Alexander Wilson (29 October 1933 – 29 July 2010Obituary
/ref>) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a defender (left or right full-back), mainly for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Career

Having signed for his local junior club Buckie Rovers (based in

Banffshire Banffshire (; ; ) is a historic county in Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. The historic county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since 1996 the area has been spli ...

, north-eastern Scotland), Wilson joined

on leaving school in 1949 – the local

Highland Football League The Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL, commonly known as the Highland League) is a senior football league based in the north of Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Scott ...

club Buckie Thistle, just missed out on signing him. He turned professional with Portsmouth the following year, and played there for 18 years, winning a Division Three championship in 1961–62. In 1967, he moved to Chelmsford City for a short spell and also played for

Waterlooville Waterlooville is a town in the Borough of Havant in Hampshire, England, approximately north northeast of Portsmouth. It is the largest town in the borough. The town had a population of 64,350 in the 2011 Census. It is surrounded by Purbrook, ...

before retiring. He won his only

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in their last preparation match for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June ...

Finals against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, this coming after just 25 league matches. Although named in Scotland's 22 man squad for Switzerland, Scotland decided to take only 13 of the 22 to the finals. Wilson stayed at home on reserve with the likes of Bobby Combe and Jimmy Binning. Inside forward George Hamilton was also on reserve but traveled after Bobby Johnstone withdrew through injury.

References

External links

* 1933 births 2010 deaths Men's association football fullbacks Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers 1954 FIFA World Cup players Buckie Rovers F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Waterlooville F.C. players People from Buckie Scottish Junior Football Association players English Football League players Footballers from Moray 20th-century Scottish sportsmen {{Scotland-footy-defender-1930s-stub