Reading from left to right – Hickling; Pickering; G. Bromhead; T. Mills; H. Perkins; W. Cockain; W. Wright; Jas. Cartwright; J. Tyler. Front row:- T.B. Cartwright; A. Mounteney; H. North.
This, reputedly, is the earliest photograph of a Leicestershire football team – Loughborough F.C. It was probably taken some time in the mid-1870s at the rear of the Greyhound Hotel, Loughborough on the ground then known as ‘Bromhead’s’ (later to become Athletic Grounds) before a match. George Bromhead, third left, was the son of the owner. The match was probably played under ‘Sheffield Rules’; the number of players would have been between eleven and fourteen but normally agreed upon before the game by both teams and the umpire. Seven of the twelve players here played against Loughborough Grammar School on 17 October 1878 and six played in the floodlit match the same year.