Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all West Ham Till I Die readers a very Merry Christmas!
Blast from the past
Tuesday 30th March 1982 – The Goombay Dance Band were number one with ‘Seven Tears’ and West Ham United were ensuring it was the Swans who were sobbing in south Wales as Francois van der Elst scored the winner in a 1-0 victory over this year’s Boxing Day opponents Swansea City in front of 20,272 at the Vetch Field.
Belgian attacker van der Elst scored twice for Anderlecht against West Ham as we lost the European Cup Winners’ Cup Final 4-2 in 1976. He signed for the Hammers from the New York Cosmos in January 1982 and this strike at Swansea was his fifth goal in ten games. He scored 17 goals in 70 appearances for the Irons before returning to his homeland to sign for Lokeren.
John Lyall’s Hammers would finish ninth in the First Division in 1981/82, while Swansea would end the campaign in sixth having led the table more than once in their first season at the top level.
West Ham United: Phil Parkes, Ray Stewart, Alvin Martin, Neil Orr, Frank Lampard, Francois van der Elst, Paul Allen, Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire, David Cross, Paul Goddard.
Club Connections
West Ham United’s record signing Andre Ayew could face the club he departed in the summer. A small number of players join him in having worn the shirts of both West Ham United and Swansea City. These include:
Goalkeeper: Noel Dwyer.
Defenders: Andy Melville and Shaun Byrne.
Midfielders: Frank Lampard Junior.
Strikers: Frank Nouble and Lee Chapman.
John Bond also represented both clubs, playing for the Hammers and managing the Swans.
Today’s focus though is on a homegrown Hammers product who returned from a short stint at Swansea to kickstart his Upton Park career. Matthew Rush was born in Dalston on 6th August 1971 and was a right-winger who came through the Academy at West Ham United. He made his debut as a 19-year-old under Billy Bonds in a 7-1 victory over Hull on 6th October 1990, a game famous for Steve Potts’ solitary Hammers’ strike. Bonzo’s boys achieved promotion at the end of that season, a campaign which also saw Rush pick up Under-21 international honours for the Republic of Ireland, for whom he qualified through his Irish mother. He scored his first goals for the Hammers on 11th April 1992, a double in a 4-0 win over Norwich, but the Hammers would ultimately yo-yo back to the second tier. Rush endured a testing two-year period when it appeared his Hammers career was fading and dying. His only appearances in the promotion campaign of 1992/93 came in the now-defunct Anglo-Italian Cup, in which he was sent off in a 0-0 home draw with Pisa, and he had a spell on loan at Cambridge United towards the end of that season.
Rush remained out in the cold as the Hammers set about establishing themselves in their first season in the Premier League. He joined Swansea City for a two-month loan spell in January 1994, playing 13 league matches and starting both legs of the Football League Trophy Area Final against Wycombe Wanderers that would see the Swans progress to Wembley. The Swans only lost two league matches while Rush was at the club and, although he was back at West Ham by the time of the Trophy National Final, Swansea invited him to attend the game at Wembley.
Rush was handed a surprise start by Bonds on Easter Saturday 1994 against Ipswich at Upton Park and scored a stunning, dipping volley from distance to put the Irons on their way to a 2-1 victory, their first win since New Year’s Day.
Rush signed a three-year contract that summer, rejecting overtures from Kevin Keegan’s upwardly-mobile Newcastle United. He found opportunities increasingly sparse under Harry Redknapp in 1994/95 but did score in successive league matches in late October 1994, a 2-0 win over Southampton and a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham. His searing pace also played a major part in a barnstorming 2-0 victory over champions-in-waiting Blackburn Rovers, Rush streaking away from Colin Hendry late on to lay on a cross which led to Don Hutchison sealing the points in the Hammers’ ultimately successful quest for survival. This was to prove to be Rush’s final appearance in a claret and blue shirt. Three of Rush’s five goals for the Hammers can be viewed in my video below.
Having scored five goals in 55 appearances for West Ham, the 24-year-old Rush was sold to Norwich in the summer of 1995 for £350,000. Three days after signing, on his debut for the Canaries against Sunderland, he badly ruptured his knee. He sought to gain fitness in a loan spell at Northampton and eventually joined Oldham in March 1997 having made just three appearances for the Canaries in his 18 months at Carrow Road. Rush sustained cruciate ligament damage in a match against Carlisle in April 1998 and was forced to retire from the game at the age of just 27.
Upon retiring, Rush went to university for four years to study for a degree in Applied Sports Science and then went on to do a post-graduate course. He studied for a further year to gain teacher qualifications and taught in a sports academy in Manchester for a year before teaching PE at a school in Cheshire for five years. His daughter Lana won a national tennis tournament at the age of ten and Rush moved to Barcelona with his daughter so she could attend a tennis academy while his wife Caroline continued working in the UK. The Rush family later moved together to London with Matthew accompanying his daughter to tennis events around the world. Lana is now 19 and has a tennis scholarship at Florida State University. She competed in Junior Wimbledon in 2012 and 2013.
Rush’s wife Caroline is Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council and was awarded a CBE in 2015 for services to the British fashion industry. Matthew, meanwhile, has recently completed a UEFA ‘B’ coaching licence with a view to getting involved in academy coaching in the future.
Referee
The referee on Boxing Day will be Andre Marriner; the 45-year-old’s most recent Hammers appointment was last month’s 1-1 home draw with Stoke. Prior to that, in August’s trip to Manchester City, he had failed to send off Sergio Aguero for an elbow on Winston Reid with the Hammers trailing 2-1 with 14 minutes remaining. The Argentine was retrospectively charged with violent conduct and suspended for three matches, a decision which did nothing to benefit West Ham. Marriner did, however, show leniency that day towards the visitors by failing to issue Arthur Masuaku with a second yellow card on more than one occasion.
Marriner was the man in the middle for our 0-0 home draw with Stoke last season and the 3-0 home win over the same opposition in 2011. He also officiated our 1-0 win over Tottenham at Upton Park in March. Since we achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 the Birmingham-based official has been far from a good omen for West Ham – he has refereed twelve of our league matches, officiating in only two wins for the Hammers, four draws and six defeats.
Possible line-ups
Swansea City centre-back Federico Fernandez and defensive midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng are doubts. Kyle Naughton could replace Angel Rangel at right-back, while Mike van der Hoorn could come in for Alfie Mawson at centre-back. Jay Fulton could make way for Leroy Fer in midfield. Nathan Dyer (making his comeback from an ankle operation which has kept him out since September) and Jefferson Montero are challenging Modou Barrow and Wayne Routledge for their positions on the wings, while Bob Bradley must choose between Borja Baston and Fernando Llorente up front. The Swans have scored eight goals in their last two home matches.
Slaven Bilic will now be without Diafra Sakho until March. Sam Byram, Reece Oxford, Gokhan Tore and Simone Zaza are also all unavailable but James Collins could return to the bench. Pedro Obiang serves a one-match ban, with Edimilson Fernandes his likely replacement in central midfield. Andre Ayew could line up against his former club, with Manuel Lanzini a possibility to make way. West Ham have drawn on their last three trips to the Liberty Stadium and haven’t won a league game away at Swansea since April 1983.
Possible Swansea City XI: Fabianski; Naughton, Amat, van der Hoorn, Taylor; Britton, Fer, Sigurdsson; Dyer, Baston, Montero.
Possible West Ham United XI: Randolph; Kouyate, Reid, Ogbonna; Antonio, Fernandes, Noble, Cresswell; Ayew, Payet; Carroll.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!