| Something Positive about QPR 17:04 - Dec 22 with 8074 views | daveB |
As things are all a bit depressing on the pitch I thought it was worth pointing out something the club are doing rather well. Apologies for the length of this post, this is the cut down version, you can read a longer version in AKUTRS next week.
I’ll start with a bit of background, I’ve got a 7 year old son and trying to get him into QPR is not an easy thing when we’re crap most weeks.
When I was a kid seeing Clive Allen and Simon Stainrod smashing goals in as we roared to another easy win made me assume it was always going to be like this. Once I got hooked watching Bannister, Byrne and Fenwick it was too late to go anywhere else and by the time it all fell apart in the late 90’s I was already in my 20’s and signed up for life.
It’s a been a bit different for my son Freddie. His first game was a 1-0 home defeat against Newcastle as they won the league and we had Tamas Priskin up front, he’s seen us relegated twice, was bored senseless during most of the promotion campaign and the the last season and a half have hardly been exciting.
I’ve written before about my sons problem with loud noises which go back to him being born with a cleft lip and palate which in turn lead to problems with his hearing. It initially made going to games at QPR a real problem as loud noises affected him badly and made enjoying the game impossible for him. That kind of turned around a little in the 2013/14 season when he started to realise that the loud noise usually meant we’d scored a goal so was time to celebrate and he began to cheer and shout as loud as he could. We’ve been lucky in a way that QPR have been so bad in recent years that loud noises celebrating goals hasn’t really been a problem, he’s even managed a good sleep during some of the games.
His confidence has grown in recent years, last season we decided to sit in the front row for the last few minutes of the first half. I can’t remember which game it was but it was a pretty dull one and we were losing, I know that doesn’t narrow it down. Freddie decided to shout and get Rob Green’s attention. “Oi Greeno” he kept shouting and as the ball went out of play Rob Green very kindly turned and gave a thumbs up to Freddie who on cue shouted out “You’re rubbish Greeno” and the look on the poor keepers face almost made me feel sorry for him after I’d stopped laughing.
Now I know it is not a good thing for him to abuse our own players which I explained to him afterwards but his response of “But Dad everyone else is shouting it” was a difficult one to argue with.
The key thing you need to get a kid wanting to support QPR rather than just going because his Dad tells him to is to create heroes for them, players they can look upto and games they can remember forever. For me it was a 6-1 win over Middlesbrough in 1983 when my name appeared on the scoreboard wishing me a Happy Birthday and the team were fantastic. I had a 5-5 against Newcastle where I learnt to never give up the team and so many others.
He has had a a few heroes, he loved Charlie Austin until he inevitably left and despite the stick he gave Rob Green he was a big fan of his too for a while. His favourite now is Polter mainly due to his song being rude rather than him being any good so when there is so little to enjoy on the pitch it helps to have something off it to entice him.
Now he has turned seven and is playing for a football team himself it’s been obvious in recent months that being a QPR fan is not something he wants to admit. He’s not very subtle about it either refusing to wear a QPR shirt to football training as in his words “My friends will laugh at me” which lead me to buy him an England kit, trust me to buy him the kit of the one team who turned out to be even worse than QPR.
He’s spoken recently about wanting to support Man City when he’s older, partly to wind me up and partly as they are quite good so keeping him interested in QPR is no easy task at the moment. It’s not been made easier by the number of fixtures being changed, he started this season loving going to games but since September we’ve had just two Saturday games and he had to miss one of those. It’s hard enough getting him into QPR without the television companies ensuring he’s only seen one live football match in the last three months, and as things stand we only have six more Saturday 3pm games this season.
So I’ve looked for other ways to get him interested and this is where the club have been a massive help.
You may be aware of a Family Zone at Play Football which is run before home games, I’d heard of it last season but went for the first time before the Norwich game and was shocked at how good it was. It’s organised by the brilliant Community Trust and involves various football games, mini archery, table tennis and tons more.
Freddie had a whale of a time trying all the games and he got to meet Andy Sinton, which I was probably more excited about than he was. A current first team player usually attends, on the day we went it was Jake Bidwell. I don’t know what this costs the club, I doubt it’s very much but this small gesture of letting kids feel involved, meet their heroes and get active is a fantastic move by the club and really helps make the day feel special.
