Selwyn Times: November 28, 2018

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30 Wednesday November 28 2018 Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi Our People SELWYN TIMES Gillian Wilson From back street football in Northern Lincoln resident Gillian Wilson recently returned from the Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold Coast where her Waikato Pioneers team finished third. Age was no barrier for the 56-yearold who was the second oldest player in the women’s 40 and over division. Gordon Findlater spoke to the former double international about her early days representing Northern Ireland in football and Ireland in equestrian. Tell me about your footballing days in Northern Ireland, how were you introduced to the sport? I grew up playing football with the boys in the back streets of Belfast. I didn’t even know that the women played to be honest. I was in Young Farmers because I’ve always enjoyed the country and love animals, particularly dogs. Anyway, they do a big gala thing every year and I played in the five-a-side ladies team. I was playing five-a-side and at the end of it this guy came up to me, he had a clipboard, and he said would you be interested in playing 11-a-side football? He said I’ll take your details and get a manager to call you . . . I got a phone call and turned up to training and the next thing was I was called up to the training squad for Northern Ireland and I’d never played an 11-a-side game in my life. That was how my career started and my first 11-a-side game was against Scotland at Ibrox Stadium which is the home ground for Glasgow Rangers. Did you get to play at any other famous stadiums? We played at Wembley against England and we also played at Elland Road which is the home of Leeds United which is my team. We got a tour of the place and got to meet the team which was amazing, especially for some young girls from Belfast. What was the stature of the team like back then? We had no money. If we had to go somewhere you paid for it yourself . . . we flew over to play Scotland at Ibrox and the team went across in four six-seater planes over the Irish Sea. I won’t be doing that ever again as long as I live, it was a nightmare. We arrived and had this shoddy little TALENT: Gillian Wilson shows of her bronze medal from the recent Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold Coast. She is with her dog Cassie. bus while the Scottish girls had this massive coach. They were all sponsored and their gear was immaculate. All these girls could swap shirts after internationals but we had one strip. If you lost a sock you were in deep trouble. We were as good as anything around at the time though because we had a lot of drive and a lot of heart. Are there any highlights playing internationally that stick out for you? I guess the biggest highlight was scoring a dead ball free kick against England in Belfast from 22 yards. It was a big curler into the top right-hand corner. The English goal-keeper came up and congratulated me after the game . . . they were the top in the world at that time. I think they beat us 4-1 but to get the one from there against probably the best goalkeeper on the planet at that time was huge. What position did you play? I started out on the right wing because I was very quick in those days, but they decided I was more of an architect of the game and I read the game very well so they moved me into midfield which is where I still play today. Were there ever opportunities to play football for a living? There weren’t quite the same opportunities there are today, but I was offered contracts in Italy and I was also offered a contract in America. There were three of us from the Irish team offered contracts and my girlfriend Geraldine went . . . the contract was to go and play, you had accommodation and they gave you about a thousand dollars American a week which was huge money and all you had to do was coach twice a week at a university. Why didn’t you do that? I’d started with the horses at that stage as well so I had other commitments. It was also a very long contract so I had to think, what if I don’t like it and I was tied into a contract. You had to really want to do it and be prepared to spend five years there . . . I think that was the issue. If it had been for 12 months it would have been something I’d have a go at. Specialists @ Individuality • Focus on sustainability • Award winning family owned business • Proven reputation of quality • Full architectural design package NATIONAL “HOY” WINNER plus GOLD RESERVE 2016 View our display home Phone Jesse 021 701 265 or visit www.jdhomes.co.nz Canterbury
SELWYN TIMES Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi Wednesday November 28 2018 31 Ireland to a life of horses and gardens You’ve recently returned to football for a couple of masters tournaments. Tell me about the third place finish in the Gold Coast. It was an amazing experience. Our first game we played as a team was our first game there and we won 3-0 . . . the biggest struggle was with the heat, it was 80 per cent humidity. I stuck my shirt in a bucket of ice before every game and it was dry within minutes of chucking it on. They had to take drink breaks every 15 minutes. You also represented Ireland in equestrian? Dad bought me a little pony I was just horse mad. I ended up really just coming up through the ranks and I represented Ireland when I was 15. I started when I was 11 and did it up until I moved to New Zealand, so for about 17 years. Did you have much success? Yes, I show-jumped all over the place and represented Ireland at Hickstead in England. I was third overall in Europe which was huge. There are 80 to 100 competitors over the space of a week. I won Northern Ireland championships in the late 1970s and I was third in Ireland so that put me in the top two or three in the country. Tell me about your move to New Zealand. They were starting an equestrian centre up in Waikato and I got the job. I started out with four lame horses and no clients. Now it’s one of the biggest in New Zealand. I ran that for five-and-a-half years, we were one of the first places in the North Island to start therapeutic riding . . . then I got terribly ill, moved to Christchurch and I’ve been here ever since. What happened with you being terribly ill? I’d been back to Ireland in 1992 and in 1993 I wasn’t feeling very well. I’d had several pains in my lower back and I just felt really bad. Then I passed out one day and woke up in intensive NATIONAL HONOURS: Wilson played 26 games for Northern Ireland. care five weeks later in Waikato hospital and they said I’d picked up some sort of a bug which had been dormant until my immune system was low and then it attacked the system . . . to this day they don’t know what it was, but at the time they said to my parents that I had about three hours to live. So you didn’t remember a thing for five weeks? I don’t remember a thing. I just remember being on the phone to my mum. I know it was around St Patrick’s Day because her birthday is on the 18th of March and I was about to head FLYING: Wilson clears a barrier while competing in a show jumping competition in Dublin in the late 1970s. out to work because I lived on the property at the equestrian centre and then I just remember waking up five weeks later . . . they said to me if I wanted to play football again it was going to take me a couple of years to get my strength and coordination back, but I played half a game of premier football that September. So after that you moved to Christchurch? Mum and Dad were in Christchurch and I needed looking after so they said look you’ve got to come to Christchurch . . . when I got here I ended up playing for Canterbury and captained the team at the South Island championships which we won. I played a couple of seasons with the team but I’d gone into my own business at that stage. That basically when I stopped playing. What was the business you had? Initially when I came down I ran the equestrian centre at Wigram. I did that for a while and then I had some land on Old Tai Tapu Rd so I decided to go into agistment which is looking after race horses when they’re not racing. I did it mainly for a lot of the local trainers like Colin De Filippi, Murray Edmonds, Mike De Filippi and Brent Weaver. I had all of their horses when they were spelling from racing and that’s a fulltime job. I did that for 12 years actually. Now you’re doing gardening? Yes, I decided I had enough of the land and got back into my gardening . . . so I bought a little house in Lincoln and I’ve been back at my gardening for seven years. I was going to get enough to keep me busy but it’s ended up I have so much work I need an extra day in the week. I take it you celebrated Ireland’s win over the All Blacks last weekend? Absolutely. I turned up work last Monday in my Ireland scarf and shirt. My first client on a Monday is an avid All Blacks fan and he said to me he knew I would do that. Last question, do you drink Guinness? Oh yes, I think we drank the Landsdown Road dry – which was the local Irish pub on the Gold Coast – when we were over there . . . we liked to have a drink on our day off, it was the only right thing to do really. Holden trade club saloon speedweek presented by valvoline plus Mag & turbo super cup fri 30 tH noveMber & sat 1 st deceMber 7pM start doubledays road kaiapoi infoline 03 364 8833 www.woodfordglen.co.nz adults $20, seniors $10, cHildren $5, under 5 yrs Free faMily pass $40 (2 adults & up to 4 children 15yrs & under)
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Selwyn Times: November 28, 2018

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