Professional footballers understand retirement is an inevitable reality of their work, due to the short and precarious nature of professional sporting careers.
Unfortunately for former A-League midfielder Jacob Dowse, instead of retiring on his own terms, his hand was forced by a career-ending knee injury at just 24.
A promising, versatile winger who burst onto the scene in 2022 at Perth Glory, Dowse called time on his professional career shortly after joining boyhood club Newcastle Jets last year.
Dowse had chondral defects and a meniscus tear in his lateral compartment in his right knee, which ultimately forced him into retirement.
Now, in the next stage of his life and career, Dowse has switched the training facilities at the Jets for the workforce and the boots for the books as he balances work and study.
“Life is pretty hectic now – a lot more than when I was playing football,” Dowse tells pfa.net.au.
“It was hectic when I was playing football, but these are two different types [of] hectic. I’ve got weekends free now, which is nice, but working full-time and I’m at uni full-time doing primary school teaching, and I’m about 18 months into that now.
“The first six months of my uni course, I was with the Jets, but because of my injury, I wasn’t going into the club every day, so I had a lot of spare time to start uni.
“Although I miss football and I would do anything to be able to still be playing football, it [study] has been a distraction and that has helped me prepare for what I want to do next.”
Dowse’s journey to become a professional footballer was far from easy.
His teenage years were littered with knee injuries, which led to several surgeries and complex procedures while he was part of Newcastle’s academy. He was part of the youth set up at the Jets until 16.
After he finally gained some consistency playing week-in, week-out football and starring in the Hunter with Northern NSW NPL outfit Broadmeadow Magic, Dowse was granted another opportunity to make it professionally.
His former coach at Magic, Ruben Zadkovich, handed Dowse a trial at Perth Glory, which eventually landed him a scholarship deal in 2022.
Once he was into an A-Leagues environment, Dowse didn’t look back and immediately became a key cog in the Glory lineup.
His lung-bursting runs up-and-down the left-flank, and wand of a left foot caught the eye, and five assists for the campaign landed him on the radar of Newcastle, who signed him in 2023.
“I loved every minute of being in Perth and loved the group of boys that we had that year,” Dowse recalls.
“Moving back to Newcastle was a very tough decision for me at the time. I wanted to stay in Perth because I loved it so much, but I also wanted to come back and play for my home hometown club, which was always a dream of mine, and something that I always wanted to achieve as a kid.”
Unfortunately, Dowse’s time at Newcastle never really got going.
Dowse would make just one 30-minute cameo off the bench for the Jets in the 2023 Australia Cup, before a knee injury would plague the remainder of his time in the Hunter.
This led to Dowse pulling the pin prematurely on his promising career upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the 2024-25 season.
“I believe everything happens for a reason and [the injury] was a bit of a blessing in disguise, because I had all my family and friends around me during that tough time,” he said.
“If I had been stuck on the other side of the country, I’m sure it would have been a lot tougher than what it was.
“The first 12 months [after the knee injury] I tried to get back into everything I could to get back on the field, but my knee just decided it was time, and I couldn’t get back.
“It was a tough pill to swallow. I’ve now kind of accepted it, and it’s just a part of my journey, and not just football journey, but my life journey.”
The decision to announce his retirement from professional football was far from easy for Dowse.
“I still remember the first three to six months when I was trying to come back, I was pretty confident I would be ok,” he said.
“I had the attitude of… ‘Nah, this isn’t the end’. I’m going to do everything I can to get back on the pitch.
“I still remember my first training session back, probably after about three to four months, trying to get back to playing, I couldn’t even get through that session.
“That’s probably when I realised and accepted that maybe this is it. When I got about four or five opinions from specialists and surgeons all over Newcastle, all over Sydney, and they all really came back to the same verdict that essentially I need a knee replacement.
“[I had] to make a decision… Either I keep going and ruin my knee and get a knee replacement before I turn 30, or hang up the boots and try and do everything I can to delay that situation.
“Ultimately, I will need a knee replacement one day. It’s just kind of prolonging that as long as possible.”
After making the decision to retire, Dowse sought the assistance of the PFA to apply for career-ending injury insurance.
Dowse would ultimately be granted the insurance payout, which helped him enormously from a financial standpoint following the conclusion of his career.
“The PFA has been absolutely amazing through the whole process,” he said.
“The career ending insurance policy isn’t something that’s guaranteed. There’s a lot of hurdles you’re going to jump through and a lot of processes you’ve got to go through with surgeons and doctors, club doctors, physios.
“It’s a very, very long process but the PFA were very helpful throughout.
“It’s something that, if it wasn’t a thing in the CBA, it’s something that’s very daunting and can be very stressful for players that do get injured.
“If that wasn’t there, I would have had to get on with life but with it being there, and receiving a lump sum of money, it does really help you set up life after football and all that.
“I would do anything [to still be playing football] and would much rather be still playing football and earning a living, playing football, but I guess you have that security. ”
