‘EIGHT OF MY WIFE’S RELATIONS PLAYED FOR EVERTON’
Last August, a crowd gathered on the Top Balcony concourse at Everton Football Club’s home ground Goodison Park for the unveiling of a plaque. Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine reader Gordon Fraser was there with his wife, Maureen, and other family members – all justifiably proud. The plaque commemorated their eight relatives who had played for the club. For Gordon (a die-hard Everton fan), it was also the culmination of almost 10 years’ work researching and writing Sporting Genes, the story of the Rankin dynasty. Along the way, he uncovered record breakers, missed opportunities and men who shaped England’s sporting history.
Gordon started out by researching his own family, prompted by a genealogist friend. But it wasn’t until 2005, when he decided to write a book and picked sporting ancestors as its theme, that he began looking more closely at Maureen’s heritage.
