Masal Bugduv
Encyclopedia
Masal Bugduv is a fiction
al Moldova
n youth footballer who was the subject of a hoax
.
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", as well as in When Saturday Comes
and Goal.com
. As a means to establish credibility to the identity, the creators of the hoax planted text into Wikipedia
articles and forged Associated Press
reports. The erroneous information remained in Wikipedia from July 2008 to January 2009.
The entry in The Times read, "30. Masal Bugduv (Olimpia Bălţi
): Moldova’s finest, the 16-year-old attacker has been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal
, work permit permitting. And he’s been linked with plenty of other top clubs as well."
The Times later removed Masal from their list and published a clarification. Goal.com printed an apology for the mention of "phantom prodigy Masal Bugduv", stating the information had come from "a fake Associated Press report."
Masal Bugduv sounds very similar to the 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. 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 football transfer
market.
Brian Phillips, a blogger of Runofplay.com, described in an article for Slate
the anatomy of the hoax, featuring a testimony email of "the alleged hoaxer's lengthy explanation of the Bugduv-creation process".
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
n youth footballer who was the subject of a hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
.
History
With a fabricated backstory describing a teenage prodigy on a web of blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
postings, evidently created by different people, reports of the youth talent were ultimately published in a The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
article titled "Football's top 50 rising stars", as well as in When Saturday Comes
When Saturday Comes
When Saturday Comes is a monthly magazine about football, first published in London in 1986. "It aims to provide a voice for intelligent football supporters, offering both a serious and humorous view of the sport, covering all the topics that fans are likely to talk about, whether serious or...
and Goal.com
Goal.com
Goal.com, founded in 2004 by Chicco Merighi and former Ferrari Maserati and Ralph Lauren President and CEO Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni, is a website for international football news. Goal.com represents the largest football community in the world, with 22 language versions, covering over 200...
. As a means to establish credibility to the identity, the creators of the hoax planted text into Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
articles and forged Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reports. The erroneous information remained in Wikipedia from July 2008 to January 2009.
The entry in The Times read, "30. Masal Bugduv (Olimpia Bălţi
Balti
Balti can refer to:* Balti language, a language spoken in Baltistan in Pakistan and Ladakh in Kashmir* Balti people, Muslims of Ladakhi/Tibetan origin from Baltistan in Pakistan and Ladakh in Kashmir...
): Moldova’s finest, the 16-year-old attacker has been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
, work permit permitting. And he’s been linked with plenty of other top clubs as well."
The Times later removed Masal from their list and published a clarification. Goal.com printed an apology for the mention of "phantom prodigy Masal Bugduv", stating the information had come from "a fake Associated Press report."
Masal Bugduv sounds very similar to the Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
pronunciation of M'asal Beag Dubh (My Little Black Donkey), a story by the Irish-language writer Pádraic Ó Conaire
Pádraic Ó Conaire
Pádraic Ó Conaire was an Irish writer and journalist whose production was primarily in the Irish language.-Life:Ó Conaire was born in Galway in 1882. His father was a publican, who owned two premises in the town...
about a dishonest salesman who seeks an exaggerated price for a lazy donkey. 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
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
on the football transfer
Transfer (football)
In professional association football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player under contract moves between professional clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one professional association football club to another. In general, the players can only be...
market.
Brian Phillips, a blogger of Runofplay.com, described in an article for Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
the anatomy of the hoax, featuring a testimony email of "the alleged hoaxer's lengthy explanation of the Bugduv-creation process".