Popular administrator, retailer and Football Hall of Fame WA inductee Bob Brown reflects on his 50-plus years involvement in the world game with Ashley Morrison.
Scotland-born Bob has spent most of his life in football; a former player, coach, team manager, administrator, retailer and sponsor. Born in Scotland, Bob played as an amateur with Crystal Palace before a 1958 move brought him to Perth, where he turned out for North Perth and briefly Perth City.
Bob then took on the role of secretary-manager at Perth City for over a decade and in 1967 was appointed manager of the West Australian State team, which included a trip to Asia for the ground-breaking Merdeka Tournament. He coached Bayswater United for a period, helped establish the WA Soccer Coaches Association and served as an independent member of the Soccer Federation of WA board.
In 1976 Bob branched into retail and the following year took over management of Sports Forum, a specialist football outlet located at the time in Hay Street Hall. He sponsored the Junior Soccer Association of WA and became the first sponsor of junior Country Week. In 1996 he accepted a position on the first Football Hall of Fame WA Committee.
Bob was inducted into the Hall of Recognition in 2016 of Hall of Fame; he was made a Life Member of Football West in 2017.