For those who don't know the background (for those who do, or if this story has been told here before, forgive the repitition), Everton and Spurs toured South America (well, Argentina and Uruguay) in 1909. We played Spurs twice (the first and last games) and several games against local clubs or representative sides from their fledging leagues. Apart from a draw in the first game against Spurs we won every match and so was born our legacy in what was to become the most soccer mad continent in the world.
At the same time across the Andes in Chile, a group of lads (most about the same age as the original members of St. Domingo's FC) were thinking about setting up their own football club. They read the reports of our tour games in the local papers and set upon calling themselves Everton in our honour. They weren't the only ones. There are at least 3 Evertons in Argentina and at least 1 in Uruguay, but as far as I know they're all local amateur clubs. Not so the Chilean one.
Everton in Chile have a glorious history - several league titles and cups as well as hosting a World Cup semi in 1962 (Ray Wilson played in England's QF match there too!) -and have enjoyed recent success having been national champions as recently as 2008, subsequently qualifying from their group in the Libertadores Cup, their equivalent of the Champions League.
Remember too that Chile have qualified for this year's World Cup, so while they may not be Barcelona or Milan and their League isn't La Liga or Serie A, they're certainly no mugs.
This is unique as far as I know. No other club has an equivalent sister club which is named in their honour and has such a pedigree of historical and continued success in a major league.
So, history lesson over. For several years, a committed group of Evertonians have been forging links with the fans and management of Everton in Chile. They've done a great job of raising our club's profile over there and built up a huge amount of goodwill. For a long time it's been the dream of many fans to see a match played between the two Evertons. Apparently it was close last year (their centenary year), but eventually we dropped them in favour of that giant of European football - Malaga
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Well a little birdie tells me it might be on again for August 2010, but the Everton hierarchy are undecided on whether it will be a financial success. Bluntly, they don't know whether any potential uptick in ticket/merchandise sales for the game would justify the £80,000 Everton in Chile say would get them here. BTW that's just the costs of flights, accomodation, insurance, etc they're not looking for a fee to play the match 'cos they can see the marketing advantage the links give them back home.
Personally, I think there's a unique value to the game above and beyond any financial considerations, but I also think it would be good business. Am I being naive?
So, to the meat of it...would you go to Goodison for a pre-season game Everton vs. Everton? Especially if you wouldn't normally bother for a pre-season friendly?
And what about merchandise? We already seem to do two-tone scarves for every european match, do you reckon we'd sell plenty for this game? Or a commemorative/limited edition shirt maybe? Surely the programme would be a collectors item? Not sure how many fans would come over from Chile, certainly a few, but there's plenty of ex-pats in Liverpool and around the country (partly thanks to anyone slightly leftwing doing an understandable runner under Pinochet). That should swell the numbers and probably even get some new converts who'll hopefully put more money into the club over the coming years.
Any thoughts?
Oh, and don't forget to vote.
