Alderman W. H. Church was one of the Supporters Club’s early Vice-Presidents and for the first post-WW2 handbook for season 1946/47, he wrote about his memories of following the R’s:
‘Forty-six years ago, I first made contact with Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club, and from that day to this I have always been a staunch supporter of the Club in all its varied fortunes.
Perhaps some of my old pals of those early days will read these random notes and although time has taken its toll many of us are still able to go along and get as big a thrill as we did in the old days.
Nowadays, I generally find a seat in the stand and see the game in comparative comfort.
I look at the crowd packed behind the goals and think of the times when that was my favourite position, and Clutterbuck was my favourite goalkeeper.
I can recall the day in 1900 when the Rangers beat the Spurs at Kensal Rise, 2-1. And soon afterwards travelled to the Spurs to see them beat Bury in the First round of the Cup.
In those days the Rangers colours were green and white, and it was not uncommon for the players to have their faces adorned with a “tazz”, or long sideboards which made them look like old men.
I remember the Rangers playing on the small Latimer Road Ground, when the visiting teams had their dressing room at the Latimer Arms, and were forced to trot to and from the ground along Latimer Road, much to the amusement of the small boys who always gave the players a good reception.
Notwithstanding the fact that they, themselves, were unable to see the game because they had no coppers for admittance.
The ground was used for a large open-air party to celebrate the Coronation of King Edward V11.
The Rangers moved to the Agricultural Showground, Park Royal, for a few seasons, which in those days was little known. ‘
(Then there was the move to the brand-new Park Royal Stadium in 1906, built by the Great Western Railway Company.)
‘The G.W.R. had a train service to the ground, but transport was not what it is today and many of us would walk from Kensal Rise and Shepherd’s Bush.
On special occasions we hired motor coaches and horse-driven vehicles, filled with enthusiastic supporters decked out with green and white favours, bells and rattles and would sail merrily along what is now the Western Avenue.
The songs we used to sing on the journey home to my memory, as I remember: ‘Ragtime Cowboy Joe’, ‘Everybody’s Doing It’, ‘Dolly Gray’ and the never-to-be-forgotten, ‘Nelly Dean’, which was generally reserved for the return journey, when we would stop and have ‘one’ at ‘The Leamington’.
Park Royal has long been a busy industrial area, but the ground is still there and until quite recently there was a hoarding on which you can see: ‘…ers Football Ground.’
In spite of my many activities I have always been glad to associate myself with the Supporters Club, which has justified its formation and done excellent work, under great difficulties at times.
The ground improvements alone are a memorial to the good work of keen sportsmen.
To my old pals of those early days, I send greetings. We did not earn a lot of money those days, but we did make the most of it.
When the Rangers played mid-week matches in the Westen League, we could have a real good time for the cost of one shilling.
Sixpence to see the match, and enough money for a packet of fags and two or three drinks on the way home.
I wait for the day when First Division status is reached, and we eventually go to Wembley, bringing the cup back to Shepherd’s Bush.
I shall be at my window in Loftus Road with some of my old pals, among who may be George Carter, Tom Stringer, Freddy Smith, Harry Rankin, Syd Stevens, and Uncle Tom Cobley and all.’
‘Goodbye, Dolly Gray’ was an American song first published in 1897 that was popular during the Spanish/American War a year later and it then became a Boer War anthem.
