THEY might not be as famous or sinister as the East End's Ronnie and Reggie, or even Phil and Grant, but York's Brown brothers were feared by all their rivals on their way to winning national kick-boxing titles.

Richard and Gareth hail from Fulford, rather than Walford, but have both fought their way to British National Open Grand Championship success after winning three of the series' four events in Chorley.

Despite appearances - Gareth picked up a broken nose in Lancashire and Richard a black eye - the Browns are also a much friendlier and cheerful proposition than the Kray Twins or the Mitchell brothers. Unless you line up against them in a kick-boxing ring that is.

Richard, 31, won three golds and a bronze in the under-85kg category from the four-tournament series, while younger sibling Gareth, 24, was only denied an under-75kg clean sweep when he missed one event of the European Martial Arts Association-sanctioned competition because of injury.

Gareth's dominance also meant Victor Tong, a team-mate from the Bell Farm Community Centre-based Oriental Sports Association, had to settle for a silver medal - as well as a broken rib.

Richard has been involved in the sport for 20 years and Gareth for a decade and both are now looking forward to the first event of next year's Championships in February.

Despite their different weight categories, there is also an element of sibling rivalry with Richard saying: "We do train together and do our best to beat each other.

"I'm 77kg and he's 74kg so, even though we're in different weight categories because of the way they are split, we are still very similar in size. I'm just waiting for him to build up a couple more kilograms and see what happens.

"But seriously, Gareth, myself and Vic all train together and draw inspiration from each other."

Updated: 10:45 Wednesday, December 01, 2004