New Zealand footballer
Steven Paul Sumner ONZM (2 April 1955 – 8 February 2017) was an English-born, New Zealand football player, who was captain of the national team during the country's first successful campaign to qualify for the World Cup, in 1982. He is also the first New Zealander to score in the World Cup, doing so in the 54th minute in New Zealand's 1982 opening game against Scotland.
Club career
Sumner began his football as an apprentice at Blackpool before moving to New Zealand in 1973 to play for Christchurch United, winning the National League in his first year. Sumner went on to win 6 Chatham Cups and 5 league titles.[1] He is the only player to have won six Chatham Cup winners medals.[2]
International career
His international career spanned from 1976 to 1988, including a record 105 appearances for New Zealand (beating the record previously held by Brian Turner),[3] 58 of which were A-internationals.[4]
An active and attacking midfielder, Sumner scored a national record six goals during New Zealand's 13–0 defeat of Fiji during the 1982 World Cup qualifying campaign. He was also one of New Zealand's only two scorers in the 1982 World Cup Finals tournament in Spain (along with Steve Wooddin), in New Zealand's 5–2 loss to Scotland.[5] He was the first player of the FIFA Oceania zone to score in a World Cup.[citation needed]
In 1991, he was inducted into the New Zealand Soccer Media Association Hall of Fame[6] and was then awarded FIFA's top award, the FIFA Order of Merit, before the opening of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, along with Johan Cruyff and former South African president Thabo Mbeki.[7]
Later life and death
After retiring Sumner maintained his involvement in football, being employed by TVNZ as a media personality. More significantly he sat on the executive board of the Wellington Phoenix bringing much needed professional playing experience to the table. In August 2015, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, from which he died on 8 February 2017, aged 61.[8]
Steve Sumner Trophy
In 2018 New Zealand Football named the Man of the Match trophy for the New Zealand Football Championship final after Sumner, calling it the "Steve Sumner Trophy".[9][10] It was first awarded to Callum McCowatt after he scored the only goal in Auckland City 1–0 win over Team Wellington in the final. McCowatt won it a second time the following year, this time while playing for Eastern Suburbs, where he scored a hattrick in the finals, again against Team Wellington.[11]
