[3] He began his football career with the local non-league club, Looe F.C., for whom he scored more than 100 goals in a single season, including 10 in one match.
[3] He scored in the first two of the seven First Division matches he played in what remained of that season – not enough for a league-winners' medal – but was a regular for the next two campaigns, as Arsenal won two more titles on the trot.
[10][3] Playing mainly as an inside forward, behind Ted Drake,[3] he still scored his fair share[3] despite his slight build in what was at the time a very physical game.
[5] Two months later, he was one of seven Arsenal players who played in England's 3–2 win against 1934 World Cup-winners Italy in the so-called "Battle of Highbury", during which he injured an ankle.
[1] Bowden and Arsenal won the FA Cup in 1935–36,[10] but by then his ankle was causing him problems, limiting his appearances for the club that season and the next.