Our road to becoming superhoops lovers

I have long been an avid reader on this forum and I been a hoops fan since 1972 so I thought I would post my route and ask others how it happened for them. My father took me to a rangers game in 1972 with a few of his mates from the Ravenscourt Arms and soon after a group of around ten had season tickets ( me included as a ten year old ) just a few rows up behind the old directors box. I went to Wren soon after and was part of the group of lads from my school who performed with the famous card turning tricks for the opening clip on MOD way back when.By then a few of the team ( best f****n side we ever had ) had started to drink in the Ravenscourt Arms ( my dads local ) and the blood had started to flow blue and white !! I just love it even now in my 50's - every loss pains and every win is joyous so much so that I actually found the pre season training videos emotional - do I need help?

 

I am the youngest of 4 brothers and aged about 6/7 it was decided that I must pick a team to support. I vaguely recollect being given a choice of 4 teams and picked Queens Park Rangers because I liked the name. I have been a passionate supporter since and am prone to major mood swings on match days depending on results. Can't remember what were my other choices but I wouldn't have it any other way now. Come on u Rs.

 

Good to see you taking the plunge Optimistichoop, you must have gleaned that we are pretty much an easy going bunch! I fell in love with the hoops watching Terry Venables take what is still the most stunning free kick I've ever seen on the Big Match, the one where he lifted the ball over the wall for a very young Gerry Francis to volley home. Since then no regrets, just plenty of pain....

Stay and enjoy the forum.

 

OP great idea for a thread very late 60's for me one of the Bristol clubs, my dad took me and hooked ever since.

 

Welcome to the board!

Im a youngster, only been going to Rangers since 02/03 (for some reason I hated football until I was about 12!), but that was the season things started to look good for us after our financial troubles, then we gained promotion from league one the year later!

 

First visit to Loftus Road was with my brother in 1963 as a 5 year old to a reserve game. I was immediately hooked. Started going regularly 67/68. Growing up in Paddington there was never any doubt who my team would be.

Seen a few ups, many more downs, but above all else my blood is blue and white hoops.

 

1972 like you Optimistic, went with my old man to see this game, went to most of the other home games that season, ST holders from the next onwards. Favoured pub Thatched House Hammersmith, which I still pop into sometimes.

[video=youtube_share;828k--4N_0U]http://youtu.be/828k--4N_0U[/video]

 

Started going to Rangers around 89/90 when I was about ten.

Can't remember the first game. There was a long run of draws in an early season which I remember vaguely -threw the ball back to Roy Wegerle one time!

My memories from that time are all about Andy Sinton tearing down the wing, especially in the 2nd half when we attacked towards the Loft. Him and Macca remain my favourite players of all time. I used to stand down near the corner flag in the Loft - happy days!

 

As I child I lived in Benbow Rd. at the age of about six I remember my dad bringing back two scarves after work one red and white and one blue and white. Me and my brother had to choose. He chose red and became an Arsenal fan. Me QPR. It was the mid to late seventies and I remember that you could clearly see the floodlights from our top floor flat. The bug was caught and have been rangers ever since.
My brother is now avid rangers as I think my dad got bored of trekking to highbury to make it fair.
As a nice footnote my brother lives in South Africa now but is over for a week and the whole family are going to the Swindon match.

 

Good post, mate ...................... I too am in my 50's and have been a QPR fan since 1971.
From watching Brian Moore on the Big Match tv show.
From then to watching great players like Bowles, Thomas, Venables, Francis and alike right thru the low point to being relegated to the old third division.
As RRR'rsss fans, we have seen much, drank too much and watch our hair either fall out and or turn grey but we still supported our team and always will, even from halfway around the world.
Aussie

 

Welcome Optimistic, great opening thread from you. You got me all nostalgic.

I had family living in London in the 70's and they were all avid QPR supporters. The first ever football game I went to see live aged 10 was Ireland V the Soviet Union (David V Goliath) in Dalymount Park in 1973. The Soviets won the European Championships the previous year and Ireland went and stuffed them 3-0. Who scored a hat-trick? None other than Mr. Don Givens. The crowd were ecstatic walking our after the match and I left thinking this Don Givens was a super hero. Every week after, I used to watch either Match of the Day or the Big Match to see if I could see Don Givens playing. Whenever the cameras went to the crowd in the Loft End, I used to be glued to the tele to see if I could see my uncle or cousins. I remember in the 70's my uncle won a signed football in a raffle in the supporters club. It was the match ball from the Eufa Cup match against FC Koln. My uncle sent the signed match ball over to Ireland as a present for me. What did I do, yes, I played football in the street and destroyed the ball and all the signatures. How much would that signed ball be worth today? A lot of dosh.

The first game I went to see was QPR V Derby in 1979 aged 16, I think it was a 1-1 draw. I remember standing in the school end as that was the temporary QPR end as there was work being done to the Loft. The second game I went to see was a friendly QPR played in Ireland in 1981 against St Patricks Athletic. They beat us 1-0. I was the laughing stock in work (not for the first time) that a league of Ireland team could beat us. My third match was in 1982, the 3rd round of the cup V Middlesboro. It was 2-2 I think and the tie went to a replay which we won and we then went all the way to the final. I came back over for the final and the replay. After the FA cup final, I remember going to my Uncle's local right opposite Stamford Bridge, getting very drunk and singing non-stop QPR songs. The locals were not impressed.

