A natural goal scorer with pace and power can be hard to find, however Anton Dowds – who has it in abundance – never played a minute of professional football until he was about to turn 22. Dowds touches on his development whilst playing university football for Herriot Watt and how it helped form a robustness to his ever-improving game.
“When I first graduated, I got a job as a business analyst at a company at FNZ. I had offers around Lowland League level, or even to stay at Herriot Watt, and luckily a trial offer came through at East Fife. I am grateful they took an opportunity on me and it kickstarted my journey in the SPFL.”
Dowds has never hidden his desire to challenge himself at as high as a level as possible and credits his coaches at Herriot Watt for pushing him towards this goal. After starting the season in scintillating form for Ayr United, he reflects on the formative years in Edinburgh.
“My manager at the time, Bejay Koya, was really positive and always encouraged me to push myself as far up the pyramid as I possibly could. University football was a great part of my development; we played two games a week, in different leagues, and trained quite regularly. It definitely helped prepare me for life as a full-time footballer.”
The striker was an instant success at Bayview when he signed in 2018, scoring 19 goals across two seasons which in-turn earned him a move to Falkirk on a full-time contract. Dowds made the decision to leave his full-time job at FNZ and transition to life as a full-time professional footballer.
“When I first moved into the SPFL, I was just really intrigued to see how I would fare, so when the contract at Falkirk came around, I took the opportunity right away. I was enjoying my football, and I was always certain I’d be playing it anyway in some capacity. My perspective was that I could always get a job back in the business industry at some point – that’s not always the case for football.”
Goals have followed Dowds wherever he’s been. At Heriot Watt, his team competed in BUCS, the national competition for university sides every Wednesday afternoon, as well as Saturday’s in the East of Scotland League (tier six of Scottish football). Dowds would regularly put up 40+ goals a season across his four years and was selected for the Scottish Universities team, which then featured numerous players that have went on to play for SPFL sides.
“The way that the universities are set up now are so professional. You’ve got great facilities, you’ve got the expertise. Everything is there for you to go and improve. The football for me was a great escape from the studying, four or five times a week you could go and focus on one thing at a time. I enjoyed the routine.”
“When I was in my latter stages at Heriot Watt, there wasn’t many examples of players moving up the pyramid. We had seen it done before but it maybe hadn’t happened in a while. You’re now seeing teams looking at uni teams with a bit interest, especially from the Scottish University team. Lewis Hunter (East Fife, Annan and now Spartans), Blair Lyons, Craig Brown, Ali Shrive and Aidan Quinn (all Montrose) – that’s just to name a few.”
Anton highlights that Ross Campbell, assistant of Montrose, is able to keep a close eye on Heriot Watt players and their opponents through his role at Oriam Scotland. No fewer than five Heriot Watt players have progressed into the professional ranks since 2018, with 13 scouted from the University of Stirling in the same time. There is clearly a pathway available for players to combine their studies with football and still achieve professional status.
“There does seem to be an established pathway now” says Dowds, “with how impressive the set-ups are at these universities, it makes that transition a bit easier. I think it’s something all young players could consider. And on the flip side, current players should always have a look at further education too. The more strings you have to your bow, then the more opportunities you’ll get.”
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