Dave Male might have had no concept that his resolution to attend a match whereas he was on vacation in Spain two years in the past would uncover a outstanding household hyperlink to certainly one of English soccer’s brightest younger prospects. The retired trainer was staying simply down the highway from the Pinatar Arena in Murcia and went alongside to watch England Under-16s in a pleasant in opposition to Italy. “I was looking at the team sheet and that’s when the name Dowman hit me straight away,” Male remembers.
On the pitch that day was a 14-year-old Max Dowman, already standing out as England claimed a 2-1 victory. But for Male, it wasn’t simply the efficiency that caught his consideration. It was his identify. Male, a eager genealogist, recognised it immediately from his circle of relatives historical past.
“My grandmother was born Maria Maud Dowman and she was the mother of George Male, who captained Arsenal and England. So it turns out he is distantly related to Max through his great, great, great, great grandfather William Dowman,” he says.
It is understood that Dowman’s household weren’t conscious of the hyperlink till contacted by the Guardian however they’re stated to have welcomed the information.
The discovery provides one other layer to Dowman’s already compelling rise. The 16-year-old, who turned the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history final month, comes from a footballing lineage that stretches again almost a century.
George Male was a key determine in Arsenal’s dominant aspect of the Thirties, serving to them win 5 league titles in eight seasons. Known for his consistency and management in defence, he stays certainly one of the membership’s historic figures and is pictured in two locations exterior the Emirates Stadium. Male went on to turn out to be a long-serving youth-team coach after which a scout at Arsenal after retiring, and is remembered as the man who found Charlie George, who was a part of the well-known Double-winning workforce of 1970-71.
“He was a very unassuming man. Very polite, very kind,” says Male of his uncle. “Originally he played for amateur side Clapton Orient and in one game they experimented with him as a centre-forward and he scored six goals in a 7-1 win against Wycombe. He was then rejected by West Ham after a trial before Arsenal signed him in 1929 and he went on to make more than 300 appearances. But he never scored a goal for Arsenal or England.”
That is an achievement that Dowman has already surpassed after his breathtaking solo strike in the 2-0 win over Everton, though it stays to be seen whether or not he’ll go on to get pleasure from the identical success as his ancestor. Male was transformed from left-half to right-back by Herbert Chapman and have become an important a part of the aspect that have been topped champions in three successive seasons earlier than successful the FA Cup in 1936. He additionally earned 19 England caps earlier than the second world warfare and – at the age of 36 in 1948 – turned the first participant to win six English top-flight titles.
Dowman, who scored an excellent solo aim for England Under-19s this week in their 6-0 thrashing of Portugal, notched up one other report by turning into Arsenal’s youngest FA Cup participant throughout a 2–1 win over Mansfield at simply 16 years and 66 days outdated final month. He is anticipated to characteristic in opposition to Southampton in the quarter-finals on Saturday. For Dave Male, uncovering the household hyperlink was comparatively easy thanks to his ardour for ancestry analysis.
“It didn’t take much because I subscribe to a couple of ancestry sites,” he says. “There are other people interested in that name and that family, so I was able to link up with them and build our own family tree.”
The path leads again to the yr 1800 when William Dowman, a shared ancestor from North Benfleet – only a brief distance from the place Max’s household is nonetheless based mostly in Essex at the moment – was born. George Male is the grandson of his son, Christopher Dowman, whose youthful brother William Jr is the nice, nice, nice grandfather of Max.
The Dowman identify has lengthy had ties to their native membership, Billericay Town, the place Max’s grandfather was a goalkeeper for the youth workforce and his father, Rob, additionally performed for the membership in his childhood. Rob Dowman joined the consortium that took over when the Essex businessman Glenn Tamplin departed in 2019 and performed a significant half in extending the youth part earlier than leaving when he arrange his personal insurance coverage firm.
Max Dowman was noticed by the Arsenal scout Johnny Knight when he was taking part in for Billericay and spent 5 years in their youth workforce earlier than becoming a member of the Hale End academy on a everlasting foundation. He was described as “something special” by Mikel Arteta and has even been tipped for a spot in England’s World Cup squad.
For Male, who was a bodily training trainer and performed hockey at county degree in Essex earlier than a rugby damage compelled him to cease, the discovery feels significantly particular. “Sport seems to run in the family,” he says proudly. “It’s quite thrilling for us really.”
