Wally Somers

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

Wally Somers
Personal information
Full nameWalter Thomas Somers[1]
Born14 June 1899 (1899-06-14)
Auckland, New Zealand
Died11 September 1980 (1980-09-12) (aged 81)
Auckland, New Zealand
Playing information
PositionHooker
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 25 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 (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. 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 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.

The 1919 New Zealand team to tour New South Wales and Queensland. Wally Somers is in the back row on the right.

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.

Somers third player from the right in the back row of the champion Newton side of 1927

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
  1. "NZLEAGUE.CO.NZ - Home". Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  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. 10 June 1929. p. 14. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  4. "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.
  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. 25 September 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
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