The Leicester Longhorns are the team of the University of Leicester - previously affiliated with DeMontfortUniversity - and are one of the longest established teams in the league.
Leicester have fielded a team since the 1985-86 season. From 1985-1990, the team was the Leicester Longhorns. From 1990-2002, the team was known as the Leicester Lemmings, and from 2002-2006 the team was re-named the Leicester Lightning. To mark the club''''s 21st Anniversary season, the team reverted back to its original moniker and remains the Leicester Longhorns.
The Longhorns have had an up and down history in the BCAFL, highlighted by two trips to the College Bowl in 1994 and 2000, winning their division in 2000 and making the playoffs six times in their history. The Longhorns are also 3-times Plate Winners - with one Southern and two Northern trophies to their credit.
The team is headed by Duncan Burford, who was also an offensive coach for the Northern Conference MVP Programme in both 2008 and 2009. He is backed by a strong coaching staff, which has experience from Youth Football all the way up to NFLE.
The Longhorns are looking to bounce back from a disappointing 08/09 season with a successful 09/10 campaign. Under a strong coaching staff and with a talented crop of returning players to lead the way, the team is confident of a good upcoming season. "I''''m really optimistic with where we are right now - in terms of coaching staff and returning players. With one or two key additions, this could be a strong programme next season," commented Head Coach, Duncan Burford.
The University of Leicester is a research led university. It has approximately eighteen thousand registered students - about ten thousand of them full-time students, and six thousand of them distance-learning students.
The University was founded as Leicestershire and Rutland College in 1918. In 1957 the college was granted its Royal Charter, and has since then had the status of a University with the right to award its own degrees.
The University won the first ever series of University Challenge, in 1963. Leicester is ranked 12th in the UK (out of 113 universities) by the Good University Guide published in the Independent newspaper on 24 April 2008. It also appears in the top 20 in the UK by The Guardian University Guide 2007.
The University is divided into 5 faculties: Medicine and Biological Sciences, Arts, Law, Science and Social Science.
The University of Leicester is one of a small number of Universities to have won the prestigious Queen''''''''''''''''s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education on more than one occasion: in 1994 for physics & astronomy and again in 2002 for genetics. The techniques used in Genetic fingerprinting were invented and developed at Leicester in 1985 by Sir Alec Jeffreys. The Department of English is one of the UK’s leading providers of English at degree level. The Guardian''''''''''''''''s 2008 University Guide, published in 2007, ranked Leicester 7th in the UK for English and 2nd for American Studies.
Notable alumni include: Philip Larkin, poet, and Jeffery Hoffman, NASA astronaut.
