Bill Stormont

William Stormont (25 August 1898 – 4 June 1925) was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand. His parents were John Stormont (1 Aug 1863 – 23 September 1936), a pastry chef and baker, and Annie Stormont nee Brownlie (7 July 1871 – 7 Dec 1944).

William Stormont

Personal information
Full name	William Devanney Stormont
Born	25 August 1898 (1898-08-25) Birmingham, England
Died	4 June 1925 (1925-06-05) (aged 26) Auckland
Playing information
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm) (aged 18)
Weight	11 st (154 lb; 70 kg) (aged 18)
Position	Prop
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1920–1924 Marist 54 23 37 0 147 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1920–1924 Auckland 16 4 2 0 16 1920 New Zealand 3 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]

Playing career

Stormont 4th from the right in the Auckland team to play the 2nd match against the Australian Universities side at the Auckland Domain on 24 June 1922.

Stormont on the right in the Auckland team to play England at Carlaw Park in 1924.

Stormont played for Marist in the Auckland Rugby League competition. He represented Auckland and was first selected for the New Zealand national rugby league team in 1920 following Aucklands 24-16 win over the touring English team. Stormont was the first member of the Marist club to be selected for the Kiwis.^[2][3] He played in all 3 tests in the #10 prop position against the touring England team in 1920. New Zealand lost the 3 matches 7-31 at the Auckland Domain, 3-19 at Lancaster Park, and 10-11 at the Basin Reserve. Film of Stormont playing for Auckland against the 1924 touring English team can be seen at the Ngā Taonga Sound and vision archive. ^[4]

Military career

Stormont enlisted in the New Zealand Defence Force on 11 May 1917 aged 18 using a false birthdate (25/4/1897).^[5] At the time, recruits were required to be 19 to be posted overseas. He was meant to travel on ship 93, the Corinthic, but was AWOL at departure. His war record contains details of his court marshal and disciplinary record. He retrained as a Machine Gunner and travelled to the United Kingdom on 31 December 1917 on ship 99, the Athenic. He was hospitalized on arrival with Influenza for 5 days in early April 1918 and did not travel to France until June 1918. His war record also lists hospitalization for bunions in December 1918.^{[citation needed]}

Later Years and Death

He returned to play rugby league for Marist in 1920, later becoming the club captain. Stormont died from rheumatic heart disease on 4 June 1925 after a long battle with illness aged 26. The William Stormont Memorial Shield was presented to the Auckland Rugby League by the Stormont family. That same year, Ponsonby defeated City 35-3 to become the first holder of the Stormont Shield.^[6]

References

1. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
2. Marist Memories 1919-1969 by Terrence Hyland
3. nzrl.co.nz
4. "LEAGUE MATCH - ENGLAND V AUCKLAND"
5. "Archway online service record"
6. Coffey, John and Bernie Wood Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009, 2009. ISBN 978-1-86969-366-4.