In an off-concert moment - and keeping in mind that he was around the Hawthorn area for nearly a week during the Glass Spider Tour of 1987 - Bowie was seen playing football - more than likely soccer - in a local park.

The following pictures were taken by Liz (a friend of Louise Callan from Bowie Downunder).

Louise explains that her friend happened to be opposite the venue one afternoon and "there he was ... having a game - with his gang - across from Kooyong Courts".

We suspect these were taken at HA Smith Reserve - the home ground of the Old Scotch College Soccer Club which was established in 1981.

Following is a capture of the 1987 Melways for a bit of context to the local area.

Kooyong Stadium (the place Bowie played 4 concerts in 1987) is the yellow and black circle to the west side of Glenferrie Road.

Elsewhere on the web, I found the following pic.
I think we can safely assume this is from the same place and time ....

Of course Bowie's love of team sport is something not exactly well known - and perhaps this was quite a "one off". He was of course passionate about boxing and skiing but soccer?

Well, about 15 years ago on a Bromley, London website, one of David Bowie's old classmates so casually posted the following....

Yep that is Bowie second row far left!

© Adam Dean, Bowie Downunder, 2024

Return to Life and Leisure INDEX