Stephen John Bowtell (born 2 December 1950 in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...

, London) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

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 o ...

. He initially played in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

with

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

, but spent most of his career in non-league football, mainly with

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

Orient

Bowtell was a product of Orient's youth system, and had featured in the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

schoolboy and youth teams."The Men who Made Leyton Orient", N Kaufman & A Ravenhill, Tempus, 2002 pp. 56 Turning professional on 1 January 1968, he made his first team debut aged 17 in a 4–0 defeat at home to Gillingham on 7 May 1968. He featured only occasionally during the following seasons, due to the strong performances of first-choice goalkeeper

Ray Goddard Raymond Goddard (13 February 1949 − 11 December 2007) was an English football goalkeeper, who played for three London clubs between 1967 and 1981. Goddard began his career as a member of Fulham's youth team, but was released without being o ...

. Of the eight matches that Orient played with Bowtell in goal, they won one, drew five and lost two."Leyton Orient: The Complete Record", N Kaufman & A Ravenhill, Breedon Books, 2006 p. 420–431 He kept one

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

, in a 2–0 win over

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

on 12 February 1972.

Margate

After he was not selected at all during the 1970–71 or 1972–73 seasons, he moved into non-league football with Southern League club Margate in July 1973, making his debut in a 3–2 defeat at home to

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

. During his six seasons at Margate, he missed very few matches, making 291 senior appearances in all. He was voted Margate's Player of the Year in 1974–75, keeping seven consecutive clean sheets during February and March 1975. At the beginning of the 1976–77 season, he went on trial with First Division side

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, playing in six reserve matches and only conceding once. However, Derby declined to sign Bowtell and he returned to Margate.

Later career

In early 1979 he joined

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. T ...

, making 164 senior appearances, and later moved on to other non-league clubs before retiring in 1987. He subsequently became a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

at his last club, Southern League

Fisher Athletic Fisher Athletic F.C. were a semi-professional football club from South East London, which last played in the Conference South, which is one of the two leagues that form the sixth tier of the English football league system. The Bermondsey-based ...

, and also caretaker manager there for a time during 1988–89, while they were in the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

. Bowtell's son Stacey also played as a goalkeeper for various non-league clubs, and is a prominent local DJ.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowtell, Steve 1950 births English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Leyton Orient F.C. players Margate F.C. players Dulwich Hamlet F.C. players Woking F.C. players Fisher Athletic F.C. players Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets People from Bethnal Green