Edward Stanley Leitch Brown was Toowoomba’s first international Rugby League player. But when he enlisted in April 1918, he was a 19-year-old fitter who had played rugby union and soccer.
His war was short, only arriving in Egypt in July 1918 and assigned to the 1st Field Squadron of Engineers. Brown contracted malaria in September and was medically discharged in March 1919. He had grown up playing Rugby Union, but when the code went into recess between 1916 and 1918, he switched to soccer. While official senior competition was suspended at the time, games continued at the junior level. Brown captained the Allies soccer club before enlisting, winning the Friendly Societies Shield, and in doing so helped soccer survive during the war. This led to Brown’s name being added to the Toowoomba British Football Association honour board shortly after he enlisted.
It appears Brown rejoined Allies for part of the 1919 season, but he also played Rugby League for Valley in the senior competition. A year later Brown represented Queensland and became an international in 1921 when he played four games on the Kangaroo’s tour of Great Britain. Brown was later Kangaroos tour manager in 1954.