The Somerville Cap

AWARDED 2022
Julia King came to Somerville in Youth grade and has played in the Premier 1 team since the age of 15 years old, clocking up 14 seasons in white and blue. She started strong with seven concurrent wins and many Auckland and Intercity titles since.

Jules as she’s known to most, was Simon Nortons golden child at St Cuthberts, and has also played for top teams in the premier divisions in England, Germany and Australia – this September she is heading to play for Adelaide in the newly formatted AHL.

Julia has held National honours since she was 16, going to the Junior World Cup in 2013 and King debuted for the Blacksticks women’s team in 2011. Since then shes clocked up over 130 caps for the New Zealand Blacksticks, recently participating at the Tokyo Olympic Games and a myriad of Champions Trophy and Pro League tournaments.

Described as the women who can do it all Jules has spent time in all positions, but thrives in the midfield. Known for her insane eye and devastating reverse, Jules is one of the smartest hockey players on the pitch.

AWARDED 2018
Glyn's sporting career began in the stickless version of hockey - football, where he made the move to goalkeeper due to dissatisfaction with the incumbent keeper's performance. He began playing hockey in 1986 at Orewa College, and first played club hockey for Dairy Flat in the North Harbour competition. In 1988 Glyn moved to Mt Albert Grammar, and also to Somerville.

He quickly rose through the hockey ranks, representing the Auckland Colts (A and B sides), and the New Zealand U21 team in 1990 and '91, with whom he toured Australia. For Somerville, Glyn has played for the reserve and premier teams, and more recently the D1s.

Off the field Glyn has made himself a much-loved member of the Somerville family for over 30 years (the only record that he's beaten his wife at). and has gotten stuck in to all aspects of club life. He has coached at all levels of the club: premier, division, youth, junior, and mini teams. On the administrative side, Glyn has been Men's Club Captain, and sat on the Somerville committee for various stints. He also volunteered his wife to come out of retirement for the first time in 12 years to play for the premier women.

Glyn has won the infamous toilet seat on multiple occasions, as well as the esteemed Miss Somerville competition. And as a testament to his love for the club, he hasn't missed a telephone book delivery in all the years since they began.

AWARDED 2018
Belinda has followed the well-trodden Somerville path starting in Minis, 8-aside, 11-aside, Youth with the mandatory filling in in the Senior grades and then playing in open grade in her own right over a 22 year journey. She also played through the Clubs TK Academy and all age group representative teams for Auckland, finishing with over 100 caps for the NHL side. She has coached the TK Academy and the Auckland Under 21’s for several years.

She captained the NZ Under 21’s side and was a member of the NZ Blacksticks Development programme for 4 years.

Belinda’s journey has been enriched by the people she has played with and those who have coached and guided her along the way. All have lead her to become the straight talking and compassionate leader that she is, as the Captain our very successful Premier Woman’s team.

AWARDED 2017
Helen joined the Club in 1989 in our Premier Women’s team as goalkeeper. She was on the Club Committee during the 90’s whilst still representing NZ. She attended 3 Olympics, 2 world cups and 2 Commonwealth Games winning bronze medal at KL in 1998. Helen played from 1989-2004 as Premier keeper.

She came out of retirement in 2017 to cover the injured Premier goalie and continued playing until 2020, mentoring the successor goalie. Helen has played, coached, administered, selected, and developed numerous keepers over the years, and is a regular on the sideline at Somerville games.

AWARDED 2017
Abbie joined Somerville at 17 years old, and hasn’t looked back. After playing one year in youth, and many more in either Div or Champ grades, plus playing goalie for the Reserves, you would think she had always been here.

This is due in large part to her wealth of administrative roles, including: sitting on the club committee (assuming the position of secretary for many years), umpiring, being the club captain for women and youth, managing several teams, coordinating summer hockey, helping as a selector, working behind the bar, and of course partaking in the much-revered phone book deliveries. Though she captained a few sides over the years, she prefers not to, which is understandable, given the mountain of responsibility she has already off the field.

People, history, and culture are Abbie’s main drivers behind her love for the club. Possibly resulting from her own family’s history with Somerville - her uncle played for us in the 60s, and her sister Claudia has played for us for the last 15 years. Building on that history today, Abbie’s daughter has her first couple of seasons under her belt already - one to watch for the future!

