A SPECIAL EURO ANNIVERSARY

Paris revisited

As the 20th anniversary approaches, we want to share your stories of the Heineken Cup Final in 2001 when Tigers became champions of Europe. If you have some photos too, we’d love to see them...

Everyone has a special memory of an incredible day, whether they were inside the Parc des Princes or following the game from a distance elsewhere. It is an occasion which will live long for anyone connected with the Tigers.

Roger Chapman perhaps sums it up for so many when he says: “Now in my mid-80s, I have attended many hundreds of matches, but that one remains the greatest of all.”

“It was our first ‘international’ rugby trip and the catalyst to me now having been to two World Cups, multiple Six Nations and many, many Tigers trips,” adds Noeleen Flanagan who has a collection of photos with the players and the cup after the game.

“We went to one of the bars next to the stadium - lo and behold the team coach pulled up and the team got out with the Cup. I even got to hold the Cup. It wasn’t me who damaged it!”

Steve and Joy Hardy were also in the stadium and recall: “We spent the early part of the day walking around Paris and couldn’t believe that everywhere we went there was a mass of red, white and green Tigers shirts!

“A little old lady dressed all in black asked me what was happening and I tried to explain in my very stilted French that our team were playing in a big rugby match.”

Players and supporters have an opportunity to re-live their memories at a 20th anniversary dinner at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Friday, June 25 in an event hosted in partnership with Switch the Play Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting all sportspeople to successfully transition into life outside of sport.

Switch the Play was founded by Heineken Cup Final hero Leon Lloyd, scorer of two vital tries in Paris, and he will be joined by Tigers players past and present on a glittering evening. See the Tigers website to book your place.

You can send your stories and photos by email to programme editor Gary Sherrard at gary.sherrard@ tigers.co.uk or marked for his attention by emailing tigers@tigers.co.uk.

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