Not every football club has a mascot, whilst some of those that do won’t have one that is interesting enough to be known to those outside of the immediate fanbase. In the case of Everton, the club’s nickname of ‘the Toffees’ is one that the majority of football fans will be aware of, whilst more than a few will also know that the mascot is closely linked to that nickname. The Toffee Lady is a tradition that began at Goodison Park, seeing a woman dressed in blue and white throwing toffees into the crowd, carrying on in the years that followed and still happening today.
Everton & Toffee
You can read about why it is that Everton are known as ‘the Toffees’ elsewhere on this site, but it is impossible not to talk about the club’s mascot without also mentioning the nickname. The suburb of Everton, from which the club takes its name, has been known for toffee since the 1700s. There are two that have long stood out above the others, namely Ye Ancient Everton Toffee House and Mother Noblett’s Toffee Shop. They served the Everton fans sweet treats whenever there was a home match to be played, going up against one another for the custom of the supporters.
Old Ma Bushell ran Ye Ancient Everton Toffee House and came up with the idea of distributing the toffees that she made inside Everton’s stadium, getting someone to dress up in traditional gear and taking toffees along in a basket. The idea was that they could get people hooked on the toffees who would then go along to the shop in order to buy them directly, getting their own supply. The result was that the club soon became known as ‘the Toffees’ and the Toffee Lady became something of a tradition, carrying on over the years that followed and giving the Blues their mascot.
The Toffee Lady
One final men’s game at Goodison for our Toffee Lady. 💙 pic.twitter.com/DUSZnelzbT
— Everton (@Everton) May 18, 2025
Dressed in blue with a white apron, the Everton Toffee Lady wore a quaint bonnet and carried a wicker basket filled with Everton mints. From early on, one of the most important criteria when it came to being a toffee lady was to be an Evertonian, with those that took on the role in the early days rewarded with a season ticket in the Upper Gwladys Street Stand in order to be able to watch the match after she had performed her duties. The basket of the Everton mints weighed about four pounds, which was carried by the Everton Toffee Lady out of the players’ tunnel and towards the Gwladys Street.
The first ever Toffee Lady to appear at Goodison Park as something of a club mascot was Mary Morgan (née Gorry), who donned the blue and white outfit in 1953 and continued the role until 1956. It was a role that actually began as a joke for Morgan, customising a bridesmaid’s outfit and hand-stitching ‘Everton Supporters’ Federation’ onto a white pinny before teaming it up with a bonnet. It is fair to say that it became anything other than a joke, only giving up the role after meeting her husband (at the game, of course) and deciding to hand over the reins to her friend.
How the Role Has Changed
When the role first began, the Toffee Lady would be given the job of walking around the stadium, throwing toffees into the crowd indiscriminately. Sadly, health and safety concerns put paid to that and more recent years have seen the Toffee Lady instead handing them out to people who specifically want them. Although it is something that has been closely linked with Goodison Park, it is also likely that the tradition will continue now that the Blues have moved to their new home at Bramley-Moore Dock on Liverpool’s waterfront, the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
One of the other main ways in which the role of the Everton Toffee Lady has changed is that it is no longer just one woman who takes on the part for each home game. Instead, the Everton Toffee Lady is a different person for each match, often seeing much younger people take on the role so as to be able to instil what it means to be an Evertonian into the younger supporters who want to be part of the supporter base. That also means that the Everton Toffee Lady no longer receives a season ticket as thanks for fulfilling the role, but they do get to watch the Blues play the match they are involved in.
Dabbling with Other Mascots
Club mascot Changy the Elephant prepare to welcome #Everton as the Toffees are about to touch down in #Singapore. pic.twitter.com/5Pi1Z6bhdo
— ST Sports Desk (@STsportsdesk) July 13, 2015
It is fair to say that Everton haven’t always used just the Toffee Lady as the club’s mascot. There have been other attempts at getting kids involved in supporting the Blues, which have been linked to the sponsors at various points. Arguably the best-known of these was when Changy the Elephant was seen on the side of the Goodison Park pitch, having his photos taken with young Evertonians. Changy was so-named on account of the fact that the club spent a period of time being sponsored by Chang, a beer that was made and brewed in Thailand.
The gallows humour of following Everton over the years led to some giving the one-time mascot a different nickname, such as ‘Changy the depressophant’ when he constantly had to ‘wipe tears from his eyes’ every time the Blues conceded. Given that one game he was at included Everton conceding six against Chelsea, Changy will have used up almost an entire box of tissues. When Chang stopped sponsoring Everton, the club moved on from having an elephant as its cuddly mascot, becoming one of the few teams in the top-flight not to have a dedicated one for kids.