View source for Masal Bugduv

'''Masal Bugduv''' is a [[fiction]]al [[Moldova]]n youth [[Association football|footballer]] who was the subject of a [[hoax]]. He was created by Irish journalist [[Declan Varley]] as a social experiment.

==History==
With a fabricated backstory describing a teenage prodigy on a web of [[blog]] postings, evidently created by different people, reports of the youth talent were ultimately published in a ''[[The Times]]'' article titled "Football's top 50 rising stars",<ref>Dart, Tom, ''The Times'' (January 12, 2009). [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article5502827.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1 Football's top 50 rising stars]</ref><ref name=slate>Phillips, Brian, ''Slate'' (January 23, 2009). [http://www.slate.com/id/2209603/pagenum/all/#p2 Fictional Moldovan Soccer Phenom Tells All]</ref> as well as in ''[[When Saturday Comes]]'' and Goal.com.<ref name= guabugd>{{cite web|last= Burnton |first= Simon, ''The Guardian'' |title= Masal Bugduv – the 16-year-old Moldovan prodigy who doesn't exist |date=January 15, 2009 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/jan/15/masal-bugduv-moldova-hoax-player }}</ref><ref name=sl>SoccerLens.com (January 15, 2009). [http://soccerlens.com/the-curious-case-of-masal-bugduv/20613/ The curious case of Masal Bugduv]</ref> As a means to establish credibility to the identity, the creators of the hoax planted text into [[Wikipedia]] articles and forged [[Associated Press]] reports.<ref name= guabugd/><ref name=slate/> The erroneous information remained in Wikipedia from July 2008 to January 2009.

The entry in ''The Times'' read, ''"30. Masal Bugduv ([[FC Olimpia Bălţi]]): Moldova’s finest, the 16-year-old attacker has been strongly linked with a move to [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]], work permit permitting. And he’s been linked with plenty of other top clubs as well."''<ref name= guabugd/>

''The Times'' later removed Masal from their list and published a clarification.<ref>typepad.com (January 2009) [http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2009/01/how-mr-nobody-m.html The times online clarification] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122004858/http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2009/01/how-mr-nobody-m.html |date=2009-01-22 }}</ref> Goal.com printed an apology for the mention of "phantom prodigy Masal Bugduv", stating the information had come from "a fake Associated Press report."<ref>Goal.com (September 4, 2008). [http://www.goal.com/en/news/1646/wcq-europe/2008/09/04/849595/wcq-preview-europe-group-2 WCQ Preview: Europe - Group 2]</ref>

''Masal Bugduv'' sounds very similar to the [[Irish language|Irish]] pronunciation of ''M'asal Beag Dubh'' (My Little Black Donkey), a story by the Irish-language writer [[Pádraic Ó Conaire]] about a dishonest salesman who seeks an exaggerated price for a lazy donkey.<ref>Runofplay.com (January 15, 2009). [http://www.runofplay.com/2009/01/15/the-literary-origins-of-the-masal-bugduv-hoax/ The literary origin of the Masal Bugduv hoax]</ref>  John Burns of ''The Sunday Times'' suggested that the Ó Conaire story was indeed the inspiration for the entire hoax, and that the prank, which also included a fake Moldovan newspaper titled ''Diario Mo Thon'' (Diary My Ass), was in effect a [[satire]] on the [[Transfer (football)|football transfer]] market.<ref name=jb>{{cite web|last= Burns |first= John, ''The Times'' |date= January 18, 2009 |url= http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article5537392.ece | title = Discovering an extra ass on the pitch is just a pain in the net }}</ref>

Brian Phillips, a blogger of Runofplay.com, described in an article for ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' the anatomy of the hoax,<ref name=slate/> featuring a testimony email of "the alleged hoaxer's lengthy explanation of the Bugduv-creation process".<ref>''Slate'': sidebar (January 23, 2009), [http://www.slate.com/id/2209603/sidebar/2209608/ Alleged hoaxer's explanation of the Bugduv-creation process]</ref>

In 2017, Irish journalist Declan Varley revealed that he created Bugduv as a social experiment, frustrated by having to sieve through countless speculations about football transfers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/football-transfer-speculation-the-original-fake-news-1.3156950|title=Football transfer speculation – the original fake news|last=Smith|first=Rory|date=2017-07-16|work=The Irish Times|access-date=2018-03-29|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of hoaxes]]

==References==
{{wikisourcelang|oldwikisource|An Crann Géagach/M’asal beag dubh|M'asal beag dubh}}
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bugduv, Masal}}
[[Category:Internet hoaxes]]
[[Category:Journalistic hoaxes]]
[[Category:Nonexistent people used in hoaxes]]
[[Category:Fictional association football players]]
[[Category:2009 hoaxes]]