QPR is the only professional football club founded in Chelsea. Chelsea FC, a tripple mistake, has an origin which is associated with the Stamford Bridge ground situated in Fulham. QPR is from Queens Park in North Western London. This part of the city was in the 19:th century an enclave between Willesden and Paddington, belonging to the Borough of Chelsea.Fig 1. Queens Park can be reached by the tube and the Bakerloo Line to the north. Many trains have the sign Queens Park. Fig 2. The park Queens Park is named after the Queens Park estate. The park is owned by City of London.

In the 1870’s the fields between Kensal Green and Kilburn were built by the Artizans, Labourers and General Dwellings Company, a cooperative company with a vision of decent residents for the working class at affordable prices.This was all during a time when overcrowded and pore living conditions were wildly spread amongst the poor people in London. The company was lead by William Austin, a former working-class man himself. Three larger areas were built: Shaftesbury Park in Battersea, Noel Park in Haringey and Queens Park. The name Queens Park was most likely referring to Queen Victoria.

The houses in Queens Park estate are built in a gothic style. The main streets are running from Harrow Road and are called Avenues and numbered as 1st Avenue, 2nd and so on. Remaining streets are categorized in letters, which were later on replaced with names. D Street for example is now known as Droop Street. No pubs were allowed in order to ensure a healthy way of life for the residents. However other locations like book clubs, libraries, bathhouses, laundry mats, cooperative stores, churches, and school were built. All in an attempt to make “an island of prosperity” in the middle of all the misery of the 19:th century. Today the area is classified as a “conservation area” to protect its historical and architectural value. Fig 3

Queens Park would acording to Artizans be populated by "deceant people". In time Irish imigrants came to populate the area. The centre of the Irish population in London lies in Kilburn. The latest great wave of imigrants came after the Second World War. The Irish is reflected in the clubs history: The green and white hoops, the sponsorship from Guinness Fig 4, and many good Irish football players like Don Gives 19-72-1978, Gary Waddock 1979-1987, Alan Macdonald 1983-1997. Previous Chairman Bill Powers and Board member Kevin Macgrath are both sons of Irish imigrants. Nowdays the area is also populated by people with roots from other countries. The Queens Park estate made headlines 1976 when an imigrant family from Northern Ireland was arrested and convicted for possesion of explosives. There were suspissions of connections to a IRA bombing, the so called Guildford pub bombings. In 1991 the sentance was appealed and quashed.

The field by Queens Park was one of two where sports were played in western London in the 19:th century. The other were the fields north of Shepherds Bush. Both closely related to QPR.

Football teams which had played in the fields around Queens Park: NN (No Names), Kilburn whom contributed to the founding of the FA. Kildare, Kensal Rangers, West Kilburn, Harlesden United, Brondesbury, Hampstead Crescent, St Judes, Christchurch Rangers. Paddington, North Paddington, Kensal Rise United and United London Scottish.

Football teams which had played in the fields north of Shepherds Bush: Shepherds Bush FC (Old St Stephens), Darfield, West London Old Boys, Acton, Hammersmith Athletics, Hammersmith Exiles, St John Hammersmith.

QPR’s origin can be traced back to D Street Board School, later known as Droop Street founded in 1877. Fig 5. The school still stands, but was renamed in 1951 to Queens Park Primary School. The boys wanted to continue playing football after they finished school. They came in contact with the local church, St Judes, whom orginazed sports in the area at the St Judes Institute, today (2005) known as St Judes Daycenter. The youth club has in later years become a organisation for the elderly. Fig 6. The mother church to St Judes was St Lukes in Chelsea. St Jude is the patron saint of all whom have lost the hope. Something that well-tried QPR fans could use. The church itself was torn down in 1961 and on its grounds residential housings were built. From St Judes Institute Queens Park Harriers (red and white hoops shirts), a running club was also cut out. In Queens Park today, you can find the Jubilee Sports Centre and the Queens Park Hall which is housing the fameus All Star Boxing Club. Frank Bruno used to train there. Although it's 90 years since QPR played their last game in the victincy of Queens Park, support is still strong and major fixtures sees a blossoming of blue and white in the Avenues. Fig 7.

The angriest rival to St Judes was Christchurch Rangers. Like St Judes it was also founded in 1882. Christchurch Rangers Boys Club probably had its head quarters in Christchurch Mission Room in Kensal Green. The mission’s purpose was to get boys of the streets, which were filled with crime and drinking during the 1880’s London. Nowdays you can find a youth hostile called Kensal Green Youth Club, on the same place.
Fig 7.

The clubs merged in 1886 after some of the players thought they would be able to form a much stronger team by a merger between the teams. However a few of the Christchurch players thought the merging looked more like a take over by the St Judes and therefore formed their own team called Paddington, 1911 there still was a team called North Paddington. The merged club during the first year called themselves St Judes. But they needed a new name. They decided to call themselves Queens Park, since many of the players lived in that district, an area also with a high status. "Rangers" is from Christchurch Rangers. The club colours were a light blue and dark blue halves. The colours are probably a mix between St Judes and Christchurch. Fig 8. If so St Judes should have been light blue and Christchurch dark. That colour could probably originate from the All Souls Collage of Oxford University whom owned large parts of the land and stood behind the mission. The Oxford colours where also Blue. Paddington also played in blue, whilst QPR later on changed their colours to the Irish Green and White.

