Steve Bowden (born 27 May 1955) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played for the

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, New South Wales, Newtown, a suburb of Inner West (Sydney), Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after t ...

in the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

(NSWRL) competition. Bowden primarily played in the front row.

Career

Bowden was selected in 1981 to represent

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

as a front-rower for the only State of Origin-designated game of the year. In that match, Bowden was sin-binned along with Queenslander

Rod Morris Rod Morris is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative front row forward, he played club football in the New South ...

after an all-in brawl. Another fight cost Bowden a spot in the 1981 Grand Final. In the first few minutes of the major semi-final against

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

, Bowden was involved in a fight with Manly's Kiwi prop Mark Broadhurst. A scrum devolved into an all-in brawl with Bowden and Broadhurst throwing punches like prize fighters. A head-butt from Bowden felled Broadhurst and Bowden continued to punch his face while he was on the ground. After the fight was broken up, Bowden again landed a head-butt on an already bloodied Broadhurst (who also had a broken cheekbone) and the fight started a second time. When order was finally restored the referee sent Bowden from the field and actually gave Newtown a penalty. Bowden was subsequently suspended and unable to take part in the Preliminary final against Eastern Suburbs, or the club's final ever first grade Grand Final appearance against

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

. Leading television commentator and former dual international

Rex Mossop Rex Peers "Moose" Mossop (18 February 1928 – 17 June 2011) was an Australian rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s – a dual-code international, and an Australian television personality from 1964 un ...

called it ''"The most frantic opening to a rugby league match I've seen in 35 years"''. Bowden currently works security for world champion boxer Danny Green. Bowden now owns and operates the Hurstville Ritz Hotel in Sydney.

References

1955 births Living people Australian rugby league players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Newtown Jets players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1950s-stub