*Indicates unconfirmed information. Figures in brackets after English team names indicate all appearances made and goals scored in competitive matches for Football League clubs from 1888 onwards. For Scottish League clubs the figures show details of all competitive appearances and goals scored from 1946/47 onwards.
Johnny Dowers
Appearances: 4 Goals: 0
Date / Year of birth: 8th October 1923
Position: Winger
Season of first appearance: 1947/48
Season of last appearance: 1947/48
Also played for: Tottenham Hotspur (0), Dartford, Luton Town (0), West Ham United (0), Guildford City and Ramsgate Athletic
5' 10" tall London-born winger who attended Markhouse Road Senior Boys School in Walthamstow and played for Walthamstow, Essex and London Schoolboys during his time there. Johnny also excelled as a cricketer and sprinter. On 14.5.38 he played for the England Schoolboys side that lost 1-0 to Scotland at Roker Park, Sunderland.
After leaving school Johnny played for Tottenham's Juniors team and also made one appearance for the 'A' team, scoring in a 16-0 win over the Regents Palace Staff XI on 12.1.39. Later that year he joined Spurs' ground staff and became office boy to chief scout Ben Ives.
On 16.12.39 Johnny travelled as twelfth man for a first team game at Norwich and on 23.12.39 he was chosen to play on the left wing for a home game against Southend. The match was abandoned after 60 minutes due to fog but Johnny was selected again a week later (30.12.39) for a game at Watford. He played aged 16 years and 83 days which almost certainly made him the youngest player to feature for Spurs' senior side, albeit in a wartime fixture not counted for Football League appearance records, and as of October 2008 nobody younger had followed in Johnny's footsteps.
As World War II progressed Johnny served in the RAF and played as a guest for Dartford (1939/40) and then Luton. He scored 13 goals in 83 wartime appearances for the Hatters between 1939 and 1943.
In July 1947 Johnny joined West Ham and made three appearances for the Hammers' reserve side before signing for Margate in January 1948.
He made his debut on the right wing in a 4-1 win at Dover on 14.2.48 and made three further first team appearances in the number seven shirt before the end of the 1947/48 season, the last of them in 7-3 defeat against Maidstone at Hartsdown Park on 1.5.48. Johnny then left the club.
His next move took him to Southern League club Guildford City and in July 1949 Johnny returned to Thanet when he signed for Ramsgate.
His spell with the Rams was very brief and in August 1949 he left the club to take up a position as a pub landlord. Johnny was still only 25 at that time.
During the early 1950's he emigrated to Chicago in the USA where he met his wife Prudence who was an airline stewardess. Johnny initially worked as a clothing salesman before embarking on a 30 year career in the ocean freight business in New York. He retired in 1988 and moved to Sarasota, Florida where he died on 9.8.07 aged 83.
Johnny's full name was Arthur John Dowers and his uncle Charlie Hannaford played for Tottenham, Millwall, Charlton, Clapton Orient and Manchester United between 1913 and 1929.
|
SEASON (CLUB) |
FULL (MAX) |
SUB |
GLS |
|
FAC |
KSC |
KLC |
KSS |
|
|
1947/48 (MFC) |
4 (47) |
N/A |
0 |
KENT LEAGUE DIVISION ONE (1ST OF 18) |
1QR |
1R |
W |
W |
|
Margate
won Kent League
title. | |||||||||