Their first field was the Welford Fields, owned by Wellford’s Dairy. The players used the pub The Case is Altered as their changing room. Fig 9. QPR has trough out the years played at least twelve different grounds, of which 11 of them are between Paddington and Wembley. Fig 10. Queens Park Rangers also played half a year in Barnes south of Themes, an early groundsharing with Fulham. Wembley where built 1923 and there was a plan to base an amateur team called Argonauts in the stadium, to play in the leauge as Queens Park of England. QPR is the club closest to Wembley and it’s a tradition for the fans for fans to march to Wembley during cup finals . During the Cup Finals against Oxford in 1986 10,000 supporters marched together. Fig 11.

1898 at St Judes institute the decision was made that the club was to become a professional one. A good decision since many amateur clubs came to disappear within the next twenty years. QPR became a part of the Southern League, organizer of professional football in southern England. Of the southern clubs only Woolwich A and Bristol C were members of the Football League.

When Rangers moved to Park Royal Ground in 1907, everybody thought they had found a permanent home for the club. The ground was built by the Great Western Railway and could hold up to 60,000 people. GWR’s main station was Paddington and many of its workers were QPR fans. The trains going to important matches were filled with white and green stripes. Park Royal Ground had its owned Railway station. Fig 12. A perfect solution. In fact too perfect that the British army confiscated it for use of its own during the First World War. And thus QPR was homeless again. Beside the ground one could find the Guinness brewery, who’s workers mostly consisted by QPR fans. The company was also the team’s first sponsor.

One of the earliest successes for the team was two Charity Shield Finals. One in 1908 and one in 1912. The finals were played between the champions of Football League division I and the Southern league. The two strongest Leagues. Fig 13

In the beginning of the last century Loftus Road was an empty field in the outskirts of Shepherds Bush. It had been used to dump large amounts of mud from the digging of the Central Railway, the world’s largest and deepest underground railway. The muddy field made Loftus Road a very water drenched field. Shepherds Bush FC, the red and white stripes, originally from Westminster with the previous name Old St Stephens built the ground. They had moved from the nearby Wormholt Farm. The Bushmen, as they were called back then, was one of the better amateur teams in Lodon in the end of the 19:th century, and during that time arch rivals to QPR. They beat QPR with as much as 6-1 in 1886. However during the First World War the club was disbanded. The last match they played was in 1915. Fig 14. A few years later QPR moved in. What first started as a temporary solution has now lasted for as long as 84 years.

Shepherds Bush is a part of London associated with entertainment. There are theatres, music clubs and so on. Fig 15. Shepherds Bush FC had a tight connection with the theatre, some of the players were even actors. Today you can find BBC Centre in the Shepherds Bush area. Many pop and rock bands have also performed there. Its possible that that might be the reason for there being so many QPR fans in this particular profession. Some of the groups associated with the area are groups like The Clash, Deep Purple, The Who etc. A present day (2006) double-acting player, Gareth Ainsworth is both a wind-speed winger and a cruel singer in his own band.

In 1927 Queens Park Rangers switched their colours from Green and White hoops to Blue and White. The reason behind this was that there had been to much bad luck. They had already applied two times for membership in the Football league and failed. Not until 1921 was membership admitted in division 3. Two of the team’s better grounds were closed: Apart from Park Royal also Kensal Rise Ground. Two times in the early twenties the team came in last place in the third division. This was a new low for the team.

However things turned for the better during the 60’s, when the car dealer and garage magnet Jim Gregory took over the club. He was a local boy from the Bush and invested a lot of money in the club. He even had a way with the politicians, and was given building permits for a whole new stadium. In 1981 a plastic pitch was layed, the first in England. The original idea was to build a roof over the arena, so that Loftus Road could be used to other events beside football. And during his time as chairman the club reached its greatest success.
Fig 16.

QPR was the first club in England that played continental style of football. The legendary manager Gordon Jago realized after Englands defeat against West Germany in 1972 that football is a game best played with a good passing game on the ground. QPR would for 20 years play the most technical football in England. After Gordon Jago came captain Terry Venables and successors, following in his footsteps.
Fig 17

During the late 20:th century there have been several discussions regarding a merging between QPR and other clubs. Brentford in 1967, Fulham in 1987 (with suggested names as Fulham Park Rangers, West London Rangers and Hammersmith Flyovers!). Wimbledon 2001 (QPR Dons) and the move to Milton Keynes also in 2001 (MK QPR). However due to a strong group of supporters and a strong brand name QPR has even though their bad financial status avoided a merging with other teams. Fig 18.

During the turn of the century and thereafter the economy for QPR worsened. The club was set in Administration during a one year period, and a huge loan from an unknown ABC Corporation became a stranglehold that jeopardized their very existence. Fans feared that the season of 2008 would be played in Hyde Park in the Sunday league, with the fans themselves as players. In the last moment the club was saved by the F1 billionaires Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, whom bought QPR with their goals set on the top. The club has now got an Anglo-Italian framework. Fig 19.

When teams were formed in the 19:th century it was common practice to take the name of the city or borough where the team came from. QPR however took their name from the highly regarded Queens Park. If they would have taken the name of the borough they came from they would today be known as Chelsea.