Links With The Past: 1891/92 Leicester Fosse Season Ticket
This season ticket from Leicester Fosse’s first year in the Midland League (three years before they joined the Football League) has a connection with a unique FA Cup tie.
1891/92 was the Club’s first season at their Walnut Street ground, later known as the Filbert Street ground.
It was also the only season when an FA Cup tie was held at Grace Road Cricket Ground.
The front cover of the season ticket indicates two Leicester Fosse home grounds.
These were the ‘County Cricket Ground, Aylestone Park’ (better known today as Grace Road Cricket Ground) and ‘Walnut Street, Aylestone Road'.
This was because the new Walnut Street ground wasn’t ready for the start of the season.
Consequently, the first two Midland League home games and Leicester Fosse’s FA Cup game were played at the County Cricket Ground, Aylestone Park.
The tie was a first round qualifying match against Small Heath, later to become Birmingham City. It was only the second season that Leicester Fosse had entered the FA Cup competition, then in its 21st year.
5-0 down at half-time, the Fosse lost 6-2. In the Club’s archives, there is a handwritten account of the match which notes that the game was ‘held up for some minutes whilst a small boy retrieved the ball which had lodged in a tree'.
It also reported that there was only a ‘very small crowd present'. Football crowds at Grace Road averaged less than 300. The venue was considered to be too far from Leicester, especially as the only public transport link was a horse drawn tram.