A Magical Moment

I've already mentioned that the first home game of the new football season featuring QPR vs Millwall is the 50th anniversary of my first ever live football match. That day we also played Millwall, and I just found a press photo from that game, showing Rodney Marsh scoring the opening goal.

If the stand in the background is the South Africa Road stand, then I think somewhere around Entrance J, row V, seats 140-something you would have found my father, his friends and me. I have highlighted the blurry blob in the top right-hand corner of the photograph. One of those grey bits is me!

50 years of fandom. And 50 years of friendship and adventures. I'm thinking particularly of Geoffrey Davis, Albert H Friedlander, & Sallie Levy Lunn, may they rest in peace (and use whatever influence they may have to help us this season!).

Koff Koff Years of Supporting QPR

Ok it isn't EXACTLY fifty years to the day, but the opening day of the 1971-72 season saw Millwall visit Loftus Road and since this match was 4 days before my birthday, my father was finally persuaded to take me with him to the stadium.

I'm ashamed to say that the only memory I have of that day is of being very small, and the pitch seeming very large and extremely green from high up in the back of the SAR stand where we were sitting. O, and my dad, Uncle Geoffrey & Henry Pincus passing a little silver flask back and forth over my head.

The team that I saw was:  Parkes, Clement, Gillard, Venables, Hunt, Hazell, Busby, Francis, McCulloch, Marsh, Leach.  The final score was 1-1 with Dunphy scoring for them, and Marsh for us. However, as I said, I have no pictures in my head of football. But thanks to the magic of the internet: 

This has a goal by Rodney Marsh. The first goal I ever saw live!

This has Millwall's equaliser. The records say it was Dunphy, but it looks more like an own goal to me.

ANYWAY, the purpose of all this is to point out that this coming Saturday, QPR begin the new season at home to ... Millwall. What a coincidence. Were it not for all the travel difficulties caused by the current Covid situation, I would be next to my friend Chris in the SAR stadium, celebrating this anniversary. 50 years of fandom. Thank you to Uncle Geoffrey for converting my father, newly-arrived from the USA, into a follower of the Superhoops. Thank you, Daddy, for the best birthday present of my life. And thank you for all the friends I've made and adventures I've had because of this passion. COYRS!

Rabbi Albert H Friedlander z"l 17th Yahrzeit

My father died 17 years ago today. He would have been quite happy this morning about the football, and I really miss being able to share that with him (England just qualified to play Italy in the final of the European Championships). 

This reminds me of the very last words I heard him say - I was talking with my mother on the phone from Wisconsin to London and he was watching the European Championship final in the front room. At some point he picked up the extension and said, "the Greeks have scored." A while later he picked the phone up again and exclaimed, "the Greeks have won!" He always did have a soft spot for an underdog. And those were the last words I ever heard him say live. It was a Sunday evening, and he died on the following Wednesday. 

17 years is just about a generation ago. I am middle-aged and grey. Next month it will be 50 years since the two people in this photo went to see QPR play Millwall at Loftus Road, my first ever football match. I miss him for so many reasons, but today the one taking centre stage is the love for QPR, football and sport that he shared with me. May his memory continue to be a blessing.

Piglet Retrospective IV

 

Just another pig in the crowd, eh? QPR are live on Sky again tomorrow, so the nation and fans across the world will be able to see how we do. We don't have a great record on tv, but who knows. Part of the beauty of football is that anything is possible when the whistle is blown to start the match!

In this pic Piglet is in the Upper Loft with me. I think we might have been playing Chesterfield, but can't quite remember. Looking forward to the time when it will be safe to do this once again!

The Greatest Photo I Never Took

QPR photographer has a prime view of Andy Sinton's goal celebration

1990 FA Cup 4th round. QPR had drawn the first match at Highbury vs the League Champions, and now faced a reply at Loftus Road. Under the floodlights, it poured with rain, which in pre-digital days made action photography quite difficult. To relive the joy of beating Arsenal, there's a link below to some YouTube footage. As for my photographs, you can see in the screenshot above that when Andy Sinton scored in the final minutes to make it 2-0 and seal the victory, I had the rare opportunity to take some unique close-up shots of his celebration which, despite my excitement as a fan, I did.

A few minutes later, the game was over and I was packing up my things. I went to roll the final film back into its canister, ready for developing when I got home, and had a terrible shock - THERE WAS NO FILM IN THE CAMERA. To this day I don't understand what happened. Never did it before. Never done it since. That night, I did it. I shot a roll of stunning pictures, with no film in the camera. I can still see the photos in my head. But they do not exist. Andy's face full frame, fists clenched in victory above his head. Or not. Unbelievable. Still feel gutted every time I think of it. How could it be, and how could I not have noticed? NO BLOODY FILM IN THE CAMERA. Sigh. So the pixelly screen grab above is all that remains of that moment.

Hard to believe also that this took place 30 years ago. Looking at the screenshot again, I am amused to note that it happened in front of an ad for Panini football stickers. I now live happily in the city where the stickers are made. That's my taste of lemonade!

Cat Stops Play

Adding insult to injury, the Turkish club Besiktas has not only been knocked out of the Champions League football tournament by Bayern Munich, but they've also been charged by UEFA for allowing a cat on the pitch. According to the BBC, the exact charge is "insufficient organisation". As if anyone has ever been able to herd a cat!

Meanwhile, on Twitter, the cat was voted MoTM:

That reminds me of a previous MoTM winner at Loftus Road vs Leicester City a couple of years ago:

3rd February 2019 UPDATE

Yesterday a black cat on the pitch during the Everton loss to Wolves held up play for 7 minutes. Particularly amusing was the commentator's description of the cat's movements. You may find it on this BBC page (which also remembers other similar events, including the one that originally engendered this post).

A Little Something for the R's Among Us

There's nothing like a cold winter night and a bad referee to get one shouting and to work out any emotional issues that may be clogging the pores. The little corner of Loftus Road that currently belongs to me was thus a source of loud derision for 95 minutes this evening. That experience plus a 3-0 win was most healing.

This was a view from my seat early in the second half. Strangely enough, while it is too dark to be able to take decent action photographs and get anyone and/or the ball in focus, videography seems to work quite well. The main problem is having enough memory on the card to catch the vital moment. I was lucky tonight and just made it.

COYRS!