At first glance it looked like the most-sensational transfer in the history of the most-passionate city in English football in an era that its two clubs dominated the game but alas, Everton’s biggest signing of all-time turned out to be an April Fool’s Day trick.
On this day in 1989, Ian Rush, Liverpool’s all-time leading scorer and long-time tormentor of Everton – he’d go on to break Dixie Dean’s record (19) for the most goals in Merseyside Derbies that had stood for over half a century later that year in the FA Cup final and eventually finish on a total of 25 – was photographed wearing the royal blue jersey of his rivals from across Stanley Park. The sensational tale appeared on the front cover of Shoot, a weekly magazine aimed at young football fans that ran between 1969-2008 and was the biggest-selling publication of its kind in the UK at the time.
Under the headline: World Exclusive – Rush signs for Everton… full story inside, the prolific marksman was pictured smiling with his arms aloft in the Blues NEC-sponsored shirt complete with iconic tower crest. However, when readers thumbed through to page seven to find out more, an article with the tagline: “Rush for Everton Neverton” was accompanied by an interview from the striker himself and even a quote from his partner saying how glad she was that he’d be wearing the blue of Everton rather than the red of Liverpool due to it matching his lovely eyes!
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While the heartbeats of fans of both clubs must have initially quickened at what they saw, the penny eventually dropped that this was in fact an elaborate hoax. The man behind it all was Shoot football writer Dave Smith.
Affectionately known as ‘Smudger’, he worked his way up through the editorial ranks before becoming an early convert to digital journalism as the founding editor of football365 and spending a decade as the editor of givemefootball.com, the official website of the PFA. Although Smith died aged just 56 in 2017 following a short illness, he had earlier looked back on what was arguably football’s greatest April Fool’s prank with glee.
He said: “The coverage given to it was ridiculous. We received so many phone calls from journalists at the Shoot office wanting to know our source, and the powers that be at Liverpool were somewhat perplexed as well.
“The whole thing wouldn’t have been made possible without the co-operation of Rushie and his willingness to go along with the gag. What a great sport Ian was the day we met him and cajoled him into donning the blue of Everton and he totally approved the spoof interview I wrote too.”
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