The Sharks offer their sincere condolences to the family and friends of John Brown, Shark No.43, following his passing over the weekend. He was 78.
A goal-kicking winger from the De La Salle Caringbah club, Brown was graded with the Sharks in 1968. He played nine matches in third grade that season, crossing for three tries and landing an impressive 21 goals.
That third-grade team, which featured future Sharks Immortal Greg Pierce, came within a whisker of becoming the club's first side to qualify for a finals series. Brown's strong performances earned him two appearances in second grade, where he added a further two goals to his tally.
On April 6, 1969, Brown made his first-grade debut in Cronulla's Round 2 clash with the Balmain Tigers, becoming Shark No.43. It was a tough initiation, with the Sharks going down 25–7 to the eventual premiers. Brown, however, marked the occasion by kicking two goals in front of 10,150 spectators at Leichhardt Oval.
After a brief taste of first grade, Brown returned to second grade for the remainder of the 1969 season. Under the guidance of coach Mick Mullane Snr, the Sharks' reserve-grade side finished third, becoming one of the club's first teams to reach a finals series (with third grade also qualifying that year). Their campaign ended in the minor semi-final, falling 18–8 to fourth-placed Balmain.
Despite the loss, the team earned a place in history as the first Sharks side to play in a semi-final – and the first to run out at the Sydney Cricket Ground, narrowly beating the third-grade team to that milestone. The minor semi-final defeat to Balmain turned out to be Brown's last game for the club.
Brown played three games in the top grade, 20 in second grade and 9 in third grade, amassing an impressive 151 points across the three grades.
