A Wales international stand-off, he played his club rugby for Widnes,[3] Barrow, Swinton,[4] Runcorn Highfield and Springfield Borough.
[2][5] Born in Wales to a Sierra Leone Creole father[6][7] and a Welsh mother, Wilson played rugby union for Cardiff RFC as a fly-half.
He had trials with several rugby league clubs, including Widnes and Barrow, before eventually moving north to play as a professional with Swinton.
[8] Wilson once scored five drop goals in a match for Swinton in 1983,[9] which is a joint record in British rugby league history.
[2] Wilson is the father of former footballer and Wales manager Ryan Giggs,[7] who was christened Ryan Joseph Wilson but as a teenager changed his surname to that of his mother.