Thomas Ryan Sonntag (28 August 1858 – 9 October 1938) was an Australian-born sportsman. He played rugby union and first-class cricket in New Zealand for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

and competed at highland games in the province during the 1880s. Sonntag was born at

Eumemmerring Eumemmerring is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 32 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Casey local government area. Eumemmerring recorded a population of 2,285 at the 2021 ce ...

in what was then the Colony of Victoria in Australia in 1858 and came to New Zealand as a child. He attended school in the

Kaikorai Kaikorai Valley is a long broad valley which runs through the west of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, to the west of the city centre. It is the valley of a small stream, the Kaikorai Stream, which runs from northeast to southwest down the l ...

area of Dunedin in Otago and later worked in plant nurseries.McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 124. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.) A rugby union forward, Sonntag was considered "well-known" throughout New Zealand. He played club rugby in Dunedin for the Zingari, Kaikorai and Dunedin teams and played representative matches for the Otago Rugby Football Union. In 1888 he played for both Otago and a representative South Island team against the touring English team led by

AE Stoddart Andrew Ernest Stoddart (11 March 1863 – 4 April 1915) was an English sportsman who played international cricket for England, and rugby union for England and the British Isles. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1893. He has the unique ...

―the first major tour of New Zealand by a European team.Obituary: Mr T Sonntag, '' Evening Star'', issue 23085, 11 October 1938, p. 10.
Available online
at Papers Past. Retrieved 1 January 2024.)Obituary: Mr Thomas Sonntag, ''

Evening Post ''Evening Post'' or ''The Evening Post'' may refer to the following newspapers: United Kingdom * ''Evening Post'' (London) (1710–1732), then ''Berington's Evening Post'' (1732–1740) * ''London Evening Post'' (1727–1797) * ''W ...

'', volume CXXVI, issue 89, 12 October 1938, p. 11.
Available online
at Papers Past. Retrieved 1 January 2024.) As well as rugby, Sonntag played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

in the Otago representative side . His only first-class match was against a touring Tasmanian side in February 1884. He scored two runs in the only innings in which he batted.Thomas Sonntag
CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 January 2024. He also competed in the highland games held in Dunedin, winning trophies as a wrestler. Sonntag died at Dunedin in

in 1938 at the age of 80.

References

External links

* 1858 births 1938 deaths New Zealand cricketers Otago cricketers Cricketers from Melbourne 19th-century New Zealand sportspeople New Zealand rugby union players Otago rugby union players {{NewZealand-cricket-bio-1850s-stub