Wally Somers
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Walter Thomas Somers[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 14 June 1899 Auckland, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 11 September 1980 (aged 81) Auckland, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Hooker | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Walter Thomas "Wally" Somers was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand.[3]
Early life
Walter Thomas Somers was born on 14 June 1899. He was the son of Amy Maria (Lawrence) 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.[4] Early in the 1929 season, he and Craddock Dufty were frustrated with the selection of the Newton team and Somers decided to retire.[5][6]
The following season in 1930 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 13 September of the same year in a 32–2 loss at the Auckland Domain before a crowd of 15,000.[7]
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.[8]
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.[9]
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 18 February 1925, he married Annie Josephine Ogden. They had three sons, Wallace Edward Somers (1925-2001), Richard Arthur Somers (1926-1970), and Robert Graham Somers (1927-1998).
Wally Somers died on 11 September 1980, aged 81.
References
- ^ "NZLEAGUE.CO.NZ - Home". Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
- ^ "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ^ "Wally Somers - Playing Career - RLP". www.rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
- ^ "Roll of Honour - New Zealand Rugby League". 27 February 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
- ^ "Marists Unlucky/Weakened Shore's Close Call/Ponies Swamp City". Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 135. 10 June 1929. p. 14. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ "Two League Players/Leading Men Stand Down/C. Dufty and W Somers". New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20277. 10 June 1929. p. 10. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Coffey, John and Bernie Wood Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009, 2009; ISBN 978-1-86969-366-4
- ^ "Kangaroos Win Easily". Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 227. 25 September 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 31 October 2020.