Loftus Road

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Loftus Road is a football ground in London, W12. It is home to the English football team Queens Park Rangers and has a capacity of 19,148.

History

The stadium was first used by Shepherd’s Bush F.C. from 1904, an amateur side that disbanded in World War I and QPR moved there in 1917, from their previous home of Park Royal Showground.

It is named after Mr Robert Owen Loftus Versfeld, the founder of organised sports in South Africa, and a key contributor to the early years of Queens Park Rangers and the surrounding areas.

The stadium’s highest recorded attendance of 35,353 was in a game against Leeds United on 27 April 1974, before it was converted into an all-seater stadium, for the beginning of the 1994-95 season.

The four stands are called the Loftus Road End (often shortened to The Loft), Ellerslie Road Stand, South Africa Road Stand (often called Little South Africa) and the School End, which is for away supporters. All the roads surrounding Loftus Road have South African connections.

During the summer of 1981 an artificial pitch was installed at Loftus Road, the first such surface to be used in British professional football. But it was removed in April 1988 because of football legislation and replaced with grass.

It was home to Wasps R.F.C. (now called the London Wasps) from 1996 to 1997 and 2001 to 2002, having moved from their home in Sudbury, near Wembley in Middlesex. It was part of a 7 year ground share deal, by Chris Wright who had just bought Wasps as rugby union became professional. Wasps agreed to move out, to Wycombe Wanderers’ Adams Park ground, at the end of the 2001-02 season to allow Fulham F.C. to rent for 2 seasons between 2002 and 2004, while their ground, Craven Cottage, was redeveloped. The success of Wasps at their new ground meant they didn’t move back after Fulham left.

Loftus Road was the first ‘neutral’ venue to capitalise on hosting international friendlies (not involving England). The ground has subsequently hosted ‘home’ ties for the Jamaican and Australian national teams to capitalise on the large Australian and Caribbean populations in West London.

In addition, in 2004, as part of the Gillette Tri-Nations rugby league competition, New Zealand played Australia (Australia winning by 32 points to 16). In 2005, Great Britain lost to New Zealand at the stadium in the same competition, 26 – 42.

On the football front, on the November 14, 2005, Australia drew 1-1 with Ghana in an international friendly at the ground.

Stands at Loftus Road:

South Africa Road Stand and The Paddocks

This is the biggest of the four stands at Loftus Road. It is a two tier stand which includes The Paddocks, containing a row of boxes separating The Paddocks and the upper tier. It also houses the dugouts, changing rooms, suites, tunnel, offices, club shop, box office and press conference rooms. The Paddocks area is the cheapest in the ground, whereas the upper tier is the most expensive. This is the stand where Gianni Paladini was alleged to have been held at gunpoint.

The Loft

This is a two tier stand behind the goal and traditionally where most members and season ticket holders sit. This is third most expensive stand to sit in. QPR generally attack this end in the second half, because it is believed to be good luck (similar to Liverpool F.C. and the Kop end. The police are based in this stand and it is home to the members’ bar in the ground, The Blue and White. This stand is frequently sold out and the hardest place to get a ticket for, and impossible if you are not a member.

The Ellerslie Road Stand

This stand is constantly renamed and sponsored, but QPR fans refer to it as the Ellerslie Road Stand. It is a single tiered stand and is the smallest in height, but not in noise and capacity. It is also the only stand not to be painted in blue and white hoops, instead it has “QPR” painted across it. It is home to the famous “R Block” where, along with the Loft’s Q and P blocks sit QPR’s partisan following. Most of the noise is generated from this stand, in addition to the Loft. This stand is a favourite of the fans because of the view and atmosphere. This is the second most expensive stand. It is also home to the commentary gantry.

The School End

At the west end of the ground is the School End. In appearance, it is a carbon copy of the Loft. ‘The School’ seats the away fans and the upper tier can been opened to home fans if the lower tier is sold out. It is the end which contains the scoreboard, also where Trevor Sinclair scored his famous overhead kick against Barnsley, and where one of the best team goals in English football history was scored in 1975 by Gerry Francis against Liverpool.

The Future of Loftus Road

In a meeting on 13 December 2007 it was announced that a move to a new stadium was not in their plans until Loftus Road was full week in week out and that there was demand for more tickets. It was also announced that the stadium would be upgraded with the possibility of the Ellerslie Road Stand having an additional 7,000 seats added to it. This would bring the overall capacity of the ground to 26,000. This would be ideal if Rangers were in the top flight.

It is also possible to expand the stadium by knocking down the two tier Loftus Road and School End stands and making them single tiered. This could potentially make Loftus Road have a capacity of 30,000+. This would be ideal if Rangers were consistently selling out after the Ellerslie Road stand had been redeveloped.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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QPR official website
Loftus Road wikipedia entry
QPRDOT.ORG fansite
QPR Report fansite
lost for words fansite
The Football Association
Bet with Paddy Power

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