When football resumed after the First World War, he played for the Close Works team before signing for Portsmouth,[1] for which he made five Southern League appearances in the early part of the 1919–20 season.
After even briefer spells with Spennymoor United of the North-Eastern League[6] and Norwich City of the Southern,[3] all on an amateur basis, Brown turned professional with Brighton & Hove Albion in January 1920.
[6] For Cardiff City, Brown made two First Division appearances in early September 1921, failed to impress, and was dropped in favour of Jack Evans and not picked again.
He was then left out for three months, and finished the season with 20 appearances and what proved to be his only Football League goal, the equaliser in a 1–1 draw with Bristol City on 26 April 1924, scored off the underside of the crossbar.
[1] The 1939 Register finds Brown living with his wife, Emma, and four children in Billingham and working as a foreman fitter in the coke ovens.