John sadly passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on May 27th 2012.
He was a true Gloucester Rugby stalwart who represented his home town club with distinction for the vast majority of his rugby playing career.
He went on to make nearly 300 appearances for the club before spending a couple of seasons at Bedford at the end of his career.
His playing career, of course, predated the professional era. Having studied law at Bristol Polytechnic, John combined his playing career with a career at Gloucester Council Trading Standards.
Living on Sandhurst Road and working on Denmark Road, Gloucester Rugby and Kingsholm were never far away.
He returned to Kingsholm to serve as an Assistant Coach to Philippe Saint-Andre before he took the plunge to move into rugby on a full time basis as Director of Rugby at the Worcester Warriors.
John continued to play a key role in establishing the Warriors as a Premiership club before heading down the M5 to join Bristol Rugby as Forwards Coach.
He returned to Gloucester Rugby in a scouting capacity in December 2010 before taking on the role of Rugby Operations Manager from July 2011.
His rugby nous allowed him to assume responsibility for player scouting as well as applying his not inconsiderable knowledge of the scrum to training sessions.
His preparations for the 2012-13 season were already well underway when he passed away.
A service of thanksgiving for John's life was held at Gloucester Cathedral on Tuesday morning and people from all areas of his life gathered to pay tribute alongside his family.
As well as an understandably large Gloucester Rugby contingent, with a huge number of supporters proudly wearing Cherry and White shirts, present were friends and colleagues from both Worcester Warriors and Bristol Rugby in addition to representatives from the game's governing bodies.
Following hymns, prayers and readings, former Worcester captain Pat Sanderson delivered a beautifully worded and impeccably delivered tribute.
A service for family and close friends followed at Gloucester Crematorium while hundreds gathered for a wake at Kingsholm where tales and anecdotes about John's life were shared.
The day was a fitting farewell to one of Gloucester's proudest sons.
A book of condolence will be held at Kingsholm until the end of next week, and there will be another at the funeral service.
The Brain family have asked for charitable donations to be made to the Rugby Football Foundation, the RFU's charity that supports community amateur rugby in England.
Donations can be made directly to the charity, or through Goodwins Funeral Services, Longlevens.
