Why are we looking at our home spun Irish support? Because as we're seeing, it's pretty significant here and now on this website. This speaks volumes about the club's traditional connections with the island of Ireland (south and north).
Do we have similar appeal for people living in Scotland or Wales? I don't see signs of it. Steel Monkey I think lives in Cumbernauld but he's an English ex-pat...
If we've got 150 posters on this board, the 16 Irish-resident members below is more than 10% of our 'little' board. Add to that those who like Kiwi, Cannock etc. are Irish descent, plus those who like me who are not Irish but were introduced to Rangers by people of Irish descent and that significance becomes far greater.
What's perhaps even more interesting is that whilst the subjects of this thread live hundreds of miles away from this London-based premier league club, they could not possibly be described as 'plastics'. All have their own story about how they became addicted to them Rs and those stories all have a similar ring to them: family and community connections with west London carried down through the years regardless of current location (little different from our English supporters in fact!). They might live in Ireland but come match day, whether physically at great expense or in spirit, they're all with the rest of us wherever the team's playing.
Back in the day, Arsenal used to be known for it's Irish (and Scottish) connections. Thanks largely to Wenger and his 'foreign legion' that's no longer the case. Consequently I'd like to see us pick up that London Irish mantel, not in that spooky pseudo-religious / sectarian way like Celtic but in a more modern context as espoused by the unity of loyal Rs supporters as shown on here every day.
By our recognising the significance of our Irish traditions and raising awareness within the club, maybe one day QPR will smell the coffee (Guinness?) and start to exploit its heritage with tours and scouting opportunities. That could well put us in place to get the benefits of all that Irish talent that the likes of Reading have been accessing of late.
Updated roll call: Ciarrai, Twins, Swords, Dens, Turbo, Corrib, Inkedupp, Belfast, Kingdom, MOS, Dublin, NUTS, Rebel, Stan, Kilkenny, Tramore... Who else (apart from Mrs. Tooting)?