The club also run a holiday football school which does a bit of coaching and lets the kids basically play football all day. Freddie attended one in October which he enjoyed so we booked him in for one this week which was held at Loftus Road. Due to the cold weather they split the day into two parts for the kids, a few hours football in the afternoon and a few different games and activities in the lower loft bar. The kind of thing I expect most clubs offer but the people involved really do seem to go the extra mile.
When Freddie left home on the first day his head was down and he was worried people would laugh at him for wearing a QPR shirt, a few hours later he was back home singing Come on You R’s around the house and talking with enthusiasm about QPR players of the past wanting to know more about them.
The staff involved gave away goodies which had probably been hanging around for years collecting dust and if given to you or me would be met with complete indifference but to Freddie winning a 2012 boot bag for coming second in an archery competition was like winning the lottery.
He got to go on a tour of the stadium and came home excitedly telling me facts about the club he’s never been interested in before but was now buzzing about, although he did say the trophy room wasn’t quite as big as the one at Barcelona.
Yesterday the staff announced that they would pick three kids to attend the Junior R’s Christmas Party where they could meet several members of the first team. I arrived to pick him up as they announced this and I could see Freddie sat on the floor hands together praying that he would win this. He had a similar look of hope and despair that I had at the playoff final. He did manage to win a ticket and jumped in the air shouting get in there, and dancing around with his own version of Willy Wonka’s golden ticket
Today he attended the party with his Mum and what the club put on was sensational. The kids went on a scavenger hunt around the stadium with clues to a location and then they found the location a different player was waiting for them each time.
Sandro, Caulker, Washington, Shodipo, Ingram and Yenni were all there, all of them chatted with the kids, took photos and were brilliant ambassadors for the club. The kids also got presents as well as food and drink, honestly I just spoke to him on the phone and he couldn’t be happier or prouder to support QPR.
So when he goes back to school and his mates go on about seeing their team on TV and winning leagues Freddie can now say he not only gets to see games live but he supports a club who let him go behind the scenes into the dressing room and the dugout, he’s got to meet real footballers who are happy to chat to him and he supports a club that are doing all they can to make coming to QPR special.
Of course his mates may well see their club's win more trophies on television in the decades to come but they’ll never get such special memories and be allowed to get so close to their football club as Freddie and so many other young QPR fans are being allowed to at the moment.
At a time where there is much to be depressed about at QPR, it’s worth celebrating what QPR are getting very right at the moment in making it a place kids want to go to and be a club they want to support.
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| Something Positive about QPR on 14:28 - Dec 23 with 1143 views | ngbqpr |
Great post dave.
My kids have been brought up in Nottingham but remain Rs loyalists, and proudly wear the shirt. Not always easy at football training, but they're not alone - not that there are other Rs, but this season alone I have coached kids in Wycombe, Darlington, Scunthorpe, Palace and Wolves shirts - all kids sharing something special with mum or dad.
To be fair Forest do a fair bit to entice local kids to stick with them and resist the lures of the Prem; and Notts County's community programme is superb.
Somewhere the soul of English football is still lurking. |  |
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| Something Positive about QPR on 14:31 - Dec 23 with 1143 views | BathRanger |
Fantastic post and great to hear about the Family Zone.
I can sympathise with trying to get your child to support QPR as I'm in a similar position myself, not made any easier by living a long way from LR. So far my son has stuck with QPR despite no-one else at his school supporting anyone other than the top Premiership teams, but it's not been easy when the results haven't been going our way.
To add to the point about the great job the club and players do for the junior supporters, my son was fortunate enough to be chosen as the mascot for an away game last year. We were told by the home club that not all visiting teams allow photos or parents in the dressing room when the mascot meets the players but QPR were brilliant. We went into the dressing room at about 2:05, so just before they players went out to warm up, and every single player took time out from their pre-match preparations to sign autographs and pose for photos. And Sandro didn't even injure himself signing his name! It was excellent and well done to the club. |  | | |
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