Leicester Tigers and Norfolk: Rugby union's...

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   A pleasant story of how an East Midlands club became tied up with a (relatively) remote coastal county, or a testament to how decisions taken decades ago have stunted the development of rugby union outside of the Premiership?

Leicester Tigers and Norfolk: Rugby union's unlikely long-distance alliance

 "In Norfolk, it's in our blood. We are Leicester Tigers through and through."

You don't hear that kind of sentiment, shared by Simon, a Tigers' fan who lives in Norfolk, very often. It's rare to find a community who, almost universally, support a team that play a three-hour drive and 110 miles away.

He has come along to a Leicester open training session at Gresham's School in Holt, joined by his wife and two daughters. They travel to see the team for every home game, and are not alone.

Hundreds more fans have come along to see their team train in this small town near the north Norfolk coast. One tells me the area is a "home from home for Leicester".

The county brings hundreds of supporters to each game, but has also produced some of Tigers' best players.

Freddie Steward and Ben Youngs are both from the county, came through the Leicester academy and are heading to the Rugby World Cup. Jack van Poortvliet, another Norfolk native, would have joined them but for an untimely injury.

Ben's brother Tom also became an England player and British and Irish Lion, and players like Harry Simmons, Calum Green and Charlie Clare have played key roles in Leicester's revival.

When did this unlikely alliance begin?

In the Premiership, each team has a so-called 'catchment area' to find talent and bring players through their academy.

Tigers recruit from Leicestershire and Rutland, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Staffordshire - counties that are geographically close - and then, surprisingly, Norfolk.

The areas were largely decided when the game turned professional in the mid-1990s. Why Norfolk was paired with Leicester - more than 100 miles away on the A47 - nobody seems to know.

The county is closer to the home grounds of their Premiership rivals Northampton or Saracens, and very few other clubs are that far away from part of their catchment area.