Events

Queens Park Rangers FC

27 March 2007

SRTRC organised this event working in conjunction with QPR’s Football in the Community department. Around 50 young people from the area (a school dropped out on the day) were in attendance along with invited guests to see the SRTRC DVD and to take part in a Question and Answer session with the panel, which consisted of QPR Players Paul Furlong and Marcus Bignot, former Chelsea player Paul Canoville, and SRTRC Honorary Patron Dave Bassett.

The DVD was well received by the audience and the Q&A session was extremely good. The assembled panel answered all the questions comprehensively and there were several questions that were quite difficult to answer! In addition to a SRTRC wristband for those who asked a question QPR had been extremely generous with prizes for the questions and we were able to give everyone who asked a question a prize from the club. QPR had donated 6 places for one of their Soccer Schools, 4 pairs of tickets for a QPR FC game and a signed ball. After the DVD and before the Q&A session began, Ian Solomon entertained the audience with a rap on respect and had the audience join in with a freestyle rap afterwards. I think that the audience enjoyed Ian’s performance very much.

This event also received some good press coverage, an article has appeared on the club’s website and two local radio stations were covering the event. Thanks to a photography agency in London, the Maya Hobart Photography Agency, we also had a professional photographer taking photos of the event. The event was the first time that SRTRC have provided the AV equipment for an event, which worked well and will allow us to take equipment to events at football clubs who do not have equipment.

This event was a great success and has further strengthened our relationship with QPR FC and the FITC department. SRTRC would like to thank Martino Chevannes and the FITC staff for helping to organise the event and get the audience there, Ben North of Street League for his help on the day, Mike Thompson of the Metropolitan Police for attending and his subsequent report, and of course, Paul Canoville, Paul Furlong, Marcus Bignot and Dave Bassett for attending and taking part.