Frank Rankmore Explained

Frank Rankmore
Fullname:Frank Edward John Rankmore
Birth Date:21 July 1939
Birth Place:Cardiff, Wales
Position:Defender
Years1:1957–1963
Clubs1:Cardiff City
Caps1:67
Goals1:0
Years2:1963–1968
Clubs2:Peterborough United
Caps2:201
Goals2:7
Years3:1968–1971
Clubs3:Northampton Town
Caps3:103
Goals3:15
Totalcaps:371
Totalgoals:22
Nationalyears1:1966
Nationalteam1:Wales
Nationalcaps1:1
Nationalgoals1:0

Frank Edward John Rankmore (21 July 1939 – 20 November 2022) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a defender for Cardiff City, Peterborough United, and Northampton Town. At international level, he made one appearance for the Wales national team.

Career

Rankmore was born in Cardiff and began his league career at Cardiff City after joining the club from local side Cardiff Corinthians in 1957. He was unable to break into the first team, and his early time at Ninian Park was spent mostly in the reserve side. At the end of the 1959–60 season he was placed on the transfer list. However, when Danny Malloy left the club in 1961, Rankmore found himself promoted to the first-team, making 37 league appearances during his first full season but was unable to prevent the club slipping out of Division One. After one more season as a first-team regular, Rankmore found himself out of favour again following the arrival of John Charles from Roma and was sold to Division Three side Peterborough United for a fee of £10,000.[1]

Rankmore went on to appear over 200 times for Peterborough and was awarded his first, and only,[2] cap for Wales when he played against Chile during a tour of South America in 1966. In 1968, he was sold to local rivals Northampton Town for £12,000, becoming the third Peterborough player to move to Northampton in the space of five months after Johnny Byrne and Jack Fairbrother,[3] where he made over 100 appearances before injury forced him into retirement in 1971.

Personal life and death

Rankmore died on 20 November 2022, at the age of 83.[4] [5]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Hayes, Dean . The Who's Who of Cardiff City . Breedon Books . 2006 . 157–158 . Derby . 1-85983-462-0.
  2. Web site: Morgan hopes promotion will cap a good year . Peterborough Today . 7 August 2008 . 23 November 2009 . 24 September 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080924161206/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/poshnews/Morgan-hopes-promotion-will-cap.4367055.jp . dead .
  3. Web site: Local sporting highlights from this week in years gone by . Peterborough Today . 24 May 2008 . 23 November 2009.
  4. News: Casey . Jeremy . Cobblers pay tribute as former player Frank Rankmore dies . 28 November 2022 . Northampton Chronicle & Echo . 28 November 2022.
  5. Web site: The obituary notice of Frank Edward John RANKMORE. Funeral Notices. South Wales Echo. 23 December 2022.