Bill Fernie
02-Apr-10, 20:41
FA CUP PRESS RELEASE – A FOLLOW UP
Formartine United wish to confirm that the press release relating to the announcement that they are to compete in the English FA Cup next season was indeed an April Fool.
The article released with the intention of catching out the media has been deemed hugely successful as numerous agencies and media sources contacted the club to request interviews etc.
Martin Johnston, Secretary confirmed that his phone had been red hot since the story first broke.
“We advised that FA Coordinator Sally Di Porafo had confirmed our acceptance into the competition, her name is an anagram of April Fools Day. We had a couple of calls from the press asking if we had the right contact name as the receptionist at the FA headquarters had no one listed under that name”.
“We also had a young reporter telling us that we had our FA Rules mixed up as he couldn’t find any reference FA Cup Rule 1, Paragraph 4, Subsection 10 (1.4.10 which again is April Fool’s Day).”
“I thought that the statement that we would get our players to acclimatise to the atmosphere of the likes of Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge by playing loud crowd noise over our PA system at our remaining Highland League home games this season would also have been a giveaway, but obviously not”.
“SHFL Secretary John Grant did contact me to enquire if we had applied to join the FA after having received a concerned phone call from League President Eddie Innes. When I enlightened John to the facts he thought it quite hilarious.”
“Numerous Formartine United fans actually registered on a poll on our website to see which round we would reach!”
“Two local radio stations (Northsound and Original FM) ran with the story on their sports bulletins all morning, but I must point out that Dave Galloway of Original FM thought it was a genuine story until he spoke with me”.
“Lots of websites and fan forums ran with the story including Umbro Blog which listed us in the top 10 football related April Fool pranks worldwide.”
“Place of honour however must go to local newspaper The Ellon Times which ran the whole story without checking it out first. What makes it all the more fun is that we released it to them last Sunday as they are a weekly paper which went on sale today (1st April)”.
“We hope everyone has taken this in the spirit that it was meant and everyone at Formartine United wishes to thank you all for your interest”.
Formartine United wish to confirm that the press release relating to the announcement that they are to compete in the English FA Cup next season was indeed an April Fool.
The article released with the intention of catching out the media has been deemed hugely successful as numerous agencies and media sources contacted the club to request interviews etc.
Martin Johnston, Secretary confirmed that his phone had been red hot since the story first broke.
“We advised that FA Coordinator Sally Di Porafo had confirmed our acceptance into the competition, her name is an anagram of April Fools Day. We had a couple of calls from the press asking if we had the right contact name as the receptionist at the FA headquarters had no one listed under that name”.
“We also had a young reporter telling us that we had our FA Rules mixed up as he couldn’t find any reference FA Cup Rule 1, Paragraph 4, Subsection 10 (1.4.10 which again is April Fool’s Day).”
“I thought that the statement that we would get our players to acclimatise to the atmosphere of the likes of Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge by playing loud crowd noise over our PA system at our remaining Highland League home games this season would also have been a giveaway, but obviously not”.
“SHFL Secretary John Grant did contact me to enquire if we had applied to join the FA after having received a concerned phone call from League President Eddie Innes. When I enlightened John to the facts he thought it quite hilarious.”
“Numerous Formartine United fans actually registered on a poll on our website to see which round we would reach!”
“Two local radio stations (Northsound and Original FM) ran with the story on their sports bulletins all morning, but I must point out that Dave Galloway of Original FM thought it was a genuine story until he spoke with me”.
“Lots of websites and fan forums ran with the story including Umbro Blog which listed us in the top 10 football related April Fool pranks worldwide.”
“Place of honour however must go to local newspaper The Ellon Times which ran the whole story without checking it out first. What makes it all the more fun is that we released it to them last Sunday as they are a weekly paper which went on sale today (1st April)”.
“We hope everyone has taken this in the spirit that it was meant and everyone at Formartine United wishes to thank you all for your interest”.