I ONLY bunked off school twice in my whole life. Both times were to see Queens Park Rangers play in very unusual circumstances.
Let me take you back to the 1973/74 season. Due to The National Union of Mineworkers being on an overtime ban, stringent Government measures were put in place to conserve energy.
There were power cuts galore and everyone was working a three day week. Football clubs were affected by not being allowed to use their floodlights.
Therefore my beloved QPR were forced to play two home matches on weekday afternoons.
I remember slyly slipping out of primary school unnoticed at the end of morning classes and running down to Golders Green tube station to meet my uncle Sean so that we go to Shepherd’s Bush…
QUEENS PARK RANGERS 1-0 CHELSEA
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Tuesday 15th January 1974 (Kick-off 1.30pm)
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FA Cup Third Round Replay
This replay was necessary after the sides drew 0-0 at Stamford Bridge. Following an initial postponement due to bad weather, the re-match took place with a Tuesday lunchtime commencement. Even so, some 28,715 spectators packed into Loftus Road.
In his punchy ‘Bush Telegraph’ match programme editorial column, QPR club secretary Ron Phillips speculated on the main excuse being offered for skipping work by those in attendance:
“It will be interesting to see how many spectators turn up for this afternoon’s game…because of today’s unavoidable 1.30 p.m. kick-off…we shall be surprised if this cup-tie does not tempt large numbers away from other duties.
“West London statisticians are going to be puzzled at the remarkable number of grand-mothers who have expired in this area…”
Rangers were fifth in the top flight while Chelsea languished in 17th spot. The R’s tore into their visitors and dominated for long spells on a multi-speckled mud heap pitch.
QPR veteran centre-half Frank McLintock had a goal disallowed early on. Then Don Givens’ powerful header squirmed under keeper Phillips but was hacked off the line by Chelsea defender Marvin Hinton.
Rangers ultimately made the vital breakthrough on 63 minutes. Dave Thomas dwelt on the ball prior to tickling it through to overlapping full-back Dave Clement.
He made a brilliant, buccaneering run down the right before crossing for Stan Bowles to nod emphatically into the roof of the net at the Loft End.
Bowles was stretchered off in the final seconds courtesy of a gash on his ankle and a badly bruised calf. This was the result of a crunching tackle by Chelsea hard man Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris, who had already been booked for an earlier challenge on the maverick number 10.
Despite this setback, Queens Park Rangers held firm to register a first ever victory against their close rivals in recognised competitive fixtures.
Frank McLintock said afterwards: “Stan Bowles has such a relaxed frame of mind that he played in this tense replay against Chelsea as he does in five-a-side games.
“Stan stopped the ball, shielded it and then threaded it through opponents’ legs! You might have imagined that we were in a practise session rather than facing one of the top teams in the country before a 28,000 partisan crowd!”
In his match report in The Sun newspaper, Bob Driscoll wrote:
“Bruised...battered...but on top of the world. That’s Stan Bowles, the new king of West London...Chelsea have dominated West London for a long time but the crown has been snatched from them by QPR.”
Kevin Moseley had a similar message in the Daily Mirror:
“Stan Bowles was stretchered off among the chaos of Loftus Road – a hero and victim of this FA Cup third round replay. Rangers’ unpredictable star had scored the winner in this thriller – and was carried off in agony at the end of it.
“With a magic wand for a left leg, Bowles had teased and tormented a reshuffled, strange and finally inadequate Chelsea side. And after the goal that mattered – and Rangers had enough chances to have hit six – he was cruelly brought to a halt by Chelsea’s Ron Harris.”
As we made our way home, I took great delight in telling everyone on the Northern Line platform at Tottenham Court Road about that Stanley Bowles goal.
And three weeks on, I courageously nipped out of those school gates early once more…
QUEENS PARK RANGERS 1-2 NORWICH CITY
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Tuesday 5th February 1974 (Kick-off 2.30pm)
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Football League Division One
This was more of a low key occasion. Indeed, the attendance of 12,422 was 10,000 down on the previous League game when Rangers hosted Leicester City on a Saturday at 3pm.
There were further revealing programme editorial notes by Ron Phillips: “In reply to all the plaintive enquiries we had on this subject – No, we couldn’t get hold of a generator in order to stage this game in the evening and No, we could not get permission to play the match later in the season as the League cannot risk the possible fixture congestion this might cause.”
Bottom of the table Norwich raced into a two goal lead in the first half. On 26 minutes, John Sissons centred and Trevor Howard headed in at the near post. Within two minutes, John Benson fired in a dipping 30 yarder from a fine assist by Ted MacDougall.
After Stan Bowles twice saw shots rebound off the post for QPR, the charismatic home talisman subsequently pulled a goal back in the 53rd minute. Then nine minutes later, the R’s should have levelled but Gerry Francis had his penalty brilliantly saved by Canaries keeper Kevin Keelan.
FOOTNOTE: The miners’ strike eventually ended on 6th March 1974 and football was able to return to regular floodlit evening matches.
*Credit for photos in this article belongs to @TonyIncenzo*
