Michael Bowden
Richmond
AFL career
59 games20 goals
- Debut
- R8 1967 v COL3 June 1967
- Most recent
- R17 1971 v NTH24 July 1971
Stats
Bio
Recruited from St Kevin's College, Michael Bowden took a uniquely unconventional path to VFL football, initially stepping away from the game to study for the priesthood at Corpus Christi College before arriving at Richmond in 1967. A tough and creative ruck-rover, he became renowned for his pioneering use of the handball to open up play in an era dominated by kicking, famously leading the entire league in handpasses during the Tigers' triumphant 1969 premiership campaign. Bowden was a contested ball-winner who wasn't afraid to bore into packs to feed his teammates, cementing his place in Tom Hafey's formidable lineup before captaining the reserves to a flag in his final season at Punt Road. While the database notes a connection to the Brisbane Bears in 1989, his true legacy was cemented in the Northern Territory as a legendary educator and community leader, and at Richmond as the patriarch of a father-son dynasty that saw Joel, Sean, and Patrick all follow him into the yellow and black.
Profile
- Born
- 21 Mar 1947
- Died
- 11 Apr 2020 (aged 73y 21d)
- Deathplace
- Darwin, NT
- Height
- 185 cm
- Weight
- 94 kg
Teams
Honours
- Premiership1969
Family
Bio
1 revisionRecruited from St Kevin's College, Michael Bowden took a uniquely unconventional path to VFL football, initially stepping away from the game to study for the priesthood at Corpus Christi College before arriving at Richmond in 1967. A tough and creative ruck-rover, he became renowned for his pioneering use of the handball to open up play in an era dominated by kicking, famously leading the entire league in handpasses during the Tigers' triumphant 1969 premiership campaign. Bowden was a contested ball-winner who wasn't afraid to bore into packs to feed his teammates, cementing his place in Tom Hafey's formidable lineup before captaining the reserves to a flag in his final season at Punt Road. While the database notes a connection to the Brisbane Bears in 1989, his true legacy was cemented in the Northern Territory as a legendary educator and community leader, and at Richmond as the patriarch of a father-son dynasty that saw Joel, Sean, and Patrick all follow him into the yellow and black.