BIO

Ron Brown was born on the 30th July 1916 and was recruited from the Norwood Union Football Club at the beginning of the 1934 season.

Early in his career an article in The Advertiser described him as “Ideally built for a rover, he fearlessly dashes in for the ball and extricates himself from crushes to dispose of the ball to advantage.”

It was however as a forward that Ron Brown gained an outstanding reputation.

In his first season he accumulated 57 goals and started a fearsome partnership with full forward, Bruce Schulz. For six consecutive seasons, from 1934 to 1939 the two players amassed between them over 100 goals every year.

On three occasions Brown was the leading goal kicker and in 1937 fell just five goals short of becoming Norwood’s first goal kicking centurion. To this day he remains fourth on the list of Norwood’s leading goal scorers.

The contrast between the two champions was marked. Schulz was a magnificent high mark capable of kicking accurately from prodigious distances. In a game against Glenelg in 1934 it was reported that Brown had, “battled determinedly for his five goals,” and a feature was when he scored with, “a clever running side kick off his boot.” In another game against Sturt in 1936 with seconds left, Brown burst from a pack and with, “great dash,” kicked the winning goal.

Brown retired from Norwood early in the 1940 season but not altogether from football. The Advertiser on 21st July, 1944 reported that “Ron Brown’s prowess as a rover and forward for Norwood will readily be remembered. On that account the following extract from a letter from Captain Ivor G. Paech somewhere up North will be of interest. 'Our team is doing remarkably well. In the last match Ron Brown, former Norwood forward, kicked 12 goals and was directly responsible for three others' .”

Ron enlisted in the Australian Army in April 1943 and served as a gunner until he was discharged in October 1945. He was employed as a truck/delivery driver for Farmer’s Union in Adelaide. He was married to Rose Brown and they had two sons.

Ron Brown passed away the 21st September 1992

B Ridge Feb 2013, July 2022