The opening match on the new surface - the first of its kind in British professional football - was a 2–1 defeat to Luton Town, who would install a synthetic pitch of their own a few years later.

Despite this setback, Rangers proved difficult to beat at home, but away results were indifferent by comparison and they ultimately fell two points short of the third promotion spot.

[2] In the FA Cup, Rangers beat Middlesbrough, Blackpool, Grimsby Town, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion en route to the final at Wembley, where their opponents were holders Tottenham.

[4] During the summer of 1981 an artificial pitch of Omniturf was installed at Loftus Road, the first such surface to be used in British professional football.The surface was not favoured by everyone, with QPR keeper Peter Hucker describing it as "basically a bit of carpet over two feet of concrete", and stated that as a goalkeeper, he strongly disliked diving onto it saying that "I'd have close to third degree burns because the pitch would totally rip the skin off.

During the time that Loftus Road had the Omniturf pitch installed, QPR reached two cup finals and became Second Division champions, something that critics claimed was caused by the advantage the pitch presented, A new centenary badge was unveiled on the FA Cup Final shirt, which remained in use until 2008 Adidas remained as QPR's kit manufacturers.