Walter Thomas "Wally" Somers was a New Zealand

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

player who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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 The City Newton Dragons are a defunct New Zealand rugby league club that was based at Victoria Park, Auckland. The club was created in 1948 by a merger of two original clubs, the City Rovers and Newton Rangers. Both the Rovers and the Rangers par ...

in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

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 Calvin Thomas Craddock Dufty (10 March 1900 – 1 August 1955) was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand. Early life Dufty had sisters; Louisa Esther (1901-26), Annie Elizabeth (1902-62), Jessie May (1909-37), and Gwendol ...

were frustrated with the selection of the Newton team and Somers decided to retire. 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 Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and was first selected to play for

in 1919 on their tour of Australia where he played 6 matches. The 1919 New Zealand rugby league team to tour Australia

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 The Auckland Domain, also known as Pukekawa / Auckland Domain, is a large park in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the oldest park in the city, and at is one of the largest. Located in the central suburb of Grafton, the park land is the remains o ...

before a crowd of 15,000. In 1920, he was part of the Auckland team that defeated

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. They were the first New Zealand team to defeat Great Britain on New Zealand soil.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009'', 2009; 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 ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

team. Somers side were soundly beaten 65-27 before a crowd of 12,000 at the Auckland Domain. 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 Carlaw Park was a multi-purpose stadium in Parnell, a central suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It neighboured the Auckland Domain's Northern end. It was primarily used for rugby league and had a peak spectator capacity of around 28,000 in the 1 ...

before a massive crowd of 28,000. Newton Rangers champion team 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somers, Wally New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players Auckland rugby league team players Rugby league hookers Newton Rangers players Ellerslie Eagles players North Island rugby league team players Place of birth missing 1899 births 1980 deaths