Guess the @TheGillsFC player? Early to mid 1990s…need full name… pic.twitter.com/HAk5PzeDWr
— haydnparry (@HaydnParry) August 4, 2020
In October 1994, Wolf from Gladiators featured in the starting line-up for Gillingham’s reserve side.
A 42-year-old Michael Van Wijk played 73 minutes of a home game against Cambridge United before being taken off following an injury which meant he couldn’t continue.
https://twitter.com/HaydnParry/status/1290805197523091456
— haydnparry (@HaydnParry) August 4, 2020
At the time, ‘Wolf’ was a nationwide TV celebrity thanks to his pantomime villain appearances on ITV’s popular game show which involved athletic contestants battling it out with the so-called gladiators in a series of endurance challenges.
The match raised a significant amount of revenue for the club through ticket sales and was reportedly attended by a crowd ten times the size of the usual average.
At the time the club denied it was a publicity stunt and insisted he would be treated like any other player. And so he appears in the programme as "The Wolf"
— Matt Davison (@mattdavison1970) August 5, 2020
I was at this game. He was -is a Gills fan and it was to help us get some money in through the gate
— Steven Scott (@Scott5clanScott) August 5, 2020
Gillingham Reserves and their star attraction came away with a 3-1 win over Cambridge with the Gladiator accused of tackling too heartily.
Van Wijk failed to get on the score sheet but his “army of young fans” had an opportunity to applaud his substitution and many received subsequent autographs.
@tom_parkes_88 @FearTheWolfman @90sfootball I went to that game. He was shit
— Daniel Bartlett (@DanBartlett83) January 3, 2015
TELLY GOLD: Today is the 25th anniversary of the Gladiators Xmas special when sportsmen took on the stars in spandex on ITV.
The talk beforehand was about Vinnie Jones vs Wolf. And football's bad boy put in an early verbal reducer… pic.twitter.com/ZICUODUG6r
— Proper Football (@sid_lambert) December 26, 2018