Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A SPORTING CHANCE
The arena where Kiwis have most sated their desperation for recognition on the world stage is sport. In 2012, NZ
was ranked the most successful sporting nation per capita in the world (in 2013 it slipped to third behind Slovenia
and Norway). NZ's teams are the current world champions in rugby union, holding both the men's and women's
world cup in each code.
For most of the 20th century, NZ's All Blacks dominated international rugby union, with one squad even
dubbed 'The Invincibles'. Taking over this pastime of the British upper class did wonders for national identity
and the game is now interwoven with NZ's history and culture. The 2011 Rugby World Cup victory did much to
raise spirits after a year of tragedy and economic gloom.
For all rugby's influence on the culture, don't go to a game expecting to be caught up in an orgy of noise and
cheering. Rugby crowds at Auckland's Eden Park are as restrained as their teams are cavalier, but they get noisier
as you head south. In contrast, a home game for the NZ Warriors rugby league team at Auckland's Mt Smart Sta-
dium is a thrilling spectacle, especially when the Polynesian drummers kick in.
Despite the everyman appeal of rugby union in NZ (unlike in the UK), rugby league retains the status of the
working-class sport and support is strongest from Auckland's Maori, Polynesian and other immigrant communit-
ies.
Netball is the leading sport for women and the one in which the national team, the Silver Ferns, perpetually
vies for world supremacy with the Australians - one or other of the countries has taken the world championship
at every contest (except for a three-way tie in 1979).
In 2010 the All Whites, NZ's national soccer (football) squad, competed in the FIFA World Cup for the second
time ever, emerging with the totally unanticipated distinction of being the only unbeaten team in the competition.
They didn't win any games either, but most Kiwis were overjoyed to have seen their first ever World Cup goals
and three draws. Sadly, they failed to qualify for the 2014 tournament.
Other sports in which NZ punches above its weight include sailing, rowing, canoeing, equestrian, cycling and
triathlon. The most Olympic medals NZ has won have been in athletics, particularly in track and field events.
Cricket is the established summer team sport, and a series of good results in early 2014 promised a more consist-
ent and successful future for the Black Caps, NZ's national cricket team.
If you truly want to discover the good, the bad and the ugly of the national psyche, the sporting field isn't a bad
place to start.