I lived in London for 12 years from 1985 to 1997 and I became a season ticket holder. I went to a lot of away matches too in those years. Myself and my Nephew became season ticket holders in 2008 until last season travelling over for the vast majority of home matches and the odd away game. I wish I could continue to do it but the costs have become too much. I expect to attend about a dozen games this season which is not too bad.

My road has been rocky at times. I have had a lot of lows and the odd high. I have met some fantastic people along the way and continue to do so virtually every time I go to a game. Would I do it all again? Absolutely. I don't have one single regret. It is us, the real fans that make this club.

 

Great posts on this thread prompted by the OP. Finglas that is some story, you tell it very well, a natural storyteller.

 

Born in Carshalton (at my grandfathers, where my folks were staying having returned from ex-pat life in West Africa and whilst looking for a home of their own... Eventually in Hampshire). My uncle was a Palace fan, so I wanted another team for the rivalry. I must've been around 7-8 around then and the Rs had the great team under Sexton. I also loved the hoops as they were much different from many of the other strips around at the time; sets them apart, doesn't it? Never looked back.

 

Stan Bowles on the telly and have been around the golf course a hundred times with Mark Lazarus who was a close friend of my father's. I was even a witness for him in a fabricated assault on a policeman.
First game at LR was a terrible 0-1 defeat to Wrexham (1980).

 

First game was in the early 70s. The family barber was a guy called Tom Boston and he was a Rangers nut and had pictures of the team in his shop. He took me and his son to a game v Leicester. We lost 1-0 but I was hooked. Went to Acton County (Reynolds) in Gunnersbury Lane with Warren Neill. Was a steward for a few years. Used to watch from the paddock all through the 80s. Went to the FA cup final twice and the League Cup. Still remember the semi v Liverpool. The away leg was a corker. That was my first visit to Anfield and we were majestic!!!!!!!!! Love QPR. Nuff said!!

 

Great post optimist...

Born in Wembley, my Dad was Welsh and a rugby fan (seen London Welsh play many times and England v Wales International matches before I ever saw footy). My first season was 1967....Dad got given free tickets (I think they were free) for League Cup Final semi, and then again for the Final....a third division team in a Wembley final!!!! and they won, they had Rodney, they had a great kit...everyone was talking about MY team. Of course I was hooked.
But as Dad worked shifts and wanted to watch rugby (and I am a girl....not quite so easy to go to footy on your own, and none of the boys of my age, in Wembley supported QPR) so as I was growing up I only got to go 4 or 5 times a season. But directly I got to about 18 and had a bit of money, I got a season ticket...when I went to college and found two QPR mates, we got season tickets together and I went to away matches too....which I did for 14 years till I was 8 months pregnant and had to be let in through a special door (too big to get through the turnstiles)...I stopped going then.

About 5 years ago, the odd match began to creep in, and the last two seasons I have seen most home matches (that work have allowed)....next season, I will pass a magical age in which the price of season ticket prices decrease....and it HAS BEEN DECIDED I will have a season ticket again..... I suspect that as work decreases, I can feel the old addiction creeping back....

It has been a Rollercoaster...but there is an old Chinese curse...."May you live in interesting times"... I do...and their name is QPR

 

Fourth generation, so I have blue and white blood, not hooped blood as we played in white shirts with blue collars and cuffs in the 50's. The legend that is Alec Stock put us back into hoops on his return to the club. He and Jim Gregory built the platform for the club as it is today. If anyone thinks the last couple of seasons were dire try 11 seasons of 3rd Div (South) football.

Getting to the ground was a tortuous affair, 630 Trolley Bus from Mitcham. It took even longer if the 'arms' became detached from the overhead cables. As I live - and still do - in Chelsea country I took a lot of stick at school. It was drummed into me at a very early age that the R's are for life. The line will broken as my son as no interest in football.

 

Lovely post Beth. I really enjoyed reading that.

 

Over 100 years of R's support in my family - turning 60 this year I'm the 3rd generation. Dad, an only child, was born on Bradiston Rd, then moved to Fernhead Rd. I have 5 daughters, no sons, and unfortunately none of them are true R's, even though I forced them all into hooped shirts over the years - they follow Mum's lead - "silly old Dad carrying on in his office, yelling & screaming - is that really necessary?"

A few weeks ago at my wife's Acadian (French) family reunion, my brother-in-law was actually wearing a blue & white hooped Ralph Lauren fashion shirt - on arrival I naturally shouted out "c'mon you R's, get in there" and they all looked at me a bit queer, as my wife frowned and told me to tone it down, as I attempted to explain the significance of the shirt to bemused parents in-law.

My 1st game with Dad was at away at Bournemouth (3-0 victory) in our 1966/67 3rd Division, promotion winning/League Cup winning season. Dad and I travelled up from Hampshire for a few games at Loftus Road, before I moved to Canada in 1976, but unfortunately the results never ever seemed to be what we both so hoped for - always close, but no cigar!