Edwin Stanley "Nigger" Brown (1898–1972) was an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

player who played in the 1910s and 1920s. A Queensland state and Australian international representative centre, he played club rugby in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

for Newtown. Brown, an Anglo-Australian who was nicknamed "Nigger" because of his fair complexion (or perhaps because of his use of the "Nigger Brown" variety of

Kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), a nickname for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible berry * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of currency Kiwi or KIWI may also ref ...

shoe polish), became Toowoomba's first rugby league international when he was selected to go on the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, during which he played four matches. Brown forged a world-class centre combination with Tom Gorman in the famous Toowoomba sides of the 1920s, and in 1925 injured his ankle playing in their win over the New Zealand national side before a crowd of around 5,000 in Toowoomba. Brown later served as a judge for ''

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a centre- ...

s player of the season award. He was also president of the

Toowoomba Rugby League The Toowoomba Rugby League is a competition involving football clubs from the city of Toowoomba and surrounding towns and districts.It is run under the auspices of Queensland Rugby League Central Division. Clubs Clubs with A-Grade team * Dalby ...

during the early 1950s and became a local councillor in Toowoomba. He was

Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...

manager in 1954. In the 1960s a grandstand in Toowoomba's main football stadium, the

Toowoomba Sports Ground Clive Berghofer Stadium (officially known as Toowoomba Sports Ground and previously known as Athletic Oval) is a stadium in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. Situated on Mary Street on the eastern fringes of Toowoomba CBD adjacent to Queens Par ...

, was named the 'E S "Nigger" Brown Stand' in his honour. Brown died in 1972 aged 74. The "E S 'Nigger' Brown Stand" later became the subject of a book, '' The N Word: One Man's Stand'', by Stephen Hagan, who campaigned for its removal. When the stand was demolished in September 2008, the Toowoomba Sports Ground Inc decided not to use the nickname in future references to Brown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Edwin 1898 births 1972 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Place of birth missing Place of death missing Queensland rugby league team players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Toowoomba