We also visited the King Richard III Visitor Centre which is built on the site where in August 2012 King Richard III’s remains were discovered buried under a council car park, an optical display now shows his skeleton, he was reinterred in Leicester Cathedral in March 2015.
With the incredible story of the finding of King Richard III Leicester received worldwide attention – as now in the sporting world with Leicester City FC on top of the Premier League … a new King has arrived in Leicester via the new Thai owners King Power who renamed the stadium King Power Stadium.
We met up with Leicester City FC historian John Hutchinson who gave us a fascinating guided tour of the stadium – I photographed him in the players tunnel against an image of stars Riyad Mahrez & Jamie Vardy. John told us some fascinating stories about the club, one being that the Srivaddhanaprabha family (Leicester’s Thai owners) frequently fly in monks to provide positive energy and prosperity and he showed us the Buddhist prayer flags hung everywhere around the stadium … apart from where the away fans sit.
We also met up with long standing fans of the club including Mo who has been going to home & away matches for some 30 years. I photographed her next to the The Garden of Remembrance adjacent to the stadium, to have such a place is unique in British football and many supporters going to a home match visit the garden to pay their respects, it is where Mo will also have her ashes scattered.
Updated: We went back to Leicester in May and with just 2 matches to go Leicester are poised to win the Premier League.
