A sports writer byline that appeared on a football match report for The Independent website, but seemingly does not belong to an actual journalist, has been confirmed as a so-called “cod byline”.

The practice is common among UK journalists who are shifting on a newspaper but don’t want their current employers – perhaps a rival title – to know about it.

It involves the journalist either adopting a made-up name or taking a house byline, one which is put up by the newspaper itself and regularly used as a substitute to protect the writer’s identity.