Following their success at the 1966 World Cup, and the disappointment of a Quarter-Final exit in 1970, there was shock in 1973 when England, still under the command of Sir Alf Ramsey, was unable to qualify for the competition to take place in the following year. Jan Tomaszewski, branded a clown by Brian Clough, put in a man of the match performance for Poland, and Alf Ramsey left his post to be replaced by Don Revie. But that didn’t mean England had no representation at the tournament. Most famously, Jack Taylor refereed the final between West Germany and the Netherlands. But more intriguing is the story of Joseph Wilson, Lazio legend and Italy international.
Nicknamed Pino in Italy, Wilson is still the only player from Darlington to line up at a World Cup, his name sticking out like a sore thumb on a team sheet of Dino Zoff, Fabio Capello and Sandro Mazzola. His dad had been a soldier in the Second World War, and posted to Italy where he fell in love with a Neopolitan girl (I’ve checked, and he definitely wasn’t The Divine Comedy…). He whisked her back to the north east (which you’d have to imagine was quite a culture shock!) and she married him, giving birth to Pino in 1945. But poor Lina didn’t adapt to life in Darlington, especially once the winter set in, and the family returned to Naples when little Joseph was only six months old.
His footballing career started at local club Cirio, who were not very good, but financially stable, something that was a rarity around the city of Naples. Within a year of breaking into the first team, they were relegated to the fourth tier and changed their name to Internapoli, in an effort to give the city a stable footballing presence as nearby AC Napoli struggled. Unfortunately for Internapoli, a week after their rebrand, AC Napoli became SSC Napoli, the one we now know, who have dominated Neapolitan football ever since.
Wilson, though, was unaffected by the trouble, and started attracting the attention of bigger Italian clubs. It was even mooted that he could get into the national side, but he stuck around in Naples at the insistence of his mother to finish a Law degree. That was, until Italian giants Lazio came calling. A move to one of the big boys, and a mooted chance of making the national team, had Pino on his way after just shy of 140 appearances for Internapoli. And he set about making up for lost time.
In the capital, Wilson was imperious. Lazio had endured a difficult decade, but Wilson was installed as captain, and led them to the Serie B title in 1969, his first season. A powerful, some would say almost violent centre-back, he suited the ultra-defensive catenaccio that dominated Italy at that time. Questions over his involvement in the national side kept being asked as well, but such were Italian rules at the time that to be eligible, Wilson would have had to take 15 months out of the game for national service. He wasn’t willing to do that, having lost time at the start of his career for his studies, and focussed on making Lazio as good as they could be. The 1972/73 season saw it all click, and Lazio emerged as surprise scudetto challengers, only to lose on the last day to, wouldn’t you know it, Napoli. This defeat allowed Juventus to nick the title.
But that only strengthened Lazio’s resolve. The following season they went top early, and never looked back. With Wilson in defence and Giorgio Chanaglia up top, they had the meanest of defences and scored goals almost at will. They powered their way to the scudetto, the first in their history, and just in time for the World Cup.
By now, Wilson’s reputation was huge, and there was increasing clamour for his inclusion in the Italy squad. In the end, the authorities relented, and so it was that big Joseph Wilson made his international debut in 1974 against West Germany, and went on to make his World Cup debut a few weeks later.
Sadly, tensions in the camp saw Italy struggle in the tournament, and afterwards many of the players, including Wilson, would not play for the national side again. His international career finished with just the three caps. Even so, he continued dominating the back line for Lazio, staying in the capital for another five years and becoming I Biancocelesti’s all-time appearance maker, a record that stood for a quarter of a century until Giuseppe Favalli overtook him.
Wilson finished his career in North America, turning out for New York Cosmos and Inter Montreal, before retiring back to Naples with his family. He never returned to Darlington after leaving as a baby, but did play against Newcastle and Sunderland while he was at Lazio, “so I have been near”, he said. “I like to remember Darlington first of all for my father”. And who can argue with that?
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