A product of local schools’ football, Lionel Bowen contrived to arrive at The Dell via Crystal Palace. He then waited two and a half years, during which he made almost 100 London Combination appearances, for his two first-team outings at left-back. Whereupon he decided to quit football and successfully apply to be accepted into the Met. It was a wise move because Lionel had a distinguished career in which he would become Chief Superintendent in the Hampshire Constabulary and the recipient, in 1977, of the Queens Police Medal.