ABOUT US
How the Melbourne Rs Official Meets began...
I've been following QPR since a youngster which was drummed into me at an early age by my Dad (Chaz Davis @no1qprnz) who used to attend QPR games with his Dad (Grandad) in the 60s & 70s. He moved to NZ when he was 18-19. My passion for the Rs grew and in April 2012 I moved to Melbourne (with my partner and my two young boys) from Wellington NZ to start a new job.
The Melbourne Rs Official Meets started purely by coincidence.
II was on twitter when a NZ based (Auckland) QPR fan tweeted me one day and another guy by the name of Keiran Michael D (@kizzam) also tweeted to say "Fellow QPR Supporter in Melbourne?? That's un heard of!!"
I replied "Gidday guys, good to meet fellow Rs down under!"
Keiran asked "Where do we all watch the games??"
I replied that I don't go anywhere and that I stream most of my games on my laptop from home in the early hours of the morning.
The next day, I was wearing my Hoops shirt under my jacket and walking to work.
A courier driver crossed my path on the way back from a delivery and he noticed my QPR shirt.
"Hey, is that a QPR shirt you're wearing mate" he asked
"yeah..you a QPR fan too?"
"Sure am. My name's Paul"
"Mark" I replied "This is crazy, I met another QPR fan from Melbourne on Twitter last night. Thats two in two days." I told him.
Paul (@saltz74) gave me his full name and I added him to twitter later.
This then got me thinking "Could we get a few QPR fans together in Melbourne for a meet up?"
I got on twitter that night.
So that was that - I went and designed our first flyer - a picture incorporating the Super Hoops and Melbourne - coming up with the idea of Adel Taarabt slamming a ball into a Melbourne City building.
I sent the flyer out over twitter and via various facebook groups and soon after, I had replies from fellow Melbourne Rs saying they were attending.
The first meet was on the 2nd February v Norwich City which unfortunately ended in a 0-all stale mate and Adel Taarabt missed a crucial penalty goal.
The night however was a big success with 15-20 Rs supporters turning up in their super hoops. It was a glorious sight to behold!
We have had another two meets since and every meet has been fantastic despite QPRs relegation to the Championship in the 2012-13 season.
We have QPR fans from all walks of life. Some purely Australian born, some Scottish, some Irish, some London bred who have since migrated to Melbourne....it's an amazing mix and everyone just LOVES their super hoops. It's the best atmosphere outside of being at a West London pub before a match ;)
Now we have fans from all over Australia joining us. Melbourne Rs have joined forces with a facebook page HOOPS DOWN UNDER to update all Australian and New Zealand Rs about our meets.
Recently the official QPR website posted an article about the 4th Meet v Burnley on 2nd February 2014 which has created even more buzz down under.
It's a such a great feeling to see how far we've come.
Let's hope the Melbourne Rs Official Meets continue to build and most of all, we see our Rs celebrate promotion to the Premier League in 2014.
"No matter how far, we are QPR"
Mark Davis
aka NZ Ranger
Melbourne, Australia
