Bob Wilson’s Wikipedia – Week Seven

Welcome to Bob Wilson’s Wikipedia

Wikipedia has changed the educational landscape as we know it. Gone are the days when knowledge was gained through dusty encyclopedias and local wisdom, hearsay and rumourmongering.

Nowadays, people simply need to access Wikipedia in order to pass off facts as their own, plagiarise beyond all means in academia, sully the reputation of Hollywood movie stars – all in the name of ‘free education for all’.

Wikipedia’s framework is built on the Wikimedia Commons project – a media file repository making available‘public domain and freely-licensed educational media content’ - that is, no ‘copyrighted’ content.

Which is why we see Bob Wilson, a Scottish international goalkeeper, a man with more than 230 Arsenal appearances under his belt, a respected television broadcaster, paying for petrol in Hatfield, Hertfordshire as his official Wikipedia photograph. He isn’t the only one however. There are many, many more…

Here are five of the best that were submitted this week, in no particular order:

Andoni Iraola (@MattTickner)

Spotted by @MattTickner

Andoni Iraola Sagarna (born 22 June 1982 in Usurbil, Gipuzkoa) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Athletic Bilbao in La Liga, as a defender or midfielder. Combative and with good passing skills, he operates on the right flank, and spent his entire professional career with Athletic Bilbao.

On 20 August 2008, Iraola was called up by Vicente del Bosque for a friendly with Denmark, replacing Sergio Ramos for the final 15 minutes of the 3–0 away success, . On 29 March 2011, Iraola made his first start for Spain in a 3–1 win against Lithuania for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers.

The scourge of every defender, the nutmeg. How unfortunate then that Iraola is being nutmugged just as this photo is being taken and that the whole world (from now) will know him as that chap who’s been nutmegged.

Bixente Lizarazu (@rcammisola)

Spotted by @rcammisola

Bixente Lizarazu (born Vincent Lizarazu on 9 December 1969 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz) is a former football left defender who played most notably for Girondins de Bordeaux and Bayern Munich, as well as the French national team.

Lizarazu, provider of the best isoteric number in world football (Lizarazu wore the shirt number 69 because he was born in 1969, his height is 1.69m and he weighed 69kg).

Here we have, one of the most consistent left-backs of a generation in the Australian outback. Don’t be fooled, he’s not far away, he really is that small.
 

Otman Bakkal (@theftblproject)

Spotted by @theftblproject

Otman Bakkal (born 27 February 1985 in Eindhoven) is a Dutch international footballer of Moroccan origin who plays professionally for PSV as an attacking midfielder. He is currently on loan to Feyenoord.

Bakkal made his PSV Eindhoven debut during the 2003–04 season, and has spent loan spells at FC Den Bosch, FC Eindhoven and FC Twente. In November 2010, Bakkal was bitten by Luis Suárez on the shoulder during the 0-0 draw between PSV and Ajax on 20 November 2010. On 31 August 2011, Bakkal signed on a season-long loan deal for the Eredivisie rivals Feyenoord.

There is only one explanation for this photograph. Otman Bakkal has just seen Luis Suarez walk in to the room.
 

Danny Holla (@MattTickner)

Spotted by @MattTickner

Danny Holla (born December 31, 1987 in Almere, Flevoland) is a Dutch Midfielder who currently plays for FC Groningen.

He played on loan to FC Zwolle during the first half of the 2007–08 season, managing a respectable 8 goals in 22 appearances. Towards the tail-end of that season however, Holla returned to FC Groningen to replace Rasmus Lindgren, who had moved to Ajax for the second time for a fee of €2.5m.

Since then, he has gone on to make a further 88 appearances for the Green-White Army. Despite being a regular first-team member throughout last season, he has made just four starts this season and appeared six times as a subsitute. Despite this lack of playing time (only 431 minutes) Holla has managed to get himself booked four times.

Seemingly content with sitting on a bench at Groningen, Danny Holla appears to spend most of his spare time sitting on a bench too, a football at his feet dreaming of how different it all could have been.
 

Adel Salmi (@armccartney)

Spotted by @armccartney

Adel Salmi plays in the Sultanate of Oman for Dhofar, an old and well-known club which has won many championships.

I’ll leave the rest to him: “I was actually drafted to play through the brokers of the Gulf Cup Championship. The contract stipulated that I play with the club during home games; thank God, I see my experience with the club as a successful one, despite the fact that I have not participated in all home games.”

“In respect to scoring, I scored three goals in three matches, the most important one being the wining goal against the Omani Taliat team. I played in a total of six matches in Oman. Unfortunately, I was not able to play in all the games because I was injured. In general, I have proved to the Omani audience that the Yemeni player has a lot to show.”

What is strange about this photograph I hear you ask? Well, let me tell you. In an inversion of Bob Wilson’s Wikipedia, Al McCartney has managed to find this picture of Adel Salmi, ‘The Prince of Yemeni football’, in place of a bottle of Sagres on the Central de Cervejas brewery Wikipedia page. Hats off to you young man.

As this is a weekly feature, if you spot a funny Wikipedia image of a professional footballer, be sure to let us know by email or Twitter, with the subject or hashtag #BobWilsonsWiki.

We will publish five of the best each week. Find the whole collection of Bob Wilson’s Wikipedia here.

Follow @MattTickner on Twitter.

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