Mike Dowler (born 12 October 1957) is a Welsh retired professional football

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

. He spent most of his career in the U.S. indoor leagues where he was named the 1995

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pr ...

Goalkeeper of the Year.

Biography

The son of a Welsh train engineer, Dowler began his career with Newport County in 1975. In the fall of 1980, Dowler moved to the United States and signed with the

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He was a 1983-1984 second team All Star with the

. On September 26, 1985, he signed as a free agent with the Tacoma Stars. On February 1, 1986, he had reconstructive knee surgery which put him out until May 1987. He then injured his hand early in the 1988-1989 season, losing most of the season. On August 1, 1989, he signed with the Kansas City Comets. The Comets folded at the end of the season and the Stars picked him up for the 1991-1992 season. The Stars folded at the end of the season and Dowler found himself without a team until October. That month, the Dayton Dynamo lost their goalies during the pre-season. They then signed Dowler to a short term contract. While he remained with the Dynamo as an "on call" backup goalkeeper, he never played a regular season game. In January 1993, he signed with the Denver Thunder of the National Professional Soccer League. He finished the season with the Thunder, then worked for a financial services company in

Federal Way, Washington Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 census. Federal Way is the tenth-largest city in Washington and the fifth-larg ...

until signed by the

Sacramento Knights Sacramento Knights were an indoor soccer team that played from 1993 to 2001 in ARCO Arena and were owned by the NBA's Sacramento Kings. The team played in the Continental Indoor Soccer League from 1993 to 1997. The team then moved to the Wo ...

of the

on a two-game contract in August 1994. He won both games and was signed by the team for the remainder of the season. He then spent the next two seasons with the Knights before breaking his left arm with a month left in the 1995 season. He returned for the 1996 season, but suffered from several injuries including a sprained ankle at the start of the season and another broken left arm during the season.''KNIGHTS GOALIE NEAR THE END? - INJURIES MAY FORCE DOWLER OUT'' The Sacramento Bee - Sunday, October 6, 1996 As a result of these injuries, Dowler retired at the end of the season. He currently employed as a lecturer.

References

External links

The Year in American Soccer - 1995
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowler, Mike Continental Indoor Soccer League players Denver Thunder players Kansas City Comets (original MISL) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Newport County A.F.C. players Sacramento Knights players Tacoma Stars players Welsh footballers Welsh expatriate footballers Welsh expatriate sportspeople in the United States Wichita Wings (MISL) players Living people 1957 births Association football goalkeepers