Napier City Rovers striker and former Northern Ireland age-group international Leo Brown thought his career was over – until he was sparked back into a comeback after seeing footage of him playing against Manchester City and Norway star Erling Haaland (inset). Photos / NZME
The arrival of a precious memory on footballer Leo Brown’s Facebook timeline couldn’t have come at a better time.
As Northern Ireland – and much of the world – was in lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, entertaining the crowds with his power play and scoring was not front of mind of the new Napier City Rovers recruit.
Once a teammate of future England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham in academy and reserve teams at Birmingham City, Brown was rehabbing after surgery following a severe foot injury and the ominous warning from his surgeon: “You might not play again”.
His weight had ballooned out to about 120kg, with lockdown seeing his daily routine consisting of eating and playing computer games.
It was a brutal comedown for a young man who had previously played about 40 times for various Northern Ireland international age-group teams, including his country’s Under-19 side in Uefa Euro Championship qualifiers.
An intervention of sorts came in the form of a special Facebook memory that appeared on Brown’s timeline; video highlights of his man-of-the-match performance in a Northern Ireland-Norway Under-16 international.
Brown scored a goal and set up his side’s three others.
Norway’s team included a teenaged Erling Haaland, who has since gone on to earn fame, fortune and a truckload of medals at Manchester City.
“I had gotten my surgery, then through Covid and I didn’t play for over a year and to be honest, I didn’t think I wanted to play anymore,” Brown told the Herald.
“Then one day, the highlights of that game showed up on my Facebook memories.
“We were 2-0 down, I scored to make it 2-1 and then made three assists to make it 4-2. Then I came off and the game ended 4-4. I got man-of-the-match.
“The day after the memory showed up, I told my Dad I’m leaving, put all my stuff in my car and got the ferry and travelled to Birmingham.”
Haaland, Bellingham and German star Kai Havertz are among various “serious players” Brown – now aged 25 – came up against or played with as an age-grade international and during his three-year stint at Birmingham City.
Brown said playing for his nation was “massive” to him as a teen.
The pride was huge despite the “tough time” he had growing up – and also playing sport – as a young non-white person in Belfast.
“I used to get a lot of stick all the time,” he said.
“And it was hard for my Dad. He’s white so people never knew that it was my Dad. So he’d hear stuff on the sidelines and it was probably tougher for him than it was for me.
“I’ve got thick skin; it didn’t really bother me. But hearing people talk about your son and stuff like that on the pitch was obviously never nice.”
Brown’s age-grade exploits for Northern Ireland and club side Crusaders FC eventually led to him signing with Birmingham City. Other clubs interested in him had been Norwich City and Sheffield United.
But it was ultimately a three-year stint – where he rose to the side’s Under-23 reserve squad – that was plagued by injury.
“I got my first injury just before I signed for Birmingham; I just rolled my ankle and then from there was nothing I could really do,” he said.
“I did all the prehab, all the rehab and did injury prevention scans. Ultimately, I was too big for my body. I went to see a couple of surgeons and they just said, ‘Your tendons are too small for your muscles’. I was pulling and tearing them.”
The injuries were to highlight to Brown how quickly the dream of being a professional footballer in England’s top leagues can vanish.
Given his horror run of injuries, Birmingham City’s manager at the time, Gary Monk, cut him loose.
“I remember sitting down and it was the quickest meeting ever,” Brown said of Monk’s talk to him.
“He just goes, ‘I’ve never seen you play football, you’re released’.
“And I couldn’t argue with it. Out of three years, I’d maybe been injured for two of those; constantly on crutches and having operations.”
Brown returned to Northern Ireland, signing with Ballymena United, who play in the country’s top-tier Premiership, then being loaned out to second-tier side Ards FC.
It was while trying to resurrect his football career in Northern Ireland that Brown suffered the injury that could have ended his playing days.
“I’ve crossed the ball, but I couldn’t stop in time. I hit the fence surrounding the pitch and got five stitches in my lip, five in my knee and I completely ruptured all the ligaments, all the tendons in my foot.
“I went to a surgeon and he said, ‘Your foot’s wrecked ... it’s finished. We could operate on it, but you might not play again, at least not to a decent level’.”
It was a shattering blow for Brown and also to his most ardent football supporter, his father David Brown.
“Football means a lot to me,” the striker said.
“But to get news that you might not play again, probably it was worse for my Dad, who had been driving me up and down the country for many years.”
Brown’s operation to try to repair the damage was the last elective surgery carried out at the hospital he was admitted to before non-emergency surgery was stopped in Northern Ireland by the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the virus spread around his home nation, the thought of playing again didn’t really figure until his age-group heroics against Norway popped up on Facebook.
He returned to England and couch-surfed for about six weeks, before he got a deal to play for non-league side Sutton Coldfield Town that saw him receive about $90 a game.
“I was just sofa-surfing, me; we were just sleeping on the floor or anywhere we could sleep.”
As his fitness improved, so too did the quality of non-league teams Brown was signed for.
He was part of non-league side Alvechurch’s impressive run into the second round of the 2022-23 FA Cup, with the seventh-tier side qualifying for the main draw before eventually losing to then League One side Forest Green.
Then last year, he played for Anstey Nomads FC, where he linked up with fellow Napier City Rovers recruit for 2026, Jacob Fenton.
The pair became great mates while playing together and combined well on the pitch. Fenton scored 26 goals and Brown scored 20.
In the off-season, Fenton signed on to travel 18,700km to play for the Bill Robertson-coached team.
Soon afterwards, the pair caught up at a mutual friend’s wedding.
“Fenners was like, ‘Do you want to come too?’” Brown said.
He then got in touch with Robertson, who signed the proud Northern Irishman after a scouting process.
“It was good timing,” Brown said.
“I was getting a bit fed-up with England in general. So, it was Ireland, Luxembourg or here.”
On Saturday, Brown will play his third game for Napier City Rovers in a Central League clash against Upper Hutt City Football.
Unbeaten in their first two matches, Robertson’s side’s scheduled round-three clash against Island Bay last Sunday was postponed because of the pending arrival of Cyclone Vaianu.
Brown’s mindset this season is “to win”.
He wants to help Napier City Rovers claim multiple pieces of silverware and also qualify for this year and next year’s National League.
Brown also has longer-term “dreams and aspirations” that looked unlikely several years ago.
He still has the desire to be a fulltime professional and he would love to represent Northern Ireland at senior level.
“My dream is to play at Windsor [where the national football stadium is] for Northern Ireland in front of the home fans and score,” he said.
“But I also have [a sense of] reality, so I just take things one step at a time. I’m here this season to win and then whatever happens after that, we’ll take it from there.
“Five years ago, I was told I might not play again, so I’m just enjoying being here, Napier City Rovers has a great atmosphere and it’s a great place to live.”
One thing is for sure, whenever Brown laces up in New Zealand, almost 19,000km away, his father will be tuning in to watch livestream footage.
Brown was also hoping his dad might be able to travel to Napier to watch him play in the flesh.
“He always loves watching me play, but with me being in England, he never really got to,” he said.
“He’ll sometimes sit up and watch [Napier City Rovers’] games. He’s really enjoying it so hopefully I can score a few goals for him.”
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014, has 34 years of newsroom experience and has covered Napier City Rovers since 2022.
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