Frank Rawcliffe

Frank Rawcliffe
Personal information
Date of birth	10 December 1921
Place of birth	Cardiff, England
Date of death	4 September 1958 (aged 36–37)
Place of death	Liverpool, England
Position(s)	Centre forward
Senior career*
Years	Team
–	Tranmere Rovers
–	Wolverhampton Wanderers
–	Colchester United
–	Notts County
1946–1947	Newport County
1947–1948	Swansea Town
1948–1949	Aldershot
1949–1950	Alessandria II
–	South Liverpool
–	Alessandria
Total
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Frank Rawcliffe (10 December 1921 – December 1986) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward.

Career

After representing Cheshire Schoolboys he signed for Tranmere Rovers, before then moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Colchester United, Notts County, Newport County, Swansea Town, Aldershot, Alessandria and South Liverpool.^[1] Having made his debut for Tranmere's reserves aged 14, Rawcliffe was regarded as a precocious young talent. First Division Wolves paid a fee of £3,000 to take him to Molineux in January 1939, where he played alongside Stan Cullis and Billy Wright. Rawcliffe appeared to have a bright future ahead of him until the onset of war derailed his career.^[2] A number of brushes with the law followed before he carved out a career in the lower reaches of the Football League in the post-war years. Rawcliffe enjoyed a degree of success in Italy with Serie B Alessandria, who were being coached by Englishman Bert Flatley.^[3] Despite Rawcliffe's goal scoring form, his club were relegated at the end of the 1949/50 season and the forward returned to Merseyside to play for South Liverpool. In December 1950, he returned to Alessandria to help with their Serie C promotion push, but managed just four matches before injury struck and he returned to England for good.^[4]

Name

Rawcliffe was born in Cardiff as Frank "Dooley", initially taking on his mother's maiden name before reverting to what is believed to be his father's surname, "Rawcliffe". His mother married George Woodward and the family moved to Wallasey when Frank was a boy. During his time in Italy, Rawcliffe was known as Ratcliffe.^[5]

References

^ "Past players". Swansea City A.F.C. official website. Archived from the original on 10 July 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
^ ""More Like a Fighter Than a Footballer": The Powerhouse English Forward Who Took Serie B by Storm". 17 July 2020.
^ "Museo Grigio - Archivio Storico dei Grigi". www.museogrigio.it. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020.
^ ""More Like a Fighter Than a Footballer": The Powerhouse English Forward Who Took Serie B by Storm". 17 July 2020.
^ "English Players in Italy". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 21 September 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2010.

[1] "Past players". Swansea City A.F.C. official website. Archived from the original on 10 July 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.

[2] ""More Like a Fighter Than a Footballer": The Powerhouse English Forward Who Took Serie B by Storm". 17 July 2020.

[3] "Museo Grigio - Archivio Storico dei Grigi". www.museogrigio.it. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020.

[4] ""More Like a Fighter Than a Footballer": The Powerhouse English Forward Who Took Serie B by Storm". 17 July 2020.

[5] "English Players in Italy". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 21 September 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2010.

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