Dave Brown, (born 5 December 1957) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played his club football in the Brisbane Rugby League for the Souths Logan Magpies under the coaching of Wayne Bennett. He also played in the NSWRL for Eastern Suburbs and Manly-Warringah.

Background

Brown was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Career

Club career

Dave Brown started his club career in the Brisbane Rugby League competition with the

Souths Magpies The Souths Logan Magpies, more commonly referred to by their former names Southern Suburbs Magpies, or South Brisbane Magpies, or often simply referred to as Souths, are a rugby league football club based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Au ...

. In

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, Brown signed with

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

club Eastern Suburbs. Under the coaching of

Bob Fulton Robert Fulton (1 December 1947 – 23 May 2021), also nicknamed "Bozo", was an Australian international rugby league footballer, coach and later commentator. Fulton played, coached, selected for and has commentated on the game with great succe ...

, Brown played 41 games for the Roosters in 1981 and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

(and was considered unlucky not to be selected for the

1982 Kangaroo tour The 1982 Kangaroo tour was the fifteenth Kangaroo tour where the Australian national rugby league team played a number of matches against British and French rugby league teams, in addition to the Test matches. The Australia national rugby league ...

), before following Fulton to Manly in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

where he would win the 1983 Dally M of the year award, though injury kept him out of the Sea Eagles Grand Final team that lost 18–6 to Parramatta. Brown stayed at Manly for the 1984 season, before once again joining Easts for what would be his last two years of top grade football in Australia. After finishing his career with Easts at the end of the

1986 NSWRL season The 1986 New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the seventy-ninth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Thirteen clubs competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a gran ...

(after having only played 12 games over the course of

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and 1986), Brown ventured to England where he joined Hull F.C. in the 1986–87 season. Dave Brown played Left-, i.e. number 8, in Hull FC's 24–31 defeat by Castleford in the

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

Yorkshire County Cup Final during the 1986–87 season at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds on Saturday 11 October 1986. Hull finished the season in 11th place and only two places away from being relegated to the Second Division. Following the season, Brown returned home to Brisbane. After returning to Australia, Brown played in the

Western Australian Rugby League NRL Western Australia (abbreviated as NRLWA, and formerly the Western Australian Rugby League) is responsible for administering the game of rugby league football in the state of Western Australia. The NRLWA administers all forms of the game in ...

in Perth as Captain-coach of the Belmont Steelers in 1988–90.

Representative career

Dave Brown made his first representative appearance when he was selected Queensland in a 30–5 loss to New South wales in 1979. Later that year he was chosen for the Brisbane Firsts team that played in an Amco Cup game at

's Leichhardt Oval in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, a game Cronulla won 22–5. Brown's teammates at Leichhardt that night included pairing Mal Meninga and Chris Close, Ross Strudwick, Test John Lang, while on the interchange bench was a young forward named Wally Lewis. Brown played two State of Residence and ten State of Origin matches for Queensland between 1979 and 1986, scoring his only try for the Maroons in Game 3 of the

1983 State of Origin series The 1983 State of Origin series was the second time the annual three-game series between the New South Wales and Queensland rugby league teams was played entirely under " state of origin" selection rules. After the Australian team had swept a ...

Lang Park Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

after coming on as a replacement for Darryl Brohman who had his jaw broken after a sickening elbow from New South Wales' forward Les Boyd, a Manly teammate of Brown. Brohman had been widely tipped to make his test debut for Australia in the first Trans-Tasman Test against New Zealand at Carlaw Park in Auckland just three days later, but ironically the spot in the test team went to Brown instead. He played his last game for Queensland in Game 1 of the

1986 State of Origin series The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

at Lang Park, but was dropped after NSW defeated Qld 22–16 in front of 33,066 fans. His standout performances for Queensland in 1983 saw him make the first of 5 test appearances for Australia in the opening test of the 1983 Trans-Tasman series against New Zealand, and would retain his spot for the second game at Lang Park. He then went on to play in the front row in the first two games of The Ashes series against Great Britain in 1984, before being relegated to the bench for what would be his final test as Australia defeated Great Britain 20–7 in the final test at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

. Australia retained The Ashes with a 3–0 series win over the Lions.

References

External links

Queensland Representatives at qrl.com.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Dave 1957 births Living people Australian rugby league players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Australia national rugby league team players Souths Logan Magpies players Sydney Roosters players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Brisbane rugby league team players Norths Devils coaches Rugby league props Rugby league players from Brisbane