DitDA on NPR: Eternal Fandom
- 3 minute read/listen -
When Reg Baker, Sr. died at nearly 92 years old, his sons wanted his ashes to rest at his favorite place in the world—the local football stadium. They were in luck. Because at west London’s underdog club Queens Park Rangers’ Loftus Road Stadium, deceased fans can get season tickets— forever. And their seats are right below the goal line.
Hear the full story, part of the Death in the Digital Age project, on National Public Radio’s Only A Game.
Recently retired Queens Park Rangers chaplains Bob Mayo and Cameron Collington have made it easy for lifelong fans to become eternal fans.
The Bakers aren’t the only ones to remember their dad at the stadium. Fans come from all over the world to have the ashes of their loved ones lowered beneath the pitch. Gavin Lawson, a lifelong Queen’s Park Rangers fan who was only 26 when he lost his dad, didn’t have to travel far. He lives in the neighborhood. And going to the stadium is part of his ever-evolving grieving process. Press play on Gavin’s “Sound Memories” piece below.
Gavin and his father. Photo courtesy of Gavin Lawson.
Katie Thornton is a Fulbright - National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellow currently in the UK and Singapore to produce “Death in the Digital Age,” a podcast and multimedia project about how and where we remember in an urbanized, digitized world. Be sure to follow the project on Instagram, via occasional email updates, or on the project blog!
Disclaimer: All photos and audio by Katie Thornton, 2019, except where noted. Theme music by Elori Kramer. No reuse without permission.