Cardiff rejection and running round potato fields - Bowen in his own words

The Football Interview is a new series in which the biggest names in sport and entertainment join host Kelly Somers for bold and in-depth conversations about the nation's favourite sport. We'll explore mindset and motivation, and talk about defining moments, career highs and personal reflections. The Football Interview brings you the person behind the player.

Interviews will drop on Saturdays across BBC iPlayer, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website. They will also run on BBC One on a Saturday after Match of the Day.

Jarrod Bowen wrote himself into West Ham folklore when his last-minute goal against Fiorentina won them the Conference League title in June 2023.

The versatile forward, who joined the Hammers from Hull City in 2020, has scored 56 goals in 202 Premier League appearances.

Bowen, 28, made his senior England debut in June 2022 and was part of the squad that reached the final at Euro 2024.

The West Ham captain sat down with Kelly Somers to talk about winning the Conference League, family life with his wife Dani and their three children, and his dad's famous pre-season training sessions.

Kelly Somers: What does football mean to you?

Jarrod Bowen: Everything. It's something that - I'm in a privileged position - I get to do day in, day out, and it's something I've known from such a young age, so football to me is everything.

Kelly: What's your earliest memory of playing?

Jarrod: Probably the first club I played for - Leominster Minors. The venue and the big playing field are still there now. That would be my first memory. I've had brothers and sisters who have played there as well, and friends who have been there. To see that it's still going when I go home, it's nice to be back and be down there and remember when I was that age playing in the fields without a care in the world and a big smile on my face.

Kelly: Talk to me about how they were as a team, and how old you were when you joined.

Jarrod: I think I must have started when I was four or something - really young - but I played there until about 15. I started at such a young age. I had Hereford as well, which was more of a development school but we had the same players from my hometown team playing there as well because it wasn't the biggest place of terms of catchment of players. So we pretty much had the same players for our local team and one that was 20 minutes away.

Kelly: It sounds like such a local community and quite tight-knit. When you eventually played for Hereford, you must've felt incredible. It must have felt like a dream at that point.

Jarrod: Yeah, there was me and someone else who played for the Leominster team that went on to play for Hereford as well. All my friends, when I scored my first goal, were behind the goal. We still have pictures and videos that we always send each other. That moment was just, for me, incredible at the time of being 16/17, playing, then to score at the stadium week in, week out at the end that we used to sit behind the goal, then my friends being there as well... it was incredible.

Kelly: Who would you say has had the biggest impact on your career? Is there a coach or a person?

Jarrod: I always think, not one person, my mum and dad. From such a young age, taking me to different places all around the country. For them to take time out of their days to take me there, support me there, and help me get to where I am now. I think it's such a great feeling when my mum's asking me to sign a shirt for someone from the school I went to. I know, for her, it means the world to her as well because she just sees me as still her little boy, but it's kind of changed in that way as well. I think another one in terms of football would probably be my youth team coach at Hereford. There was a couple of things that went my way in terms of making my debut for Hereford. My youth team coach became the first-team manager because I don't think they could afford a new manager, so little things like that helped me and I think without doing that I wouldn't be sat here today. Because I wouldn't have had that opportunity to play for Hereford, that helped me move to Hull and now I'm here. Sometimes in football, you're on this journey where you're so focused on what you're doing and trying to be the best that when you look back on it, sometimes the little things... you need a lot of luck for things to go your way and help you in that journey.

The Football Interview: Jarrod Bowen

Kelly: Has there been a turning point? It's not been a straightforward linear journey. Your journey has been different to most footballers - from Hereford, Hull, then to the Premier League, winning a European trophy and with England. Is there one moment you can pinpoint that you think, actually, that's where it all changed?

