Wally Somers

Walter Thomas "Wally" Somers was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand.[2]

Wally Somers

Personal information
Full name	Walter Thomas Somers[1]
Born	14 June, 1899 New Zealand
Died	1980
Playing information
Position	Hooker
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1917–29 Newton Rangers 138 35 5 0 119 1922 Post and Telegraph 1 1 0 0 3 1930 Ellerslie United 11 3 2 0 13 Total 150 39 7 0 135 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1920–28 Auckland 24 8 3 0 30 1919–28 New Zealand 18 (6) 10 0 0 30 1922 Australasia 1 0 2 0 4 1923 Auckland Province 1 0 0 0 0 1927–28 North Island 2 0 0 0 0
Source: [2]

Early life

Walter Thomas Somers was born on June 14, 1899. He was the son of Amy Maria and Daniel Somers. He had two sisters, Eileen Elizabeth Findlay (1896-1979) and Zelda Nina Goffin (1898-1966), and one brother Daniel Robert Lawrence Somers (1894-1944).

Playing career

Somers played for Newton Rangers in the Auckland Rugby League competition and appeared in a remarkable, for the era, 138 games for them from 1917 to 1929. Early in the 1929 season he and Craddock Dufty were frustrated with the selection of the Newton team and Somers decided to retire.[3][4] The following season both he and Dufty joined the Ellerslie United club where Somers played 11 matches scoring 3 tries and kicking a conversion and a penalty before retiring for the final time.

Somers represented Auckland and was first selected to play for New Zealand in 1919 on their tour of Australia where he played 6 matches. He then made his test debut against the touring Australian side on September 13 of the same year in a 32-2 loss at the Auckland Domain before a crowd of 15,000.[5] In 1920 he was part of the Auckland team that defeated Great Britain. They were the first New Zealand team to defeat Great Britain on New Zealand soil.[6] He also played 3 tests against England on the same tour. He was again selected for the New Zealand side to tour Australia in 1921 where he played 6 tour matches and scored 10 tries.

In 1922 the New South Wales side toured and in the final match of the tour an "Australasian" team was selected featuring 7 New Zealand players and 6 Australian players to represent the Australasian side. Somers was among those chosen and he kicked 2 goals though was sent off along with O'Connor from the New South Wales team. Somers side were soundly beaten 65-27 before a crowd of 12,000 at the Auckland Domain.[7]

It would be 7 years before he again pulled on the New Zealand jersey when he played 2 tests against the touring England side including a 17-13 win in the first test at Carlaw Park before a massive crowd of 28,000.

Personal life

On February 18, 1925 he married Annie Josephine Ogden. He died in 1980 aged 81.

References

1. http://www.nzleague.co.nz/players/kiwi_details/127
2. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
3. "Marists Unlucky/Weakened Shore's Close Call/Ponies Swamp City". Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 135. 1929-06-10. p. 14. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
4. "Two League Players/Leading Men Stand Down/C. Dufty and W Somers". New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20277. 1929-06-10. p. 10. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
5. Coffey, John Oliver; Wood, Bernie (1 January 2008). 100 Years: Māori Rugby League, 1908-2008. Huia Publishers. ISBN 9781869693312. Retrieved 16 June 2016 – via Google Books.
6. Coffey, John and Bernie Wood Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009, 2009. ISBN 978-1-86969-366-4.
7. "Kangaroos Win Easily". Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 227. 1922-09-25. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-10-31.