Why is there such a large QPR following here in the states?

[rymannryan]

This is purely out of curiousity.

[Maczebus]

Don't accurately know as I'm not American.
But I'd hazard a guess at the fact that QPR were once a middling premiership/top division side, before their fall from grace.
Many will have taken notice of them before their current division 2 status.

Also them being a London side won't have done them any harm. Just down the road from BBC headquarters.

Also, 3rd possible option: Just thought of the great Roy Wegerle.

[art]

Originally posted by maczebus
Don't accurately know as I'm not American.
But I'd hazard a guess at the fact that QPR were once a middling premiership/top division side, before their fall from grace.
Many will have taken notice of them before their current division 2 status.

Also them being a London side won't have done them any harm. Just down the road from BBC headquarters.

Also, 3rd possible option: Just thought of the great Roy Wegerle.

For me, all of the above (except for the BBC angle), but ultimately I think it was the hoops. :)

[doolittledog2]

For me QPR was one of the first English teams I saw on television (think it was in the early or mid eighties) The name Rangers stuck with me since we have 2 teams over here with that name. And I liked the look of Loftus road. Then later Roy Wegerle played for them and I just slowly learned more about them and have continued to follow them. Though not as much recently due to that whole having a job and marriage and children thing, plus I now have MLS (the Fire) and USL (the Menace) to follow over here now. I also tend to keep up on teams that have Americans on them but tend to stop following them when that player leaves...but not so for QPR as they were the first for me.

[ross from st paul]

i'm with art, in that i like the 'oops.
but i think i became a QPR fan back in the early 90's, when that EPL (or, earlier, first division) highlight show was on every week. it was trevor sinclair that did it for me. plus, i loved the look of loftus road: so compact, fans practically on top of the pitch; and fantastic, passionate supporters.
i only later learned that white city (i was a huge who and pete townshend fan in high school...well, i still am) is right across the street from the ground. plus, B.A.D. mention QPR in the liner notes to one of their cd's.
so, when i finally got to london for the first time, i hopped the tube to white city, just to look at the ground. it was june, 2000, so i obviously couldn't get in. :D i just wanted to snap some pictures.
got back in february, 2001, and was able to get to the match v. barnsley (2-0, kiwomya and crouch), one of only 5 wins that doomed season. it was magic. could have gone to the arsenal cup tie (had a line on tickets), but no way. wanted it to be loftus road! my one and only english football match. went with a lifelong QPR fan, a london cabbie, and all-around GREAT guy, and after the match, we "went to his mum's for a spot of tea." (i'm not making fun) the whole thing was pure magic! i'll NEVER leave R's!!!!
thanks for pretending to care about my long-winded explanation! :D

[AEK]

I was looking for an English Side to support, the first match I saw on TV was a QPR game so I was hooked. It just so happens that Roy Wegerle was my favorite US international, and his best years were at QPR.

and you have to love those hoops!

[Maczebus]

Originally posted by art
For me, all of the above (except for the BBC angle), but ultimately I think it was the hoops. :)

Yeah I forgot to delete the BBC thing. I was going down the route that if the Beeb or infact any London based TV company need a few shots inside a ground, then Loftus Road is usually where they head. Media whores that we are.
However that would have meant little to those that don't get a lot of UK TV.

[rymannryan]

Tell me about these "hoops".

[Maczebus]

If you mean 'what do people mean by Hoops' then:

http://www.premiershirts.net/English%20teams/englishshirts/01087.gif Old kit but essentials are still there.

It's the kit design. Horizontal bands are hoops, vertical ones are stripes.

If, however you want people to talk to you about the Hoops (super variety) in general, then there's plenty who'll help you round here.

[ross from st paul]

Originally posted by maczebus
http://www.premiershirts.net/English%20teams/englishshirts/01087.gif Old kit but essentials are still there.

It's the kit design. Horizontal bands are hoops, vertical ones are stripes.
in historical terms, a bit of a break with tradition, as rugby kit were usually hoops, but soccer kit were usually vertical stripes. hoops are still relatively infrequent: R's, Celtic, Porto, a few others i'm sure i'm forgetting...but not too many.

[Maczebus]

Originally posted by ross from st paul
hoops are still relatively infrequent: R's, Celtic, Porto, a few others i'm sure i'm forgetting...but not too many.

Porto have blue/white stripes.

And Reading from div 1.
And perhaps Flamengo of Brazil

[ross from st paul]

Originally posted by maczebus
Porto have blue/white stripes.

And Reading from div 1.
And perhaps Flamengo of Brazil
right. my mistake. i thought of that a few minutes after posting! :D i think i was thinking of sporting lisbon?

[QPR Kevin H]

Originally posted by ross from st paul
right. my mistake. i thought of that a few minutes after posting! :D i think i was thinking of sporting lisbon?
Yep - Sporting have very nice green and white hoops. Like Celtic, who celebrate 100 years in hoops next season (much longer than we've had em).

[art]

If you read the QPR club history, it's interesting to note that QPR wore green and white hoops well into the 1920's. Before that QPR wore Dark and Light blue halves. Yuck.

[NEKSoccer]

You all are forgetting about the fact that Juergen Sommer was there. He joined in late August/early September of 1995. Perhaps following his exploits while he was with the "R's" might explain (at least in part) why so many people in the U.S. like QPR.

Could it also be that they were one of the easier London EPL sides for expatriate Americans to get tickets to? I remember seeing a family of three from the U.S. (residents of London) when I was at Loftus Road to watch Fulham vs. Manchester United last October. I ran into several expatriate Yanks at the games I attended - both at Fulham and at West Ham. I also know a Chelsea fan - an American who used to live in London. Stamford Bridge is in a neighborhood in London with lots of expats. Nice stadium too - I was there to see the home team play WBA.

[NEKSoccer]

Originally posted by maczebus

Also, 3rd possible option: Just thought of the great Roy Wegerle.
"Roy 'Everyone doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like' Wegerle"
-Chris Berman before the 1994 World Cup

[QPR Kevin H]

Originally posted by NEKSoccer
Could it also be that they were one of the easier London EPL sides for expatriate Americans to get tickets to? I remember seeing a family of three from the U.S. (residents of London) when I was at Loftus Road to watch Fulham vs. Manchester United last October. I ran into several expatriate Yanks at the games I attended - both at Fulham and at West Ham. I also know a Chelsea fan - an American who used to live in London. Stamford Bridge is in a neighborhood in London with lots of expats. Nice stadium too - I was there to see the home team play WBA.
That's part of it I guess. For me, when I saw my first match in '93, Premiership grounds were not the antisceptic places they are now. Trouble was still a factor at many London grounds. So when I was over as a kid, my family in London wanted to take me to a match - they wanted to go somewhere relatively safe, but interesting. So Rangers were the natural choice as they lived in Notting Hill (plus my cousin used to go every now and again). I thank the lord everyday they took me there and didnt expose me to the animals at Stamford Bridge (the pre Bates Hotel version - with the old Shed).

[DylanPresman]

Don't you know it's frowned upon to say anything even vaguely positive about Chelscum!!! ;-)

COME ON URRRRRRRRRRRRRRRsss!!!

Dylan Presman

[Northside Rovers]

Sean Wheelock, the famed MLS announcer, is a QPR fan himself, thought I don't know why.

For some reason I want to say Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated is too - though I could be wrong on that.

[ross from st paul]

Originally posted by QPR Kevin H
I thank the lord everyday they took me there and didnt expose me to the animals at Stamford Bridge (the pre Bates Hotel version - with the old Shed).
You, sir, have FINE parents!!! :)