Kevin Brown reveals he had to deal with death threats when taking on former club

Kevin Brown made more than his fair share of moves but one of the more controversial ones was when he left Widnes Vikings for the Warrington Wolves in 2017.

Brown had been excellent for the Vikings since joining them from the Huddersfield Giants and Warrington believed he could be the final piece of their Grand Final puzzle.

However, when Brown went back to play against Widnes, he received death threats and had things thrown at him.

He said on BBC Five Live:

“It was more my family who were worried. I didn’t realise, and this is probably naïve, that the rivalry was so ingrained in the fans with the passion and the derby.

“When I got sold the club didn’t let me talk about the fee, they actually got a quarter of a million pound which was huge for Widnes because they actually went under two or three years later, so it saved them for a little bit.

“It was disappointing that they put it like I really wanted to go. It was one of them where I got an opportunity and I spoke to Denis and they said it’d help them, I thought it would be good for my career and it was a mutual decision.

“When the abuse actually reared it’s head the most is when I went back to Widnes. I can’t remember the ref, I think it might have been Phil Bentham but he spoke to me before the game.

“He said, ‘look we’ve had a bit of notice that there might be some stuff thrown at you today and there might be a pitch invasion, if so we’ll just get you off the field.’

“Loads of snakes then got thrown on but I had a few death threats and that on my phone and about my family, that’s when I came off Twitter. I’m not on there to receive that abuse.

“I’ve had a lot of abuse but when people start saying things like that then the lines been crossed.”

However, Brown has since been back to do commentary and his welcome was a weight lifted from him:

“I didn’t really know what to expect when I went back and did commentary. I had to walk across the field to get up to the gantry and I was a bit nervous walking over but then they started cheering, it was a real nice touch. It was started by a couple of die-hard fans and then the rest followed so it sort of the feeling of it being let go, which was nice.”