AWARDED 2017
In 1993, like so many of us, Andy began playing for Somerville in the junior grades. The bright-eyed 10 year old boy made his way through the grades as the years went by, playing for U18s, Reserves, Prems, and is most recently enjoying life in the Division 1 Men.

During his time at the club, Andy has been an exceptional leader, captaining the Reserve Men, and coaching the Div 3 and Div 1 Women. He has also provided outstanding physiotherapy services to many injured players at Somerville, and in the wider hockey community.

A close knit, supportive club with a focus on development has been the key influence on Andy remaining with us for nearly 30 years. This has been achieved with “amazing people”, across all facets of the club including players, coaches, and management.

Andy has also been an influence on the next generation, as his nephews are currently playing in the Junior grades.

AWARDED 2014
Kerry is the son of Brian and Linda, and has been part of the club since 1977. He was a member of the Premier side, which won three AHA championships in 1985, 1992 and 1993, and in subsequent years, has played in other division winning teams. He has also been an Auckland representative.

Kerry served on the Committee in the 90’s and 2000’s including the position of President in 2002-2003. Kerry has also been awarded the prestigious Somerville Cap in 2014. A regular face around the traps, he came out of retirement in 2018 to manage the Premier Mens team, and is currently managing the team again in 2022.

AWARDED 2014
At the age of 6 years, Iain was encouraged to follow in his parent’s path and play for Somerville. The deal was he had to play for a season. That season has ended up with a long playing career.

Iain followed the usual route up through the Club and has played most of his adult career in the Premier Reserve team with a short time in Premier Men.

Iain has been a team manager, served on the Executive Committee, coached and umpired and has also received team awards and Schoolboy of the Year.

Other than a year playing in Ireland, Iain played for Somerville continuously for 26 years before taking a break.

AWARDED 2010
Jocelyn’s association with Somerville goes back 50 years to the early 1970s. In 1981 Jocelyn became an inaugural playing member of Somerville with the creation of the Women’s side. Jocelyn has only played for Somerville since then and is still playing today. She represents Auckland in her age group at NZ Master’s Tournaments.

Over the years Jocelyn's passion for hockey and Somerville has lead her to hold many positions within the club: team manager, Club Captain (Mens, Womens & Youth), Club Administrator, Summer Hockey Co-Ordinator, Club President and Life Member.

Jocelyn was first awarded Best Team Member in 1981 and there have been a few more team awards since then. She has received the Bill Newsham Award twice.

AWARDED 2009
Robert joined Somerville in 1983 and rose to Somerville Premier level. He played in this team for a number of years, winning several Auckland championship titles. When Robert won the prestigious Somerville Cap his brother Simon, having received his in 2007, presented the Cap to him.

AWARDED 2008
Simon has played at Somerville from Juniors all the way to Premier, where he was a valuable team member for 15 years. He has been the Somerville Vice President and held various other roles.

Since Simon finished his Blacksticks career in 1986, he has enjoyed more time coaching and administering our sport. His coaching career began 1978 and has held a number of coaching roles. One of them as the Director of Hockey at St Cuthbert’s College, seeing the 1st XI winning many titles including the Auckland Secondary Schools Champions and the Intercity.

He has also coached the Auckland NHL, U21, U18 and Development Squads from the early 90’s with many of the teams resulting in champions and runner-ups. He is also a Life Member for Auckland Hockey and has taken on a number of administration roles for the management board, including Youth Council and Regional Development.

AWARDED 2008
Mark has played for the Club since the age of 6. He has played for Auckland from Hatch Cup right through to Auckland Men’s and recently in the New Zealand 40’s Master’s side.

As a coach he has been involved initially with the Juniors before later being a player coach for the Premier Reserve Mens side, very successfully for over 10 years. He has a great energy and passion for the game which spills over to loud enthusiastic calling on the sideline.

AWARDED 2007
Simon joined Somerville when he was five years old and has played all his club hockey here, journeying up through the junior grades, and playing many seasons for the premier men's team. His leadership skills have led him to captain many sides in that time, including the prem team, for which he was also player/coach for a season.

Growing up at Somerville produced many great hockey memories for Simon over the years, as he made friends and learned to play the game. He learned exceptionally well, which culminated in him representing New Zealand for several years. In his first game for NZ, he played centre-midfield alongside five other Somerville players: all three strikers, and the two other midfielders.

