Roy Henry Brown (20 December 1923 – November 1989) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as both a centre half and a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. Brown was the first black player in the history of his first team,

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. Brown also played for Watford, making a total of 212 appearances in the Football League for both clubs. His brother later became Lord Mayor of

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

Career

Brown was born in

and was the son of a Nigerian father, and English mother. He joined

in 1939 and played for the club during World War II whilst also serving with the army. The Football League resumed in 1946–47 with Brown making history on 28 September 1946 playing in Stoke's 3–1 win over

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

he became the club's first black player and he ended the season with four appearances. He was used a back-up utility player by manager

Bob McGrory Robert Gerald McGrory (17 October 1891 – 24 May 1954) was a Scottish footballer who played in the Football League for Burnley and Stoke City with whom he later had a long spell as manager. McGrory played football with Dumbarton before joining ...

eventually playing regularly in 1950–51 where he played in 29 matches. He scored eight goals in 16 matches during the 1952–53 campaign, the second highest as Stoke suffered relegation from the First Division. Brown now seeking regular first team football, left the Victoria Ground in the summer of 1953 for Third Division South side Watford. He spent the first season with the "Hornets" as a centre forward and he scored 21 goals as Watford finished in 4th position. He remained at Vicarage Road for four more seasons before ending his career with non-league Chelmsford City.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Roy 1923 births 1989 deaths English men's footballers Stoke City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players English Football League players English sportspeople of Nigerian descent Black British sportsmen Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent Men's association football forwards