The recently past Transfer Deadline Day was, well, boring. Here in America, we were treated with absolutely no surprises and what big name moves did happen were predictable. Across the pond, however, it seems things played out entirely differently.
You have (almost 100% guaranteed) never heard of Matthew Flanagan, Patrick Moran, and Scott Kilker. More importantly, you have never heard of Kieran “Crock” McDaid, who plays for the Buncrana Hearts of the Inishowen Football League. For those wondering, yes, that is a real league in Ireland. You will, however, remember all of them now, because they just pulled off the prank of the year (and it’s only February!!!).
These friends took to Twitter and fabricated a series of tweets in which the first three lads, Matthew, Patrick, and Scott, congratulated Kieran on his recent transfer to Exeter City:
Massive congrats to @KieranMcDaid_MJ on his move to @OfficialECFC , could never hack the GAA so had to resort to that foreign sport #ECFC
— Matthew Flanagan (@MattyFlanMan) February 2, 2015
Big congrats to @KieranMcDaid_MJ on his move to @OfficialECFC all the best big man #DeadlineDay #SSNDeadlineDay #ECFC
— Patrick Moran (@paddymoran8) February 2, 2015
Rumour has it from Ireland exeters #TransferDeadline signing @KieranMcDaid_MJ is the next Zidane?
— scottkilker (@Scottkilker) February 2, 2015
And Kieren himself returned the favor, thanking the Buncrana Hearts for “all that they have done”:
Big thanks to all @BuncranaHearts for all they've done, looking forward to my next opportunity with @OfficialECFC #ECFC
— Kieran McDaid (@KieranMcDaid_MJ) February 2, 2015
The four are obviously highly connected, as they were able to get the official Twitter account of the Bunrana Hearts to tweet this out:
— Buncrana Hearts FC (@BuncranaHearts) February 2, 2015
#RipItUpCrock, indeed.
As you should have guessed by now, McDaid was never signed by Exeter City. He has never even been looked at by Exeter City. Only by some wild coincidence would anyone in Exeter City’s front office have known who McDaid was. Which they did not. So there was no confirmation tweet from Exeter City, just the contrived tweets by the pranksters themselves.
You would think that a prestigious media outlet such as Sky Sports would never fall for such a charade. They would never, for instance, post an official report of McDaid’s transfer to Exeter on their website. And Wikipedia would surely not make McDaid’s spot on the roster Wikipedia-official.
Except, of course, that is exactly what happened. See the evidence below:
Exhibit A: Sky Sports Article
Exhibit B: Exeter Official Wikipedia Entry
Ah, 2015. When you can pull of the prank of the year from your smart phone in the comfort of your own home. These are amazing times that we live in. Can't wait to hear what big names are set to transfer next. Perhaps CR7 to the Buncrana Hearts? Now that would be news. For the Inishowen Football League, anyways.
With apologies to Rory Kelly, who bloody started the whole thing.
