RELATIVES of one of the FA’s eight founding fathers attended a special ceremony at Wembley to mark the association’s 150th anniversary.
Descendants of George Twizell Wawn were at the national stadium yesterday to see a blue plaque with his name on unveiled.
He was one of the eight men who gathered in the Freemasons’ Tavern to draft the original 13 laws of football 150 years ago this Saturday.
Seven-year-old Isaac Lord, from Loveclough, unveiled the plaque to his great great great uncle with former England international, and the FA’s director of football development, Sir Trevor Brooking.
Isaac, who goes to Crawshawbooth Primary School, was at the event with his brother and sister, Chris Ainsworth, 19, and Jess Ainsworth, 20, as well as granddad and grandmother Nick and Eileen Ainsworth.
Jess said: “It was a great day. My little brother unveiled the plaque. I was so proud of him. He is normally quite shy but he really enjoyed it.
“They also gave him a shirt with the name ‘Wawn’ on the back.”
The family only found out they were related to George around a month ago. Research assistant Dr Jane Clayton, from UCLan, had been carrying out the research for the FA on relatives of the eight founding fathers.
Jess said: “Dr Clayton had been looking for us since April, but we only found out a month ago. I’m in the third year of a law degree at UCLan in Burnley, so I’d actually been at the same university as Dr Clayton without us realising.”
The FA has discovered founding fathers’ relatives as far afield as Washington DC, Chicago and Auckland, as well as in this country.
Dr Clayton said: “For the search to have been so successful is incredibly pleasing as, from a historical perspective, we now know a lot more about a number of the men that created the most popular sport in the world 150 years ago.”
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