Joel Francis Bowden (born 21 June 1978) is an Australian politician, former union leader and former professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er. He was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly at the 2020 Johnston by-election, representing the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(ALP) until 2024. He previously played professional football for the Richmond Football Club in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) from 1996 to 2009.

Early life

Bowden was born at the Mildura Base Hospital in

Mildura, Victoria Mildura ( ) is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 at the 2021 census. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point, Merbein and Red ...

, to mother Judy and father Michael Bowden (a Richmond Football Club premiership player),Territory Story
By Leon Loganathan & Peter Gowers one of four biological brothers (including older brother Sean Bowden and younger brother Patrick Bowden) he was part of a football dynasty. Bowden's family moved to the remote South Australian community of Ernabella, in the 1980s as a very young boy where his father Michael was a community advisor. He spent a couple of years playing with indigenous children in the area. The family returned to Mildura for a few years before returning to Alice Springs in 1987, where Michael became a teacher and where Joel completed his schooling from the age of 9. Joel played for the Northern Territory Schoolboys in 1993. He was named in the All-Australian Schoolboy's team and won the J.L Williams Medal as best player. In 1994 he once again represented the Northern Territory. In addition to football, Bowden represented the Northern Territory twice in

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

at under 17 level.

AFL career

Bowden was drafted at the end of the 1995 AFL season under a father-son selection. In 2006, Bowden was among the leading possession getters in the AFL, and had the most possessions shared between any two players with his brother Patrick. He played his 200th AFL game in round 8 against Adelaide, gathering 34 possessions as the Tigers used low risk short-passing tactics to upset the then-ladder-leading Crows by three points just a week after suffering a 118-point loss to the Sydney Swans. In round 16, 2008, Bowden was at the centre of a major controversy regarding rushed behinds. With Richmond up by 6 points against Essendon with less than a minute left, Bowden proceeded to wipe the remaining time off the clock by rushing 2 behinds from the kick out. These tactics which caused an uproar with many calling for the current rules to be changed; football journalist Mike Sheahan even likened it to the infamous Trevor Chappell underarm delivery incident. He played his last game against Collingwood in Round 20, 2009, who defeated Richmond by 93 points.

Statistics

: , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1996 , style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 5 , , 4 , , 3 , , 17 , , 14 , , 31 , , 7 , , 3 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 3.4 , , 2.8 , , 6.2 , , 1.4 , , 0.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1997 , style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 13 , , 21 , , 9 , , 146 , , 75 , , 221 , , 51 , , 21 , , 1.6 , , 0.7 , , 11.2 , , 5.8 , , 17.0 , , 3.9 , , 1.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1998 , style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 18 , , 17 , , 19 , , 178 , , 131 , , 309 , , 72 , , 36 , , 0.9 , , 1.1 , , 9.9 , , 7.3 , , 17.2 , , 4.0 , , 2.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 22 , , 15 , , 11 , , 238 , , 183 , , 421 , , 82 , , 38 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 10.8 , , 8.3 , , 19.1 , , 3.7 , , 1.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2000 , style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 22 , , 19 , , 14 , , 293 , , 203 , , 496 , , 124 , , 51 , , 0.9 , , 0.6 , , 13.3 , , 9.2 , , 22.5 , , 5.6 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2001 , style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 25 , , 26 , , 22 , , 381 , , 210 , , 591 , , 149 , , 51 , , 1.0 , , 0.9 , , 15.2 , , 8.4 , , 23.6 , , 6.0 , , 2.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2002 , style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 22 , , 18 , , 17 , , 334 , , 171 , , 505 , , 125 , , 63 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 15.2 , , 7.8 , , 23.0 , , 5.7 , , 2.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2003 , style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 22 , , 12 , , 9 , , 300 , , 181 , , 481 , , 128 , , 74 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 13.6 , , 8.2 , , 21.9 , , 5.8 , , 3.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 21 , , 9 , , 6 , , 345 , , 177 , , 522 , , 128 , , 51 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 16.4 , , 8.4 , , 24.9 , , 6.1 , , 2.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 22 , , 7 , , 5 , , 324 , , 188 , , 512 , , 131 , , 38 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 14.7 , , 8.5 , , 23.3 , , 6.0 , , 1.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2006 , style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 21 , , 3 , , 0 , , 326 , , 169 , , 495 , , 133 , , 37 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 15.5 , , 8.0 , , 23.6 , , 6.3 , , 1.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2007 , style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 22 , , 3 , , 2 , , 329 , , 220 , , 549 , , 179 , , 38 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 15.0 , , 10.0 , , 25.0 , , 8.1 , , 1.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2008 , style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 18 , , 17 , , 6 , , 259 , , 153 , , 412 , , 153 , , 39 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 14.4 , , 8.5 , , 22.9 , , 8.5 , , 2.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 11 , , 12 , , 3 , , 1 , , 195 , , 101 , , 296 , , 84 , , 20 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 16.3 , , 8.4 , , 24.7 , , 7.0 , , 1.7 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 265 ! 174 ! 124 ! 3665 ! 2176 ! 5841 ! 1546 ! 560 ! 0.7 ! 0.5 ! 13.8 ! 8.2 ! 22.0 ! 5.8 ! 2.1

Achievements and honours

* Richmond

Best and Fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

2004, 2005 * All-Australian 2005, 2006 * International Rules 2004 * 100 Tiger Treasures "''Goal of the Century''" Nominee (2008)

Unions NT

In 2018, Bowden was appointed general secretary of Unions NT, the peak body for the labour movement in the Northern Territory.

Politics

In February 2020, Bowden ran for and won the 2020 Johnston by-election to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. In the 2024 Northern Territory general election, he was unseated by independent candidate Justine Davis.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowden, Joel 1978 births Living people Richmond Football Club players All-Australians (AFL) Jack Dyer Medal winners Australian rules footballers from the Northern Territory Allies State of Origin players Australia international rules football team players Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 21st-century Australian politicians Australian sportsperson-politicians Sportspeople from Alice Springs