I thought I should re-post this from Camberwell stalwart Roy Kennedy in relation to the recent death of Camberwell's Michael Boweden. Michael's sons, Rhett, Sean and Kane also played Port Melbourne in the 90s. Michael was still heavily involved in football community and will be sadly missed.
Roy Kennedy to VFA Footy The Halcyon Days
Easter Sunday Morning as we all know it is a morning with special circumstances that we can't visit or receive visitors from our loved ones and friends due to our lockdown thanks to an invisible ENEMY in the form of a Deadly Virus .
So with the help of Facebook we can at the very least communicate with those people whom we love , my first call was to a Great Frankston Player and good friend after playing against him from 1974 TO 1977 Johnny Locco No.39 , Mr Alan Wickes much respected friend and former Frankston President and VFA President followed but my usual contacting everyone with messages on messenger, my first EASTER message was sent of to MIKE BOWDEN AND his beautiful Family followed by my other EASTER BEST WISHES , I received a message from my good friend Wayne Jordan telling me of the passing of a man who Coached me , Mentored me , a man that I respected so much that he was invited to my Wedding. This year I had messaged MIKE regularly on Facebook, This EASTER afternoon I received the news that stunned me , the Passing of MIKE BOWDEN who had been battling MND for some time .
Yes I was extremely saddened, I spoke to Gary HAPPY Hammond about Mike's Passing , we were both pretty upset with the news .
WE GIVE OUR LOVE AND CONDOLENCES TO ALL OF THE BOWDEN FAMILY, THANKS FOR SHARING MICHAEL INTO OUR LIVES TO MAKE US ALL THAT MUCH BETTER MEN THAT WE HAD BECOME UNDER THE COACHING OF MIKE BOWDEN. .
Mike was such a fantastic man , a great coach , one who gave so much of his knowledge of the game to us that we played in the Grand Final in 1975 , HE was truly an inspirational man , he was such a leader and Teacher of the game and we all listened , learned and put into practice which brought us great success and exciting our great CLUB SUPPORTERS .
YES I AM EXTREMELY SADDENED TO LOSE SUCH A GREAT MAN , BUT IT IS A TIME TO CELEBRATE THE GREAT LIFE OF MICHEL BOWDEN AND I KNOW THAT EVERY CAMBERWELL SUPPORTER, ALL PLAYERS , EVERY CLUB PERSON AND ALL VFA SUPPORTERS WILL KNOW HOW MUCH KNOWLEDGE AND MIKES LEADERSHIP ENABLED PLAYERS LIKE MYSELF TO JUST GO OUT WITH CONFIDENCE IN ONE ANOTHER TO JUST GET OUT THERE AND PLAY GREAT FOOTY UNDER MIKE .
HE MADE ME INTO A PLAYER WHO REPRESENTATED CAMBERWELL IN THE
1975 REP TEAM AND INSPIRED ME TO SOAR WITH OUR TEAMMATES TO THE HEIGHTS OF WINNING THE 1976 BEST AND FAIREST UNDER HIS MENTORING.
MIKE GO WITH THE KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU CAN NOW GO AND REST IN PEACE FOR I KNOW YOU MUST BE TIRED , MICHAEL YOU FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT , YOU FINISHED YOUR RACE AND YOU KEPT YOUR FAITH . NOW YOU CAN REST IN GODS ARMS AND PREPARE A TEAM WHO WILL ALSO ADORE YOUR TEACHING , YOUR COACHING , YOUR PASSION BUT MOST OF ALL , YOU .
WITH ETERNAL LOVE AND BEST WISHES ALWAYS AND FOR ALL THOSE GREAT MEMORIES OF HARD KNOCKS , TOUGH TRAINING, FABULOUS TEAMMATES AND ABOVE ALL , THE LOVE AND COMMITMENT BORN FROM YOUR PASSION OF OUR GAME , WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER OUR GREAT NO11 MIKE BOWDEN , FROM ALL YOUR LOVING SUPPORTERS , ROY KENNEDY CAMBERWELL FOOTBALL CLUB NO15.
