The Luton Reporter newspaper of June 5th, 1916, raised questions over the fate of former Luton Town footballer Alexander 'Sandy' Brown (pictured right), who had played for the club from 1905 to 1908.

The Ayrshire-born footballer had joined one of the Scottish regiments soon after the outbreak of war and had been in the fighting line in France for some considerable time, said the Reporter. Some of his old friends had been in correspondence with him since had had been at the Front, "but we have it from a reliable source that a few days ago certain documents which had been forwarded to him from Luton were returned unopened".

No other newspaper in Luton carried the report, and in fact the then 37-year-old Sandy Brown survived the war and died in March 1944.

Before coming to Luton in July 1905, Brown had played for teams including Preston North End, Portsmouth, Spurs and Middlesbrough. In June 1908 he moved to play for Kettering Town after scoring 33 goals in 69 appearances during his three seasons with Luton Town.

Brown won one cap for Scotland, in a game in which they lost 1-0 to England at Celtic Park in 1904 in a British Championship match. He was playing for Middlesbrough at the time before moving to Luton.

He had been licensee of the Dew Drop Inn in Upper George Street, Luton, from 1905 until he gave up the licence in 1909 following publicised marital problems.