Natasha Dowie is no stranger to Australian shores. After spending 5 years in the W-League with Melbourne Victory, Dowie has now made the biggest move of her career to Italian powerhouse AC Milan in the Serie-A Femminile.
Dowie spent five seasons with Victory, making 59 appearances and scoring 34 times. The English forward also won last season’s W-League golden boot with Morgan Andrews (Perth Glory), Kristen Hamilton (WSW) and Remy Siemsen (Sydney FC) in the first ever four-way tie.
“It definitely was a difficult decision to leave Victory,” Dowie said.
“Being captain of such a great club and having been there for five years as well, they really made me feel part of the Victory family. Winning Premierships and being captain of the team was a dream come true. I don’t shy away from how much I love the club.”
“My heart is definitely with Victory.”
Dowie says the person she is going to miss most is Victory coach Jeff Hopkins.
“I’ve had some great teammates but he is the one I’ll miss the most,” Dowie said.
“He has been there from the start and I’ve been through the highs and lows with him. He’s not only been a manager but a friend as well. He messages me before games here wishing me luck.
“I’m really happy to see him involved with the men’s team as the assistant coach and I’m really excited to follow the W-League this year. I’ll be like the number one supporter and I hope they do well.”
Dowie said that despite the memories she had it was sometimes a challenge to play in the W-League, with stints elsewhere necessary to keep her ticking over.
“Fortunately with it being such a small and shortened season, I tried to find other countries to play in to allow me to continue playing in the W-League with Victory. It’s been incredible because I’ve been able to travel and play in America (Boston Breakers), Sweden (Linkoping) and Norway (Vålerenga) which has been great. But the back-to-back seasons, it is tricky and tough and I also wanted to commit somewhere for a while.”
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Dowie voiced her opinion on where the W-League needs to strengthen, with the gap to European leagues growing as Australian players seek new challenges.
“I definitely have thought about this for a long time now. The W-League is improving year on year a lot but you could always see it was going to happen, with how Europe were developing (especially England) and the money that was getting invested into the women’s game. You could kind of tell that players’ heads were getting turned towards Europe and I did worry slightly for the league, that they are losing their Matildas and the household names.”
Dowie believes that now is the time to implement a full home and away season in the W-League.
“It’s been talked about for too long now so it definitely needs to happen.”
“COVID-19 hasn’t helped. Financially it has definitely affected women’s football all over the world, especially in Australia. With football not being the number one sport it’s even harder. With England football is the number one by a mile, but with Australia you’re competing with AFL so it’s down the pecking order.
“I think short term it’s going to be more of a development league with a lot of Australian players which I do think is exciting within itself. It gives people the opportunity to see some of the younger talent coming through.
“I think potentially it could be something special if they try to compete on their own and actually invest in it properly. Who wouldn’t want to come to play in Australia full time?”
Dowie says that after the highlights she had at Victory, she was now at the time in her career where she could test herself at higher levels once again.
“I kind of felt like the stage I was at in my career and being 32, I really want to try and compete again in the European league and have the opportunities to play Champions League again.
“When I came into AC Milan [I was attracted by] the size of the club, how passionate Italians are about football and the opportunity to be somewhere for a few years. This club is so new with it being three years old, they have already achieved second spot last year, just missing out on Champions League by goal difference.
“I kind of felt like I couldn’t turn down an opportunity to come here and potentially create history with this amazing club.”
Dowie touched on the responsibility that she now carries, representing a club with such history and tradition as Milan, but also having the opportunity to build a women’s team with their own reputation and traditions.
“It kind of feels surreal sometimes,” Dowie said.
“A couple of my close friends in the team, we sometimes say to ourselves ‘as if we play for AC Milan’ so it’s really cool. For me I didn’t come here because of the name and the brand. I’ve come here to win things.
“It would mean everything to win the league. For me that would be so special, to create history and be the first team to win something with AC Milan. I want to win every trophy.”
“There is no point wearing the badge, kit and looking the part if you’re not going to win football matches.”
“For me, winning is the most important thing and I can see that in the coaching staff and the direction the women’s team is going in. The facilities here are the best I’ve ever had in my career. Our manager [Maurizio Ganz] having played for Milan as well, he is very well respected and I think that’s important for the women’s team, that we have someone like him pushing us to compete and win.
“You can feel the passion within the club and Italians in general. I love it! It’s something that I have missed. Australians are very passionate about football but there is something different about European football. It’s nice to be involved. Even with having no fans at the games due to COVID, we still have a few supporters that follow us around and I just can’t wait for the fans to be back in the stadiums so I can get a feeling of what it is like here.”
Dowie showed a brave smiling face when she was asked about brushing up on her learning of the Italian language.
“I’m trying my hardest *laughs*,” Dowie said.
“I’m not going to say it is an easy language to learn but I’m trying to pick up a little bit and make an effort. I have to give the Italians a lot of credit as they are really trying with the English as well, which sometimes is a bad thing for me. If they try to speak English then I don’t learn much Italian!
“I’ve got my little Italian dictionary book and I’m trying to pick up on a couple of phrases. I’m starting to understand things but I’m very far off speaking Italian.”
Dowie says that moving to such a powerful club like Milan hasn’t changed her approach to the game.
“For me, no,” Dowie said.
“If I’m being completely honest, wherever I’m playing, for Liverpool which I’ve been very fortunate to do, AC Milan or Melbourne Victory, I always tend to have the same approach wherever I go and be the ultimate professional. I want to give everything I can possibly give. For me, you only have one career and I don’t want to have any regrets. It’s always the same mindset for me.”
“I’ve left my second home in Australia because this is how much I want to win something again. I wouldn’t have left for anything else and it shows how much Milan means to me.
“We definitely have the squad that can achieve some big things this year but it won’t be easy. The league is very competitive, but so far with two wins from two, it was nice to get a couple of goals and get off the mark.”
Dowie says she just wants to enjoy playing football and that playing internationally again is out of her control.
“I’m always a player that gives 100%,” Dowie said.
“Everywhere I have gone, I have scored goals and that’s something I’m very proud of with the achievements I have been able to achieve in my career.
“I can’t control who the manager picks. I haven’t played for England in four years so it has been a long time, but it’s not something that I don’t have aspirations for, like of course I want to play for my country.
“Do I think I am good enough still? 100 percent but for me I want to focus on playing for AC Milan, playing well, scoring goals, and if that allows me to represent my country that would be incredible, a dream come true.
“If it doesn’t, I am okay with that, and I just wanted to make sure I am playing as well as I possibly can and achieving things in Italy. I’m going to keep my head down, keep working hard and hopefully it will happen. If not, then I have been very fortunate to play for my country and not many players can say that.”
Dowie concluded our chat with telling Beyond 90 she’s currently doing her UEFA A licence badge and that she would like to do coaching at her career’s end.
“I love coaching,” Dowie said.
“It’s something I’m really passionate about. Whatever country that may be, I’ve not shied away from wanting to live in Australia and working for Victory, working for the club.
“You never know where your path leads. I could fall in love with the Italian way and who knows? Maybe I will be coaching AC Milan with my fluent Italian!
“That’s the beautiful thing about football. You get to travel the world and meet incredible people. For me, I know how blessed I am to do this but right now I am focused on my playing career. But for sure, I want to be the best coach when I am playing.”