Some may not know that Simon was also a very competent umpire, particularly in high school, and umpired the national Hatch Cup tournament.

More recently Simon has enjoyed playing for the D1 team, alongside his brother Rob, while acting as assistant coach for the premier men. Other members of his family have also played for the club including his father Kevin (KT) and sister Natasha.

AWARDED 2006
Ryan is a proud 3rd generation Somerville member and played his first game in the Somerville uniform at the age of 6. While that first Saturday morning was a tentative beginning (so it is said), Ryan was hooked and continued to represent the club through the age-groups and ultimately playing for the Premier men’s team for no less than 25 seasons.

Ryan’s hockey journey has also seen him play in domestic leagues around the world as well as representing New Zealand at three Olympic Games, World Cups and Commonwealth Games, accumulating 327 international caps along the way. Ryan continues to involve himself in the sport with both coaching and governance roles and has been recognised with a New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to hockey.

AWARDED 2006
Gareth joined Somerville when the national side centralised before Athens in 2004 and loved it so much he stayed in Auckland until 2008.

Proud to represent NZ in 112 test matches including the Athens and Beijing Olympic campaigns, enjoying stints in Holland before returning to NZ and living in Wellington then settling back in his home town of Christchurch where he now resides with his wife Rosie and three kids.

“I have fond memories of always playing attacking hockey at Somerville and then catching up with Eric Archibald, Arvind Jasmat and KT after games for the essential debrief. They were special times and we had a great side that was always in with a chance which culminated in winning the title in 2007”.

Gareth enjoyed training youngsters whilst at Somerville before setting up the Wellington High Performance Academy and now continues to coach kids at his old club: High School Old Boys/Burnside in Christchurch.

AWARDED 2023
Ben watched his siblings playing for Somerville juniors for years, which motivated him to start mini's in 1997 at aged 5. The following season he was joined by cousin Samantha Charlton and they formed a formidable defence together in various teams for several years.

In 2000, Sam Norton joined them and under Simon Nortons coaching they won the 6 aside gold grade and Ben won the trophy as the best 6th grade player in Auckland. By 2002 Simon had them playing back and around tactics in 8th grade and they won the gold grade again.

That success continued when 2 seasons later Ben and the team were joint winners of the 11th gold grade. He played in several Auckland age group rep teams but preferred doing a range of activities with friends rather than solely focusing on hockey.

Playing in Somerville youth grades followed while at secondary school, and several years were spent making coffees and BBQ sausages in the club canteen on Saturday mornings. When Ben left school in 2010, he got his bar managers licence and was actively involved in running and managing the Somerville bar in the hockey pavilion.

Ben has played several years in Somerville’s Premier Reserve team before heading on a 4 year OE stint. Ben returned to Somerville to play in a very competitive and winning Div 1 team for 3 seasons. This 2023 season he opted to play in a lower Div 4 grade with friends, some of whom had never played hockey before, and they won the grade final last weekend.

Ben co-coached a Div 1 Womens team in 2021 and this season coached and managed the Div 4B mens team. He has been an active committee member for several years, overseeing the gear and uniforms and co-ordinating adult summer hockey for the past 2 seasons.

Ever the showman, he has MC'd the past 2 prize givings and won the Miss Somerville title and has been active in helping organise club social functions.

Ben epitomises the Somerville values both on and off the field and I am sure his children will be Somerville members if they decide to play hockey.

AWARDED 2023
Following in the footsteps of his father, Mark started playing for Somerville as a 5 year old around 1984 in the halcyon days of Hobson Park.

Playing for Somerville ever since, he has also represented Auckland at Hatch Cup and age group sides.

During younger days has been in winning Auckland Grammar Rankin Cup and North Harbour Challenge Shield teams.

The lure of the great wide world saw a move to the mother land in 2003, joining the Cardiff Hockey Club and settling down as a Taffy all too quick. While there making history as the most carded hockey player in the club’s history, before being overtaken by another Somervillian Mark ‘Cabbage’ Ramage.

Returning to Auckland in 2011 with more night out stories than hockey experience, he returned to his roots at Somerville, playing here ever since.

Earning a lifelong nickname at the under 18 level for his likeness to a character in the TV sitcom Life Goes On for his intelligence, but being prone to being a bit ‘special’ and doing or saying dumb stuff.