Soccer: Our unlikely football export

In Ecuador football is a way out of their current position. Photo / Brett Phibbs

He was paid in cash every month, delivered in brown paper bags. His apartment was patrolled around the clock by two armed guards. Home matches were played at the head-spinning altitude of 2800m. Welcome to the world of our unlikeliest football export.

Former All White Michael Wilson spent a season playing professional football in Ecuador. Wilson, who made seven appearances for New Zealand between 2003-06, was based at Sociedad Deportiva Aucas, from December 2008 until November 2009.

He was the only non-South American player in the entire league; he attracted plenty of attention from fans and media, as well as rival players and supporters.

"It was a steep learning curve. The more Spanish I learned, the worse it was because I could understand the insults they were saying. It started with 'gringo this' and 'gringo that' and got a lot worse."

Wilson began his search for an overseas club back in late 2008, when he was still playing for Team Wellington in the NZFC. Through contacts made during his time in the United States, he started to make enquiries. Columbia, Paraguay and Peru were all possibilities before he settled on Ecuador.

Together with American girlfriend Keely, he arrived in Quito in November 2008 with high hopes, no Spanish and a few faint leads. He trained with four Serie A and B clubs around the capital before being picked up by Aucas after a four-week trial.

"It was quite a stressful and complicated month," Wilson recalls. "I had pulled the pin on the other clubs and I was pretty reliant on them offering me a contract."

Aucas, named after the indigenous Auca tribe, is one of the oldest and most popular clubs in Ecuador. Club alumni include Agustin Delgado, the ex-Southampton forward who infuriated firebrand manager Gordon Strachan by refusing to learn English.

"I've got a yoghurt to finish that expires today," Strachan once said when pressed about the future of the South American, "That [is] my priority rather than Agustin Delgado."

As well as adjusting to the physical demands of the second-highest capital city in the world, Wilson had to contend with the language barrier.

He was fortunate that coach Marco Etcheverry, who captained Bolivia during their World Cup finals appearance in 1994, was fluent in English after playing several seasons in the United States.

Each club is allowed a maximum of four foreigners (Aucas had three Paraguayans along with Wilson) and must field at least one youth player (under-19) during the first half of every league game. In another quirk, fixtures were only released on a week by week basis.

"You knew who you were playing. You just didn't know what time, what day and who was going to be officiating." Wilson assumes that this was to stop people forging tickets or "messing" with the referees.

Another difference was the lack of structure to regulate player payments. "A couple of times I thought it was going to get a bit sticky but everything ended up okay. There is a real production line of players - most people are quite replaceable and at times clubs will try to get a bit creative with things."

His game benefited immensely from daily training with more technical players and the New Zealander gradually made his mark.

"For every single person there, football is the way out of their current position. It is not just about the game; it is also about their future. I tried to be consistent and the coach knew what he was going to get out of me"

It also helped that Wilson was left-sided and a defender. "To make real money [and leave South America] you have to be an attacker. That is where the emphasis is, so there was a bit of an opening there."

The on-field highlights for Wilson came in two friendly games. Aucas played a match against Liga Deportiva, who were then the best team on the continent and had faced Manchester United in the final of the 2008 Fifa Club World Cup.

Wilson also got to play against the national team in a tune-up match a week before Ecuador were due to play Argentina in one of their final World Cup qualifiers.

About half of Quito's population lives below the poverty line, which brought its own challenges.

"Sometimes you felt safe; other times you felt like it could all come crumbling down."

Armed security guards were common on his street but these were minor irritations. "It is a wonderful continent with unique people and great footballing histories," says Wilson. "I think New Zealanders are good enough to go there but there are probably better opportunities elsewhere."

Wilson left Ecuador in April and has since relocated to New Hampshire. For now the 29-year-old has hung up the boots, but he hopes to get involved with coaching teams at the local university.