Just one of the many exciting events to mark the 150th anniversary of Reading FC, mural artist Chris Rutterford has two paintings of Royals fans commissioned on the outer walls of the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
The artist has started creating the murals of Royals fans commissioned on the outer walls of the Select Car Leasing Stadium and supporters can apply to have their own image included.
Below we take a look at 11 paintings already completed by Mr Rutterford, and the emotional stories behind them, as told by the artist himself.
“We were contacted by Chris, who was still feeling very raw, after sadly recently losing his son Ben. He wanted to build a special place in the crowd to be with him and his other son Sam, remembering the special times they had spent at the game together.
“Chris was a little worried about how he would feel when he eventually saw the portraits. It is a big responsibility for us to get it right. In the end Chris loved it. It was an emotional experience. He even came back to us after we met and has had this image printed on his bank card to see it every day. Sometimes it is painful to remember, but you never want to forget."
“James was amongst the first ones to join up to the mural. He had been going to the match with his grandfather for years, sometimes with his brother Andrew.
“His grandfather had been following the Royals since his school days.
When we met James , he told us a story about grandpa skipping school to go to the match. He was around 90 when he passed, so decades of devotion to the team from this stalwart.”
“We love it when parents send cute pictures of their children well on the way to becoming true blue Royals.
In the top image we were sent this photo of Rosie at the door on her way to the stadium with her dad for the first time. We eventually met them both when we hung the first section of the mural. It turns out this was taken a few years ago and she’s now an excellent footballer herself.
“In the image we absolutely loved the passion and joy coming out of Grahame and his little one. It really brought so much sunshine area of the crowd, a pleasure to paint.”
“Alison originally bought the two patriarchs of the family in together but decided to expand her group as time went on. She thought this was an opportunity to build a really special family portrait in the crowd, so she came to the match and brought her three sons along too.
Most of the photos she used were taken from a family wedding in suits, but as you can see, we are very happy to change clothes and paint participants into the crowd in whatever outfits they wish.”
“This family Group is of Victoria with her daughter Paige, her mum Linda and her father Derrick.
"The whole family are Reading FC super Royals. We wanted to build a special family group in the heart of the crowd for them. Forever in the midst of the throng.
Unfortunately we lost Linda way too soon, not long after her portrait was painted.
It’s nice to know that this way they are in their special place together.”
“This festive family group was bought in by Andrea. We had much discussion on how to make her family stand out. In the end she sent us this fun photo of her family in fun Santa hats and we put the Reading logo on them.
“Next to them is a portrait of Andrew, a lifelong Reading fan. His workmates in the NHS bought him in to cheer him up when he was recovering from Covid in 2020.”
“Celia’s dad Mick is a true blue. He has decades of loyal support of Reading, he’s coming up for his 93rd birthday. One of his treasured memories was meeting Sir john Madesjki. We have replicated that moment for him in our mural and they are both near Steve Coppell in the second section.”
“One of the larger family groups we tackled was arranged by Luke. Generations of his family took part in the mural and in lockdown some were in Reading while some were in Canada. Now they are all on the stand together.”
“We have some really cute family groups in the mural and some really young fans at the ground. Gillian sent us these cute photos of family togetherness which we loved.”
“Richard and his friends are loyal Royal fans and always go to the ground together. He sent these fab photos of the gang all together. They are now part of the second phase mural.”
“Mike bought his father and his grandfather into the stand together we needed to make them really prominent, Mike’s dad struggles with his eyesight these days we did all we could to put them near the front. And the shield helps too.”
It is not too late to get your face on the stadium, with the last call for deigns on March 31, with the intention to erect the second mural at the end of April.
Click here to find a full list of events put on to celebrate 150 years of Reading Football Club.
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