Tim Stevens (born 14 November 1972) is a former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at international level.

Club career

Stevens played his junior football initially at Berowra in NSW and, from 1981, at New Zealand's East Coast Bays club in Auckland. He made his first team debut for Bays in the New Zealand Bluebird League in 1990. He was also selected for the New Zealand Youth Team in that year. In 1992, he was signed by New Zealand, National League Club, North Shore United and was a key member of the North Shore team which won the Winfield Superclub Championship in 1994. He was first capped as an Auckland Representative in 1993 and toured Queensland with the Auckland Representative Team in 1994. In 1997, still playing for North Shore United, in the National League, Stevens won the League's Golden Boot Award for most goals in the season. In that same season he completed a clean sweep by winning League Player Of The Year, Auckland Player Of The Year, the New Zealand Media's Player Of The Year and by sharing the Player's Player Of The Year award with fellow All White Danny Hay. He was also a nomination for North Harbour Sportsman Of The Year. Stevens trialed with a number of clubs in England in late 1997 including Reading and Bournemouth before being signed by

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...

where he played half a season scoring three times in five games. On returning to New Zealand he had brief spells back at North Shore United and at Waitakere before being signed by the Football Kingz, a professional team which competed in the Australian League. He played for the

Football Kingz Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ca ...

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 ...

between 2000 and 2002 and had the 2003 season with North Shore United before retiring from competitive football.

International career

Called into the All White squad in 1994, Stevens made his international debut in a B international against the Danish Olympic side in 1995. He was a non-travelling reserve for the All White tour of South America that year. Stevens played four official full internationals for New Zealand in June and July 1997, scoring on his debut in a 7–0 win over

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

on 11 June. He played in a 5–0 win over

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

before being on the losing side 0-3 and 0–2 in his final two full internationals against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 28 June and 6 July 1997.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Tim 1972 births Living people New Zealand men's association footballers Men's association football forwards New Zealand men's international footballers National Soccer League (Australia) players Football Kingz FC players Stevenage F.C. players New Zealand expatriate men's association footballers New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Soccer players from Melbourne Australian emigrants to New Zealand Australian men's soccer players