In terms of leading voices on African football in Britain in the last decade or so, there is only one to have a true claim to that crown. He has progressively ticked off every major publication in the country, each of whom have stood in front of him at some point in his career, slapping their forearms, begging him for that next hit of knowledge of football in dark continent. He is the man who described writing for Sandals for Goalposts as “the ultimate challenge, the final hurdle”, and we met up with him to tease him on what he could have become, on the premise that, if he did an interview for us, maybe – MAYBE – he might get a regular writing spot. The jury’s still out on that decision.
This man is Jonathan Wilson – the man who has been to so many Africa Cup of Nations that it would make even the most well-hydrated member of the SFG team feel a bit dizzy with excitement. Mali 2002, Egypt 2006, Ghana 2008, Angola 2010, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea 2012 and South Africa 2013 – Tunisia 2004 is the only one he’s failed to attend on his African football odyssey, as he prepares to enter his thirteenth year and seventh tournament.
But why Africa, you may be asking? With the intersection between Africa and English football much slimmer in 2002, his was a time
when liking African football was so hipster that it wasn’t even hipster – it was just plain weird. Was it a longing admiration for Mark Fish? A desire to have an early glimpse at Jay-Jay Okocha?
Sadly not. Rather it was the dotcom-boom child that gave Wilson his shot, as one of the first outward-looking British football sites was born.
“I started working for One Football in 2000 and covered the Asian Cup in Lebanon that September. It was basically a way of travelling. As for Mali 2002, I probably would have gone anyway, but with England being in Nigeria’s group that summer at the World Cup there was a clear financial incentive for the website”.
A foreign concept to the modern-day football fan with a BT Sport subscription, but One Football was one of the true pioneers in bringing overseas football to the shores of Britain, based on the vision of interest in foreign football growing. For Wilson, it was the opportunity to expand his horizons, combining an interest in the wider world with football, as he made his name not only in Africa but in Eastern Europe also.
One Football was one of the first to have a global reach.
Jonathan Wilson
Breaking into stadiums, illegal immigration into countries and the "Venice of Africa" . Wilson reveals all.
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