Taken fron the Rochdale Observer.

Eddie Brown died in Springhill Hospice last Tuesday night. He was 56.

Brown, who was raised in the Summit district of Heywood, was spotted playing for Mayfield by Derrick Schofield, the former Great Britain forward, when he was in charge of Hornets' second team. He signed for the club in 1966.

While a number of people in the professional game doubted whether Brown would be a success because of a perceived lack of mobility, Schofield kept faith and was proved right.

Brown established himself as a first team regular in a demanding position when still a teenager and such was his rapid climb in the game that he was eventually selected to play for the England under-24 team against France at Castleford, less than three years after turning professional.

His career, however, was all too brief and he left the club in 1973 after playing a total of 180 games. He played for a short period with Mayfield, but retired from the game when he was 26.

An engineer by trade, Brown and his wife Susan took over a newspaper shop in Whitworth in the late 90s and, in fact, had only sold the business within the last few weeks.

He is survived by his wife and two sons. The funeral takes place at 11am at St John's Church, Facit, on Tuesday, followed by interment at Whitworth Cemetery.