Michael Murphy talks about how QPR is the glue that binds generations of his family as his nan Noreen celebrates her 95th birthday at Loftus Road.
In football, loyalty often runs deeper than results. It’s a special cog that connects generations, a living bond between people, place, and passion.
For one West London family, that bond has always been blue and white. It’s a Saturday tradition in the household that began long before colour television.
Most young supporters of their team may have always wondered why, why they have grown up supporting their football club.
The answer, on this occasion, lies not in the league tables or matchday atmospheres of today, but in the memories of their 95-year-old mother and grandmother.
She turned 95 on November 1. For more than six decades, she has supported QPR through every promotion, relegation, and revival. Her story mirrors the club’s own values, resilient, proud, and rooted in community.
It began in the 1960s, when her late husband brought QPR into the household. Back then, football was local in every sense; teams represented streets, not just cities. They followed the R’s from the terraces and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with neighbours and friends, swept up by the atmosphere of the ‘Loft’ of a game which reflected the heartbeat of Shepherd’s Bush.
By 1970, they’d moved to Hetley Road, a few minutes’ walk from the stadium. Three o’clock on a Saturday afternoon became a huge part of the backdrop of each week. Songs chanted in unison would echo through open windows, carried by a flood of home supporters heading to South Africa Road.
She went to see her heroes in the flesh which included the likes of Stan Bowles, Gerry Francis, and the iconic 1975/76 team that came agonisingly close to winning the First Division title. She was at Wembley in 1982 for the FA Cup Final, waving her scarf high as QPR faced Tottenham.
When her husband passed away in 2001, her seat in the stands was replaced by a place on the sofa. Yet the connection never dimmed. Every weekend, she still checks the results of every match and discusses the team’s performance after cheering on the R’s from the comfort of her home. From this, every conversation with her family begins in the same way: "Did you see the QPR match?”
For one family, this connection has lasted ninety-five years and counting. Blue and white. Then, now, and always.
And now, after more than 40 years away from the stands, she’s back. In one big full circle moment, she returned to Loftus Road on her 95th birthday when QPR faced Ipswich, surrounded by two generations of her family.
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