Jarrod: Probably when I got rejected from Cardiff before I went to Hereford because I went on trial to Cardiff for about six weeks and at the time I thought, 'Right my local team Hereford's not got anything for me to have that path.' I've gone to Cardiff, thought I've done really well for six weeks and they've said no as well. So I was kind of like, 'This is it now then... it's not going to be.' But then I think that rejection from Cardiff and then Hereford and then starting back up just made me appreciate it so much more. In the end I was just enjoying playing football because I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't know if it was just going to end and I was playing at Hereford and I thought, 'It can't get much better than this.' I was happy with that. Then a few things happened. I moved to Hull at 17, which was a big lifestyle difference. Three and a half hours away from home was absolutely horrendous but those things have all helped me off the pitch and then it helps you on the pitch as well. But I think if you can mature as a person off the pitch, it helps you. So, a few things have happened, but I'd say that Cardiff rejection... I thought, 'This was the end, so let me be appreciative of playing when I can.'

Kelly: You've played in some huge matches already in your career. Which match, if you could relive one, would you play again?

Jarrod: I think one that sticks with me the most was probably the Europa Conference League final. I had never been involved in any sort of final before. Coming out, getting to the stadium a couple of hours before, going out to look at the pitch as you do, and it was packed. That feeling of the final whistle going and you're on the pitch... there's a replay on YouTube that me and my dad watched the other day of the whole game... after the game ended I think the camera went to me and I had the biggest smile on my face, dropped to my knees and it was just like, the feeling of that, what it meant for us as a group, what it meant for the fans as well. I think that was such a great day.

Kelly: Did you say you and your dad were watching the whole game back recently?

Jarrod: Yeah.

Kelly: That shows you how much it means.

Jarrod: Yeah, he always watches it. He's into rowing and canoeing, so he's got a rowing machine and he'll send me a picture of an hour and 29 minutes and it's just the whole game. I've never watched it before. You knew how it's going to go but I was still watching a little bit nervous and I'm thinking, 'I know how the game goes, why am I so nervous?' I can't really remember the game fully. It's been two years now, so to watch it from like two years on in a different way was a weird feeling but I loved watching it.

Kelly: Let's talk a bit more about Jarrod Bowen the person. You've mentioned your dad multiple times already, so let's start there and family and what it was like in the Bowen household growing up. Take me into a typical day.

Jarrod: Probably a similar upbringing to what most people have. I have a younger brother and sister, so I was the eldest child. They always said I was the favourite child because I was the first born - that's still a thing. But I loved playing football. A very sporty family. My dad played rugby and football as well. My mum worked at the school that we grew up at. She still works there and that was kind of our life really.

Kelly: You must be the poster boy if your mum's at the school. You must be like a local hero.

Jarrod: Like I said, my mum, when she comes down, she brings this whole box of things. She says "someone just asked me if..." and she's the nicest woman in the world, so she will never say no to anyone, so she comes down with this box of stuff and I'll sign it for everyone. It might be for a raffle or something like that. I've grown up in that area, still know pretty much everyone in that area, been to that school, so for them to want my things as well I think it means a lot to me for people to want to put me on the walls and want my signature.

Kelly: I want to know a bit more about your dad. He was an ex-footballer, and he played semi-professional. Is that correct?

Jarrod: He played for Conference-level Forest Green, Worcester... those sorts of teams... Hereford for a couple of years.

Kelly: Is it correct that you still follow his pre-season training routine that he does with you?

Jarrod: Yeah, well... this summer was the first time where I didn't get called up for England, so I had a five/six-week period. I went home for three weeks I think it was, and we were training on the famous potato fields every single day, so I had a full pre-season with him. This season, my brother was doing it with me, my sister was doing it with me, even Dani [Jarrod's wife] came out a few times and did it.

Kelly: Was she doing it as well?

Jarrod: Yeah, if you looked at it you would've thought, 'What the hell is going on with this group of people?' My dad was the kind of instructor, so to speak. It was like his boot camp, we called it, but it was just us running around this potato field and I thought, 'If anyone sees us, they're going to think what is this? What are this group of four people doing?' But we did it and it's something I've done throughout my career, so I wanted to do it, and we did it.

Kelly: Does he come to West Ham games? Does he travel?

Jarrod: As much as he can, yeah.

