FROM ZERO TO HERO
The saga of SAM BOWEN’S stay at Newport County could provide suitable material for a football fiction writer looking for a hero. His career has already taken enough twists and turns to prove that fact is
indeed stranger than fiction.
You could stretch Sam’s story over several copies of ‘The Exile’. Born in Hereford 28 years ago, he has lived all his life in the village of Kingsland, near Leominster. He scored a cool 83 goals in a season at under-16 level to earn a trial at Hereford United, then a Third Division club.
“I took part in three back-to-back trial games, each thirty minutes long. I was non-playing substitute in the first, scored a hat-trick in the second and was asked to play at sweeper in the third,” said Sam.
With that kind of logic it is not surprising he did not hang around at Edgar Street, playing instead across the border for Presteigne, before linking up with former Exiles striker Paul Burton at Hereford-based Westfields.
Around 30 goals later he was snapped up by Moor Green boss Bob Faulkner to play for our Southern League rivals, but despite a few scoring appearances as a substitute, he soon returned to Westfields, before his next opportunity.
“I had an invitation to play in a trial match for Merthyr against Hereford and I scored a hat-
trick so Colin Addison wouldn’t let me leave until I had signed.
“I scored five goals on my debut against Gravesend and Northfleet and I know that several big clubs were reported to be interested in signing me.”
That was in the 1996-97 season and when Sam had a trial for Shrewsbury Town before the following campaign, there was a difference of opinion with Colin, who had been torn between wanting to keep his high-scoring forward and cashing in on his asset at a time when the Martyrs had big financial problems.
Sam scored the winner in a 1-0 victory against Nuneaton Borough before being sold to Worcester City for a fee of just £5,000, a fraction of the valuation originally put on him by Merthyr.
“I had three great seasons at Worcester, playing under George Rooney, Graham Allner and John Barton and I scored regularly for them.”
Sam was then on his travels again with short spells at Halesowen Town, Newtown and Evesham United, before he decided on a change of sports. He spent last season playing rugby for local side Luctonians swapping goals for points.
“I was well into it, though I had to pay three pounds subscription to play. I played wing and full-back and was the side’s goalkicker so I kicked plenty of points, and managed a few tries as well.”
George Rooney tempted him back to football at the start of this season at Bromsgrove Rovers though after four games, Sam suffered whiplash injuries in a car accident which kept him out of action for 10 weeks. A couple of games for Westfields in the Midland Alliance followed before Colin Addison, then in charge of Forest Green Rovers, made a surprise call.
“I signed on the Friday and travelled to Northwich the following day and scored a hat-trick, but the following week Hereford put seven on us and Colin was sacked.”
Tim Harris took charge at The Lawn and diplomatically told Sam that in Alex Meechan and Neil Grayson, he had big-earning strikers who he felt duty-bound to play. Sam was not impressed and returned to Bromsgrove only to receive yet another call from his old mate Mr Addison.
“Colin said that an old mate, Peter Nicholas, wanted to sign me for Newport County.”
It was around this time that Sam started his new gardening business SB Landscapes which is exceeding early expectations with its success, but for once he lost his knack of scoring.
He explains: “ I always kept my belief in myself and I was convinced it was just a matter of time before I scored again.”
He seemed to be running out of time to do so in County colours and he fully expected to leave the club before his remarkable performance at Dorchester which ensured him a place in club folklore with the two goals to take us to Conference status.
His first job after the final whistle was to ring his seven year-old son Jarrod who takes a keen interest in dad’s career – three year-old Harry is a little young to deal with football news yet!
Sam has an open mind about the future, but is convinced that if given a chance he can score around 20 goals a season at this level.