Jason Peter Bowen (born 24 August 1972) is a Welsh former international footballer. During his career, he made over 500 league appearances and was capped twice by

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

in a career which started at Swansea City. He made over 100 league appearances for the club and played in their

1994 Football League Trophy Final The 1994 Autoglass Trophy Final was the 11th final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from Second Division and Third Division for the Football League Trophy. The Final was played at Wembley Stadium, London on 24 April 1994. Th ...

victory over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

. In 1995, he was sold to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

for £350,000.

Playing career

Born and raised in Merthyr Tydfil, Bowen began his career at Swansea City, making his debut in the 1990–91 season under manager

Terry Yorath Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albritton (1955–2005), A ...

, having signed professional forms in July 1990. In his five seasons at The Vetch he played 124 league games, scoring 26 goals, mostly under the management of

Frank Burrows Frank Burrows (30 January 1944 – 24 November 2021) was a Scottish football player and manager who played as a central defender. Life and career Frank Burrows began his football career at Scottish club Raith Rovers. In 1965 he moved south to ...

and captaincy of

John Cornforth Sir John Warcup Cornforth Jr., (7 September 1917 – 8 December 2013) was an AustralianBritish chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975 for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions, becoming the only Nobel l ...

and helped the club to victory in the

, defeating

on penalties. He also finished as the club's top goalscorer during the 1993–94 season, scoring 17 times in all competitions. Whilst at Swansea, he progressed from the Welsh schools and youth set-ups through to the full international squad, earning his first full cap from Mike Smith in a 2–1 win in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

in May 1994. In July 1995, he then moved to

for a fee of £350,000, where he remained for a further three years. He won his second Welsh cap in a 7–1 defeat in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1996. He had a spell on loan at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in September 1997 under manager Dave Jones, and made 3 appearances in the Premiership. It seemed that the move would be made permanent but the clubs were unable to agree a fee, so Bowen returned to Birmingham. He then moved to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

in December 1997 for a fee of £200,000, but he and four other players, including Welsh international teammate Andy Legg, fell out with manager Tommy Burns. The group were dubbed the "gang of five" and were forced to train away from the rest of the first team with the youth side. He returned to Wales in January 1999 where he spent five years with Cardiff City, reuniting with his former Swansea manager

, suffering one relegation but offsetting that with three promotions as Cardiff took off following the arrival of

Sam Hammam Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictio ...

. He was put on the transfer list by Cardiff in March 2004 and left the club by mutual consent the following month, having made just two league appearances for the "Bluebirds" during the 2003–04 season. In July 2004 he joined Newport County, making his debut on 14 August 2004 at

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the ...

. He left Newport in the summer of 2008 and signed for

Llanelli Llanelli (" St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarth ...

. Bowen also played for Cardiff City in the 2008 Screwfix Western Masters tournament, and was named player of the tournament.

Personal life

Bowen has three sons, including footballer Sam. Jaye played for the Cardiff City under-18 squad before being released, while Sam was previously with the first-team side and made his debut in 2021. On 9 February 2023, it was announced that Bowen has been diagnosed with

motor neurone 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 commo ...

Honours

Swansea City *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

winner:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

References

External links

*
Profile on Welsh Premier League website
via archive.org
International stats
at 11v11 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Jason 1972 births Living people Footballers from Merthyr Tydfil Welsh footballers Wales under-21 international footballers Wales international footballers Association football wingers Association football forwards Swansea City A.F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Reading F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Llanelli Town A.F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Cymru Premier players People with motor neuron disease