Steven Laurie (born 30 October 1982 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

) is a former Australian

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as a defender. He played in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

with West Ham United's youth academy and

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

, before returning to Australia to play for

South Melbourne FC South Melbourne Football Club is an Australian semi-professional Association football, soccer club based in suburb of Albert Park, Victoria, Albert Park, in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The club currently competes in the National P ...

in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

and

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

. He is currently the head manager of

Geelong SC Geelong Soccer Club is an Australian soccer club based in Geelong, Australia founded in 1958 by Geelong's Macedonian Australian community. In 2019, Geelong SC obtained National Premier Leagues Victoria status after being crowned 2018 champions ...

Playing career

Steve Laurie started his professional youth career with the

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succe ...

, spending a year at the academy in 1997, before moving to

, joining the youth academy of

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, h ...

in 1998. Laurie remained with the Hammers academy until 2002, then moving to

Peterborough United F.C. Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

He returned to Australia after being lured back by former

Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

player and then coach

Stuart Munro Stuart David Munro (born 15 September 1962 in Falkirk) is a Scottish former professional football player, who is best known for his time with Rangers. Munro was signed from Alloa Athletic and made his top team debut for the Rangers against Dun ...

to play for

powerhouse

in the last season of the NSL. Laurie was one of the first six signings for the newly formed

Hyundai A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club

, although later he was released from his contract via mutual consent, making just one appearance in his time with the blues. The inaugural coach of Sydney FC was German World Cup winner

Pierre Littbarski Pierre Michael Littbarski (; born 16 April 1960) is a German professional football manager and former player of 1. FC Köln and the West Germany national team. Known for his dribbling abilities, he was mainly used as an attacking midfielder o ...

, with whom Laurie had a falling-out. Players at Sydney FC that Laurie joined included former Manchester United legend

Dwight Yorke Dwight Eversley Yorke CM (born 3 November 1971) is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian former professional footballer and current manager of Australian A-League club Macarthur FC. Throughout his club career, he played for Aston Villa, Manchester Unit ...

. After returning to Victoria, Laurie played for South Melbourne once more as well as a season at

Oakleigh Cannons Oakleigh Cannons Football Club is a soccer club based in the south-east Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh, Victoria, Australia. The club, established by members of Oakleigh's Greek Australian community, currently competes in the NPL Victoria. The cl ...

. Then Steve Laurie moved to

Altona Magic Altona Magic Soccer Club (Commonly known as Altona Vardar SC) is a soccer team based in Altona North, a western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Magic currently compete in the second tier of the Australian soccer league system. Fo ...

and was promoted to captain in 2009 and led the club to championship win over highly fancied

Dandenong Thunder Dandenong Thunder SC is a soccer club from Dandenong, a suburb in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They are an Albanian Australian-backed club. Thunder compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. In 2012, Dandenon ...

coached by Laurie's former coach at South Melbourne and then Oakleigh Cannons Stuart Munro. 2009 was a watershed season for Laurie as the giant defender had an injury free season and was able to show all football fans why he had been on West Ham's books as a youngster. A number of A-League Clubs have chased Laurie after the Victorian Premier league finals finished, although he opted to have a stint in Asia with Shanghai Shenhua.

Coaching career

After his stint in Asia, Laurie decided to move into coaching. He assisted long time friend Toby Paterson at

National Premier Leagues Victoria 1 The National Premier Leagues Victoria 2, commonly referred to as NPL Victoria 2, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is the second-highest in the Victorian league system, behind the National Premier Leagues Vi ...

side

St Albans Saints SC St Albans Saints Soccer Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in St Albans, Victoria. Established by local Croatian Australians as Dinamo, the club is a regular participant in the Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament. The c ...

in 2014, departing late on in the season when Paterson was sacked. Laurie was given his first senior head managing position at

Victorian State League 2 State League 2 is a semi-professional association football league in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Sitting at level 5 of the Victorian league system, below the three NPL Victoria divisions, it forms part of the fifth tier of the over ...

North West side

in 2015. Laurie recruited a number of quality players and helped the club recover from a poor start to finish in 6th place.

External links

Profile
a
UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database
* https://web.archive.org/web/20120225081935/http://www.tribalfootball.com/nth-qld-boss-ferguson-runs-rule-over-melbourne-knights-captain-elvin-276881 * https://web.archive.org/web/20090903130501/http://www.tribalfootball.com/victorian-premier-league-favourites-crash-288021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Laurie, Steve 1982 births Living people Soccer players from Melbourne Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England National Soccer League (Australia) players Peterborough United F.C. players South Melbourne FC players West Ham United F.C. players Victorian Institute of Sport alumni Sydney FC players A-League Men players Men's association football defenders Australian men's soccer players Australia men's under-20 international soccer players Australian soccer managers