Kelly: It's far.

Jarrod: Yeah, it's far, but he tries to come to as many games. He's already thinking about the Sunderland game. He's going to drive his camper van.

Kelly: I'm glad you've brought the camper van up because I wanted to talk to you about that. That camper van went to the Euros, didn't it?

Jarrod: Yeah, the camper van went to the Euros! That was him, my brother, my two best mates. They all had a go at driving it. My two best mates were awful at driving it! I think they nearly wrote the camper van off, driving on the different side.

Kelly: It must be quite nice talking about your family because obviously now you've married into another rather famous family. You got married this summer. Firstly, how was the wedding?

Jarrod: We had good weather for it, which was always a worry. You look forward to the day so much, it's like once it's there... the day's over. But, really nice day.

Kelly: And you are a father now to twin girls. Is it right that you had those girls just a couple of weeks after winning the trophy?

Jarrod: Before - May 22nd. It changes your life. People always ask you what it's like, but until you experience it, it's hard to put into words until you have your own. But, yeah, love them to pieces.

Kelly: What does a typical day off look like for you? I imagine if I asked you this a couple of years ago, it'd be quite different to now.

Jarrod: Carnage. There's no lie-ins. I used to love my sleep and wake up at 10 o'clock and just doze around and just see what the day's going to bring but now they're up, three of them in the house, so it's downstairs, Dani is running around, like sprinting around the house. She's sweating every morning and I just kind of come on down and think I'm quite a relaxed person, and Dani's sprinting around the house and then there's me asking if I can do anything. On a day off you've got to take them out because you can't stay at home with them all day because it'll drive you mad, so it's just entertaining them as much as possible. We'll probably go out for the day somewhere, more for our mental health as well, because if you stay inside with them, it's just carnage. We'll probably go to a little park or something. Probably cut their knees to pieces, probably hurt themselves somehow... that'll probably now be a typical day off.

Kelly: Is that your escape from football?

Jarrod: When I'm at home, I want to spend as much time with them as possible and then when I'm coming into football, I know its training for a few hours and hard work, so I think it's good to have that split, that balance. When I'm at home, it's all about the kids, all about Dani, all about everyone because you lose a game I come home and try not to ruin the household too much, because I can't change what's happened. We've lost the game and now it's family time.

Kelly: How would your best friend describe you?

Jarrod: Laid-back.

Kelly: It sounds like you're like that for quite a lot of your life.

Jarrod: Yeah, I've always been quite, what's the saying when they go 'If you were any more laid-back you'd be horizontal' or something? I get my mates and family saying that.

Kelly: Have you always been like that?

Jarrod: Yeah, always.

Kelly: Does that come from your family?

Jarrod: I don't know, really. I think my dad's quite intense. I mean, he's got a camper van and he drives it here, there and everywhere.

Kelly: I've got that feeling from this interview, if I'm honest.

Jarrod: My mum is really laid-back, so I probably get it from my mum.

Kelly: What are you most proud of?

Jarrod: Probably my family in terms of kids I've got, my mum and dad, the whole network of family. I'm really close with my aunties, uncles, nans, grandads, trying to spend as much time together as possible, so I'd say that's one thing I'm really proud of, that I have a loving family.

Kelly: Tell me one thing that would surprise me.

Jarrod: I'm double-jointed in my thumb. Also, we actually did a thing when we were away, as a group, we told each other about who we were growing up, like a team bonding kind of thing. I said to people that I played a lot of rugby when I was younger and I enjoyed playing rugby more than football, and they were all shocked to pieces.

Kelly: If you could only achieve one more thing for the rest of your career, what would it be?

Jarrod: Oooh, I've got one I'd love to do here when I'm at the club. I'd love to win the FA Cup. I think growing up watching football, it is the most prestigious English cup competition. You see Crystal Palace win it last year and what it meant to them. Obviously, I'd love to win the league, playing in the Champions League, but I think something that I'd love to do this season... I think I'd love to win the FA Cup as a club.