Ross Lafayette (born 22 November 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Ross Lafayette
Personal information
Full name Ross Lafayette[1]
Date of birth (1985-11-22) 22 November 1985 (age 38)[1]
Place of birth Watford, England
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2+12 in)[2]
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006 Beaconsfield SYCOB
2006–2007 Chesham United 21 (3)
2007–2008 Barton Rovers 11 (1)
2008 Chesham United 2 (0)
2008–2009 Aylesbury United 11 (0)
2009 Wealdstone 4 (0)
2009–2010 Aylesbury 6 (4)
2010 Burnham 16 (5)
2010–2012 Hemel Hempstead Town 30 (12)
2012–2014 Welling United 79 (36)
2014–2015 Luton Town 11 (0)
2015Woking (loan) 11 (3)
2015Welling United (loan) 7 (2)
2015–2016 Eastleigh 22 (4)
2016Aldershot Town (loan) 16 (2)
2016–2017 Dover Athletic 44 (12)
2017–2018 Sutton United 27 (7)
2018Maidstone United (loan) 10 (3)
2018–2019 Billericay Town 22 (4)
2019–2021 Wealdstone 49 (16)
Total 399 (114)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:57, 21 November 2020 (UTC)

Lafayette's early career consisted of playing for non-League football clubs in North London and the home counties.

Football career edit

Born in Watford,[3] Lafayette played youth football with Garston Boys.[4]

After playing for Beaconsfield SYCOB, Chesham United, Barton Rovers and Aylesbury United,[5] Lafayette signed for Wealdstone in summer 2009.[6] He made 6 competitive appearances for Wealdstone without scoring.[5] He also had spells at Aylesbury and Burnham during the 2009–10 season.[5][7] He played for Hemel Hempstead Town during the 2010–11 and 2011–12 campaigns.[5]

Lafayette signed for Welling United from Hemel Hempstead Town in the summer of 2012.[8] In his first season, he contributed to Welling winning the Conference South by scoring 19 goals. In his second season Lafayette scored 16 goals as Welling established themselves in the Conference Premier.

After two seasons at Welling, Lafayette signed a two-year contract with League Two side Luton Town.[9][10] He made his league debut against Bury on 19 August 2014, coming off the bench.[11] He made only one start for Luton before being loaned out to Conference Premier side Woking for a month in January 2015,[12] scoring once in six league and cup appearances.[3] He was loaned back to former club Welling in March 2015 and scored twice to help the club avoid relegation.[13]

He was transfer listed by Luton at the end of the 2014–15 season,[14] and subsequently signed for Eastleigh on a free transfer.[15] In January 2016, he joined Aldershot Town on loan until the end of the season.[16]

He joined Dover Athletic in August 2016.[17]

He joined Sutton United in May 2017.[18] He joined Maidstone United on a one-month loan in February 2018.[19][20] In March 2018, his loan was extended until the end of the season.[20] He was recalled by Sutton United in April 2018.[21]

In June 2019 he signed with Wealdstone for the second time.[22][23] After scoring six goals in eight games for Wealdstone in August 2019, he was awarded the National League South Player of the Month award for that month.[24][25] Lafayette was the Stones' top scorer in the 2019-20 season, netting 12 times as they were eventually promoted through points per game.[26] He signed a new one-year deal with Wealdstone ahead of the 2020–21 season.[27] Lafayette scored 4 times in an injury dominated second season with the Stones, where he made only 20 league appearances.[26]

On 1 June 2021, Lafayette announced his retirement[28]

Media career edit

Alongside his part-time playing career, Lafayette trained in digital media and was employed by The Independent and Evening Standard. He joined London based company esbconnect as Sales and Partnerships Director in 2023.[29][30]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Ross Lafayette". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  2. ^ "Ross Lafayette". 11v11. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b Ross Lafayette at Soccerway. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Royston Celtic Under-17's 0 Garston Boys Under-17's 4". Watford Observer.
  5. ^ a b c d "Ross Lafayette Profile | Aylesbury United FC". www.aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk.
  6. ^ "Ryman trio ready for the big kick-off". Kilburn Times. 12 August 2009.
  7. ^ "Nine man Blues win derby". Slough Observer.
  8. ^ "Welling United stars living the dream". Bexley Times. 21 February 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  9. ^ "Luton Town sign Ross Lafayette from Welling United". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  10. ^ "Former Evening Standard man Ross Lafayette signs for Luton Town". Evening Standard. Evening Standard. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  11. ^ "Luton v Bury". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  12. ^ Dyke, Chris (15 January 2015). "Woking FC snap up Luton Town striker Ross Lafayette". SurreyLive.
  13. ^ "Lafayette Returns to Wings". 26 March 2015.
  14. ^ "Luton Town: Hatters release seven and transfer list six more". Bedfordshire on Sunday. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  15. ^ "Lafayette to leave Luton for Eastleigh". Luton Today. 3 June 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  16. ^ "Aldershot sign Eastleigh's Lafayette". BBC Sport.
  17. ^ "Dover bring in striker Lafayette". BBC Sport.
  18. ^ Gwillym, Warren (18 May 2017). "Sutton United boss Doswell raids rivals to sign Kenny Davis, Ross Lafayette and Moses Emmanuel". Sutton Guardian. Newsquest. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  19. ^ "Maidstone United take Ross Lafayette and Dean Beckwith on loan from Sutton United". 8 February 2018.
  20. ^ a b "Lafayette extends Stones loan". Kent Online. 13 March 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  21. ^ "Maidstone United dealt big blow to survival hopes as Sutton United recall striker Ross Lafayette". 10 April 2018.
  22. ^ FC, Wealdstone (12 June 2019). "Ross Lafayette signs for Wealdstone FC!". Wealdstone FC.
  23. ^ Bennett, Dan (19 June 2019). "Transfer round-up: Wealdstone sign two forwards". Kilburn Times.
  24. ^ "StackPath". www.thenationalleague.org.uk.
  25. ^ O'Reilly, Dec (6 September 2019). "Dean Brennan & Ross Lafayette win August Manager & Player of the Month in the National League South". Wealdstone FC.
  26. ^ a b "R. Lafayette". Soccerway.
  27. ^ O'Reilly, Dec (5 July 2020). "Ross Lafayette signs a new contract with Wealdstone FC!". Wealdstone FC.
  28. ^ @Rosslaf10 (1 June 2021). "Over and out! ✌🏽" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  29. ^ "Ross Lafayette joins esbconnect as Sales & Partnerships Director". www.thedigitalvoice.co.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  30. ^ "esbconnect appoints Ross Lafayette". www.inpublishing.co.uk. 8 December 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2024.

External links edit