avşar gürpınar
when pigs fly
2018
plasticity v2 . critical design studio
Information
-conversations with GPT based on real life observations-
why are everton called toffees?
Everton’s nickname is one of the oldest and most distinctive in English football, and it stems from a 19th-century rivalry between two local sweet shops in the Everton district of Liverpool.
The name "The Toffees" (or sometimes "The Toffeemen") became cemented through a mix of geographical luck and a very clever marketing ploy.
The Tale of Two Shops
1. Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House (Molly Bushell) In the late 1700s, a woman named Molly Bushell created the original "Everton Toffee." Her shop was located in Everton Village, near the Queen’s Head Hotel where the club (originally called St Domingo’s FC) held its earliest meetings. Because the shop was so close to where the team first played, fans would stop there on their way to matches to buy the famous toffee.
2. Mother Noblett’s Toffee Shop When Everton moved to Goodison Park in 1892, they were much further away from Molly Bushell’s shop and closer to a rival business run by Mother Noblett. To capitalise on the move, Mother Noblett invented Everton Mints—a black-and-white striped mint with a toffee centre. The stripes were intended to mirror a kit Everton had worn in the past, making them an instant hit with the match-day crowd.
The Birth of the "Toffee Lady"
Facing a loss of business to the new mints, the Bushell family (then run by Molly’s granddaughter, Jemima) came up with a brilliant idea. She gained permission from the club to enter the stadium and hand out free toffees to the crowd before kick-off.
This marketing stunt was so successful that it became a permanent fixture of the club’s identity. It gave rise to the Toffee Lady tradition, which continues to this day: before every home game at Goodison Park, a young fan dressed in traditional Victorian attire walks around the pitch throwing toffees to the supporters.