Michael John Bowden (21 March 1947 – 11 April 2020) was an Australian rules football player and Indigenous advocate. Bowden played 59 matches for the Richmond Football Club in the VFL between 1967 and 1971. Following his playing career he became an educator in the Northern Territory and a passionate advocate for Indigenous communities, for which he received a

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

(OAM).

Football career

Bowden attended

St Kevins College St. Kevin's College ( Irish ''Coláiste Chaomhín'') is a Roman Catholic day secondary school for boys in Ballygall, which is located between Finglas (3 km) and Glasnevin (2 km) on the northside of Dublin, Ireland. St. Kevins College ...

where he won the school's 1964 best and fairest and at the same time played for the under 19s program before quitting to study as a priest at Corpus Christi College. He left the seminary after two years and returned to Richmond, where he made his senior league debut in round 8 of the 1967 season, playing as a ruck-rover. Bowden was a premiership player in 1969, after leading the league with 194 handballs that season. He was appointed the club's reserves-grade captain the following season and lead that team to a reserves premiership in the 1971 season.

Post-football career, family and illness

Bowden became a teacher, and eventually principal, of remote community schools for Indigenous Australian students in the Northern Territory. He was awarded a

(OAM) for service to the Indigenous community of the Northern Territory in January 2020. Bowden had three sons who went on to play for in

Sean Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán ( anglicized as '' Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; an ...

, Joel and Patrick. Two more sons, Rhett and Kane, played for the

Port Melbourne Football Club The Port Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Borough, is an Australian rules football club based in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Port Melbourne. The club was founded in 1874 and has been competing in the Victorian Football Association/Le ...

in the VFA. Bowden suffered from

motor neuron disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

in later life and died from the affliction on 11 April 2020.

VFL statistics

, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establ ...

, , 11 , , 7 , , 2 , , 3 , , 69 , , 30 , , 99 , , 20 , , - , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 9.9 , , 4.3 , , 14.1 , , 2.9 , , - , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

, , 11 , , 15 , , 3 , , 9 , , 160 , , 146 , , 306 , , 38 , , - , , 0.2 , , 0.6 , , 10.7 , , 9.7 , , 20.4 , , 2.5 , , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 ** Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, , 11 , , 20 , , 6 , , 4 , , 185 , , 194 , , 379 , , 87 , , - , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 9.3 , , 9.7 , , 19.0 , , 4.4 , , - , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 1 ...

, , 11 , , 12 , , 4 , , 3 , , 100 , , 118 , , 218 , , 55 , , - , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 8.3 , , 9.8 , , 18.2 , , 4.6 , , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, , 11 , , 5 , , 5 , , 0 , , 18 , , 25 , , 43 , , 10 , , - , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.6 , , 5.0 , , 8.6 , , 2.0 , , - , - , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 59 ! 20 ! 19 ! 532 ! 513 ! 1045 ! 210 ! - ! 0.3 ! 0.3 ! 9.0 ! 8.7 ! 17.7 ! 3.6 ! -

References

* Hogan P: ''The Tigers Of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996

External links

* *
Michael Bowden's profile
at Tigerland Archive 1947 births 2020 deaths Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club Premiership players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Neurological disease deaths in Australia Deaths from motor neuron disease Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian schoolteachers People educated at St Kevin's College, Melbourne One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players Australian indigenous rights activists {{AFL-bio-1940s-stub