In the coming years 2 May will probably be regarded as some kind of unofficial public holiday for the people of Leicester, and who can begrudge them that? On that date in 2016, the whole city – and a significant proportion of the world around it – revelled in the joy of ‘little old Leicester City’ outfoxing richer and larger rivals to claim its first Premier League championship.

Described as a fairytale by media outlets the world over, Leicester City’s unlikely victory will go down as one of the greatest sporting stories of all time.

The people of Leicester are becoming quite used to achievement in what can arguably be described as a ‘golden age’ of sport for the city. On the night Leicester basked in the glow of its title heroes, one of its favourite sons – Mark Selby – won his second World Snooker Championship 70 miles up the road in Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre.

Local basketball team the Leicester Riders topped the British Basketball League championship, though it lost its playoff final against Sheffield Sharks on 8 May. And although the Leicester Tigers haven’t won the Premiership since 2012/13, the team is still the most successful rugby union club in the country.

“We’ve had periods of success through Leicester’s history related to sport but at the moment it does feel as though we’ve reached a unique point in Leicester’s sporting history,” says the city’s deputy mayor Rory Palmer. “What does that mean for us? I guess that’s the big question now.”

Palmer tells Sports Management that while he’s expecting the Premier League title win to attract economic growth in the shape of potential investors, one of the key benefits he sees manifesting is an increase in civic pride.

He adds: “Civic pride is something policy makers and politicians throw around as a term without ever really defining what it might mean. I think we are defining what civic pride is in Leicester at the moment, and that for me is people from all parts of the city sharing in this great pride of the football club’s journey and then translating that into a sense of pride for their home city, and what it means to live here and be part of Leicester.”

Palmer’s comments echo those made by his colleague and mayor of Leicester Sir Peter Soulsby during this year’s Local Government Association Annual Sport Conference, when he said that sport played a fundamental part in “reclaiming Leicester” after it lost its “confidence and purpose” following the collapse of some of its major industries like textiles and manufacturing.

Soulsby highlighted the city’s “unique combination of sporting excellence and the council’s willingness to invest in sport”.

Indeed, under the stewardship of Soulsby and Palmer, Leicester City Council has invested in a new arena for the Leicester Riders and has provided a loan for Leicestershire County Cricket Club to improve its Grace Road ground.

Palmer also points to the council funds ploughed into local grassroots facilities such as artificial pitches, municipal leisure centres and outdoor gyms, but concedes that participation has “remained stubbornly low” – an issue he hopes elite sporting success will have a hand in rectifying.

“There’s always been a bit of a conundrum around participation,” he says. “We’ve got a great array of professional sports clubs and good facilities but participation is below national and regional averages.

“I’ve described it quite openly before as a disconnect, and that is the big question for us now. We have a huge opportunity to capitalise on this era of sport and success in so many ways – economic, social – but also in terms of participation and engagement.”

To solve the conundrum, Palmer and the council are carrying out a piece of work to find out why people aren’t participating in sport and physical activity. He regularly meets with executives from the city’s big sports clubs to discuss how to get Leicester active, and those conversations will now turn to making sure there are no “missed opportunities” in grassroots sport following a period of elite success.

“There are lessons to be learnt from London 2012 – everyone thought it was going to be transformative in terms of youth sport and participation,” he explains. “It hasn’t been and I’m keen that we work out what we’re going to do with sporting success in Leicester.”