Structures and Facilities
Loftus Road has a capacity of 18,500 and is the smallest stadium of any team in the Premier League. Because of the size of the stadium, supporters find themselves close to the pitch compared to other stadiums. All four of the modern stands meet with no gaps, giving an overall impression of a tightly enclosed stadium. The School End is the stand reserved for away supporters, and all the stands have two tiers with the exception of the Ellerslie Road Stand.
The South Africa Road stand is the biggest of the four stands at Loftus Road. It is a two tier stand which includes The Paddocks and contains a row of boxes separating The Paddocks and the upper tier. It also houses the dugouts, changing rooms, suites, tunnel, offices, club shop, box office and press conference rooms. The Paddocks area is the cheapest in the ground, whereas the upper tier is the most expensive. The new exclusive W12 and C Clubs are located here.
The Loft is a two tier stand built in 1981 behind the goal and traditionally where most members and season ticket holders sit. This is the third most expensive stand to sit in. QPR generally attack this end in the second half because it is believed to be good luck. The police crowd observation box is located in this stand and it is home to the members' bar in the ground, The Blue and White Bar. A new colour scoreboard is located at this end, installed in Summer 2008, on the advertising boards between the upper and lower tiers.
The Ellerslie Road stand, rebuilt in 1972, is constantly renamed and sponsored, but QPR fans refer to it as the Ellerslie Road Stand. It is a single tiered stand and is the smallest in height, but not in noise and capacity. It is also the only stand not to be painted in blue and white hoops, instead it has "QPR" painted across it. It is home to the famous "R Block" where, along with the Loft's Q and P blocks sit QPR's partisan following. Most of the noise is generated from this stand, in addition to the Loft. This stand is a favourite of the fans because of the view and atmosphere. This is the second most expensive stand. It is also home to the commentary and television camera gantry.
At the west end of the ground is the School End built in 1980. 1,700 visiting supporters can be accommodated in the 'The School End' upper tier; 1,300 additional lower tier seats are also allocated to visitors if demand is high enough. A new big screen was erected on the roof of the School End in the summer of 2008 which shows match highlights during the game plus adverts. This joined a new colour scoreboard which is located on the advertising boards between the middle and lower tiers.
Read more about this topic: Loftus Road
Famous quotes containing the words structures and/or facilities:
“The American who has been confined, in his own country, to the sight of buildings designed after foreign models, is surprised on entering York Minster or St. Peter’s at Rome, by the feeling that these structures are imitations also,—faint copies of an invisible archetype.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I have always found that when men have exhausted their own resources, they fall back on “the intentions of the Creator.” But their platitudes have ceased to have any influence with those women who believe they have the same facilities for communication with the Divine mind as men have.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)