Solved: the Rush goalie mystery

By ROY PILOTT - Waikato Times

A policeman's promotion and the internet have helped Roy Pilott uncover the answer to his quarter-century-long question: Who is goalie Jon Rush, the first Kiwi to appear in the Rothmans Football Yearbook?

The name has haunted me for more than a quarter of a century.

Jon Rush. Ht 6.0. Wt 12.9. Birthplace: Wellington, New Zealand. Club(s): Blackpool, league appearances 4.

He is in the 12th, 13th, and 14th Rothmans Football Yearbooks.

And in the days before the internet, all we had to rely on for football stats were those annuals.

In the early 1980s I had gone through the books religiously, looking for a New Zealand name. Until one Ricki Herbert, six months older than Rush, was signed by Tommy Docherty for Wolverhampton Wanderers, there was only Rush.

But who was Jon Rush? And how was it New Zealanders could be bathing in the glory of the 82 World Cup campaign on the back of ex-pat Brits, when a Kiwi goalkeeper was playing league football halfway around the world? It took the promotion of a policeman for the answer to be revealed.

A Jon Rush was named divisional commander for Bury, staff 450, in January last year. When I googled him a few months back, up came the promotion story.

And this week Chief Superintendent Jon Rush, now 48, recalled his days as a professional footballer – and why he was not on the radar when Ricki Herbert and the All Whites went to Spain in 1982.

Rush's parents were among the flood of Brits who took the five-week voyage from England in search of a new life in New Zealand 50 years ago.

They sailed here on the Captain Cook to get married. A little more than two years later they were heading home – with two children and a third on the way – as did many Brits who felt isolated in their new country and found the call of home too great to resist.

Rush was 2, and he grew up in Salford aware that he was New Zealand-born but with no memory of his birthplace.

He left school at 16, and got a job as a trainee manager.

He had trials for Huddersfield and Bolton, but did not reckon on a career in football until he met the legendary Bob Stokoe, revered for managing Sunderland to one of the great FA Cup final wins over Leeds in 1973.

Stokoe signed the young Rush as an apprentice, then gave him a professional contract worth 90 (NZ$203) a week when he turned 18.

It was the start of a short and, in truth, unspectacular career as understudy to the highly rated Iain Hesford. In two seasons Rush managed 11 first team appearances, didn't keep a clean sheet and never picked up a win bonus. Blackpool were struggling, England World Cup winner Alan Ball came and went and when the club had a cleanout Rush, his confidence falling, opted out but remained at Bloomfield Rd training.

He had earlier thought about trying his luck in Australia – where a successful stint could have put him in the frame for the All Whites, who were on their long road to Spain.

"I didn't have the contacts though, and I had just got married."

Blackpool cancelled his contract in March 1982, 12 weeks before the All Whites kicked off in Spain.

"Then Bob Stokoe called."

Stokoe was managing Carlisle and once again offered Rush a contract, for an extra 30 a week than he earned at Blackpool.

The southern hemisphere was forgotten, and the closest Rush got to the All Whites was watching them on TV.

But at 21, a job as Carlisle's reserve keeper no longer appealed. A team-mate suggested he join the police.

By 1983, as Herbert was lining up a career in the football league, Rush was leaving it.

He continued playing at Gretna and Workington and in 1989 played for the English police team which won the coppers' European Championship crown.

"Things go in circles ... they held the championships in England and the final was at Blackpool. I didn't let a goal in in three games."

Rush was more successful as a copper than a stopper.

He's been in the force for 26 1/2 years, but maintains football gave him a good foundation in life.

In 2003 he had turned 40 and reflected on the people who had influenced it most, and wrote a letter of thanks to Stokoe.

"I got no reply, but 18 months later I got a letter to say he was in a rest home and had Alzheimer's."

Rush was told Stokoe would no longer know him, but visited him anyway, and played dominoes with his old coach.

A few weeks later, as he was driving, Rush heard some news on the radio which made him pull to the side of the road. Stokoe had died aged 73.

Today Rush's involvement with football is as a fan. He follows his first love, Manchester City ("I played against Mark Hughes"), Carlisle and Bury and he is sometimes found singing in the stands while his staff keep watch on the sideline.

His days as a player are a lifetime away.

My call prompted him to drive to his mum's (Patricia) house and thumb through old press clippings, including one dated 1981 from the Evening Post – possibly his one and only mention in a New Zealand paper.

The Rothmans records don't tell the entire story.

Rush played at Old Trafford, home of City's great rivals Manchester United (three games, never lost, only one goal conceded), Maine Road, Goodison and Anfield and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Peter Beardsley, Stokoe, Ball, Hughes, Peter Doherty and a former team-mate of Herbert at Wolves, John Burridge.

The links with New Zealand remain distant. Rush has never returned to New Zealand ("I'll go back one day") but he still feels a connection.

He hasn't kept track of the All Whites' latest campaign as the qualifiers for South Africa continue – "I've been watching England" – but as a result of our conversation will be looking out for the result this weekend against Bahrain.

"I would love to see New Zealand get there."

The first player from New Zealand to appear in the football league was Northern Ireland international George "Barney" Moorhead. who played in the 1920s. Like Rush, he had left this country as a two-year-old. A full list of our exports can be found on line at ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/id1845.htm.