Timber import pours on energy

Playing defense, Kiwi Gavin Wilkinson is verbal and physical

By Steve Brandon

The Portland Tribune, Jun 29, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

It’s easy to spot Gavin Wilkinson on the field at PGE Park. He’s the guy with the red hair, the lumps and the bruises. He’s in the center of the last line of defense. And he’s usually the first guy to go front and center as an enforcer when an opponent gets too rough, and the first to jump into a debate with a referee whose call has gone against the Portland Timbers.

In other words, he can be as vocal as he is physical.

“I’m very animated,” he says. “I enjoy the game, and I obviously like winning.”

The A-League referees don’t always draw his ire, of course.

“It’s a job I wouldn’t want to do, so I have the utmost respect for them,” he says. “I’ve been here long enough that they know me and know at the end of the day I really like them.”

However, he could hardly believe the ref who gave him a questionable second yellow card in last week’s 2-1 loss at Milwaukee Ñwhich resulted in his ejection and automatic suspension for the Vancouver game coming up here Friday.

“It was like a little boy was out there with a whistle,” he says.

Wilkinson, 30, is the second-oldest Timber, and the native of Auckland, New Zealand, has been around.

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