ALEX Brown hopes his impressive Premiership record will never be broken.
But then Bristol legend Derek Eves said the same thing, before the now-retired Gloucester lock swooped in and pilfered the accolade.
Combative back-row forward Eves will never forgive Brown for stealing his crown for racking up the most consecutive league starts.
When Gloucester stalwart Brown chalked up 87 unbroken Premiership games, Eves rang him up – not to offer congratulations, but to lament his tally of 82 falling by the wayside.
The bad feeling does not run too deep though – because Eves will turn out in Brown's benefit year legends match, when Gloucester and Bristol old boys lock horns next weekend.
Hartpury College will play host to the family fun day on Saturday, June 29, organised by Brown's benefit year committee.
The second British Lions test will be screened after the match, which kicks off at 9.30am.
A host of former Bristol and Gloucester stars will deck out both teams, with Brown hoping to put in stints on both sides, though being careful to protect his shoulder trouble.
Serious shoulder nerve damage forced Brown into early retirement last term, and now he has stepped up to become Gloucester's rugby operations manager.
Evergreen Eves is still going strong, as player/coach of Pontefract in Yorkshire One, at the grand age of 47 – the same man that debuted for Bristol in 1985, racking up 278 appearances with five years as captain.
Stunned by Eves' longevity, Brown explained the uncompromising back-rower was 'old' when the two shared one season at Bristol in the 2000/01 campaign.
"When I joined Bristol he was literally finishing, that was his last year," Brown said.
"And he was old then!
"But he's a great bloke.
"I actually took his record away.
"He had 82 consecutive games, the most consecutive.
"I managed to get five more than him.
"And I remember him calling up and saying 'why have you done that, I thought that would stay forever!'
"I'm extremely proud of that record.
"The way the modern era is now, you get rested and players aren't really asked to play consecutive games like that anymore.
"I guess at the time there probably wasn't anyone else to fill in at the time, so I just kept on playing and playing, and was never rested.
"It was a bit of a funny one, but now I look back I am certainly proud of that achievement."
Former Colston's Collegiate School pupil Brown swapped Bristol for Gloucester in 2003, with no clear ambition to build a lengthy Cherry and Whites career.
But the 34-year-old admitted Kingsholm quickly got under his skin – and he feels lucky to have found his niche at the club.
He continued: "When I first signed for Gloucester I just thought it would be a fantastic challenge for two years, and I didn't really think much about the long-term.
"You never really plan for the long-term when you are young.
"I didn't really think it would be how it has ended up – but I couldn't be any happier with how it's turned out.
"Obviously it was a frustrating finish, but I've still been able to sign off on a high.
"I finished my last game by captaining Gloucester, so I can't be too disappointed!
"I think probably with my second contract I knew that was quite a long one, three years.
"And at that point I thought, 'that's it I'm not moving'.
"You would get that feeling every time you ran out onto the pitch.
"The support is unreal, you just can't describe.
"I know everyone says it, but they mean it, because it's true.
"I don't really have one particular game or one particular moment that stands out as my fondest memory where I think 'that's Gloucester; that sums it up'.
"We had some cracking wins, and the euphoria afterwards always feels amazing.
"That whole thing is almost amalgamated into one, it's not one particular moment, it's all these little bits of Gloucester life.
"All these different elements are encapsulated in the one experience.
"And I think that's probably indicative of just how enjoyable the whole career has been."
For more information on Alex Brown's family fun day, log on to www.alexbrownbenefityear.co.uk.
