Alex Brown (born 17 May 1979 in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

) is a former English

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, who played at

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

position. He attended Colston's Collegiate School in

. He started playing rugby at u7s level for Clifton in 1985 and worked his way through the age levels there After a brief period with

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and

Pontypool Pontypool ( ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in South Wales. , it has a population of 29,062. Locat ...

, he joined his home city club

and was a key player when they won the first Under 21

Zurich Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

. Under the tutelage of rugby director Dean Ryan, he was voted the club's player of the year in the 2000–01 season. Brown's father played rugby for Clifton. Brown signed for

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was formed in 1873 and since 1891 has played its home matches ...

in the summer of 2003 rejoining Dean Ryan. The

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emerg ...

international topped the line-out statistics charts during the 2003–04 season and was voted the players' player of the year. He played for

in the first

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada national rugby union team, Canada, England Saxons, England, the United States national rugby union te ...

and was called into the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

senior squad for the 2005 Autumn Internationals. Brown was expected to make his international debut against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in November, but he suffered a neck injury and was ruled out of the entire Autumn programme. He made his senior international debut for

during their 2006 summer tour, in a defeat to

. Brown then played in both tests on the 2007 summer tour,

losing both games to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He picked up the Gillette Power Award for the 2006–07 season. He is widely regarded as one of the most consistent performers in the Premiership and then signed a three-year contract extension with

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

until 2011. After proving himself one of the most consistent lock forwards in the premiership, Brown's contract was extended until 2013. Unfortunately, following an shoulder injury sustained during the first match of the 2012–13 season, Brown was forced to announce his retirement on 20 December 2012 He was appointed Rugby Operations Manager at

Kingsholm Stadium Kingsholm Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Kingsholm area of Gloucester, England, and is the home stadium of Gloucester Rugby. The stadium has a capacity of 16,115. It is sometimes nicknamed 'Castle Grim', after the estate where ...

with

in 2013. He became a director in 2019, In 2020 he was further promoted to Chief Operating Officer; a role which would partly replace director of rugby. He was later appointed CEO on an Interim basis following the resignation of Lance Bradley in July 2023.

References

External links

Clifton FactfileGloucester Rugby profileEngland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Alex 1979 births Living people England international rugby union players English rugby union players Bath Rugby players Pontypool RFC players Bristol Bears players Gloucester Rugby players Rugby union locks People educated at Colston's School Rugby union players from Bristol