New Zealand Sport

Also popular are golf, tennis, cycling and a variety of water sports, particularly surfing, sailing, whitewater kayaking and rowing. In the latter, New Zealand enjoyed an extraordinary magic 45 minutes when winning four successive gold medals at the 2005 world championships. Snow sports such as skiing and snowboarding are also popular.

Cricket

The BlackCaps are the national cricket team for New Zealand. Current players for the Black Caps include Andre Adams, Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Stephen Fleming, James Franklin, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Hamish Marshall, Chris Martin and many more.

In 2006 they played the Cricket Australia Emerging Players Tournament, Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League First XI First Division and the Top End Series. Stephen Fleming has had the most appearances than any other player in the game.

Soccer

New Zealand Soccer is very popular with lots of different tournaments. The New Zealand All Whites are the national men's team. They have many proud achievements along the years, such as reaching the 1982 World Cup Final. The name "All Whites" came about because of the colour of the football strip.

In men's football for the New Zealand championships there are eight main teams which are:-

• Auckland City FC
• Canterbury United
• Otago United
• Waitakere United
• Team Wellington
• Hawkes Bay United
• Youngheart Manawatu
• Waikato FC

The Chatham Cup is a very popular tournament which has been going for almost 80 years. It is a knockout tournament where almost 150 teams take part from around New Zealand. In women's football there are the U20 New Zealand Women's Championships and the Knockout Cup. There is also a Women's National League.

Motorsport

Motorsport New Zealand is the main body for motorsport and are appointed by the FIA to regulate motorsport in New Zealand. The main events include:-

• FIA Formula One World Championship
• FIA World Rally Championship
• FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship
• Australian VA SUPERCAR Championship Series

There are many other motorsport events which also include motorbikes, rallying, speedway races, formula series and much more.

Golf

Golf was thought to have been established in the 1870's in New Zealand. New Zealand has 385 golf courses, which makes it the highest number of course per capita in the world. It is also a very affordable sport to play with prices at public courses starting at $10. It is the number one sport for men and number two sport for women.

The premier golf tournament for New Zealand is the Blue Chip New Zealand Open. The top players for this tournament in 2006 were Michael Campbell (NZL), Simon Dyson (ENG), Nick Dougherty (ENG), Richard Green (AUS) and Daniel Chopra (SWE).

The AMH is the Associated Member Handicap which gives you an official measurement of your playing ability. This scheme helps to make golf more accessible for everyone. For a yearly fee you get lots of benefits such as fairer competition, allowing you to compete on a level playing field with friends and family and lets you play golf on a green fee basis.

Olympic Games

Historically, New Zealand has done extremely well in the Olympics through gaining 18 medals in athletics, 15 medals in sailing and 12 medals in rowing.

The Olympic Movement was started in 1896 after a French scholar resurrected the idea of the Games and along with 13 other IOC members, one being New Zealander Leonard Cuff, started the first game at the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens.

Rugby Union

All Blacks performing the Haka

The phrase "All Black" has been adapted by several other national sporting codes such as the basketball team (the Tall Blacks), the cricket team (Black Caps) and the hockey team (Black Sticks). The soccer team is called the All Whites. New Zealand's national sporting colour's are black and white (silver). The silver fern is a national emblem worn by New Zealanders representing their country in sport and also features as the name of New Zealand's highly successful national netball team, the Silver Ferns.

The haka, a traditional Maori challenge, is often performed at sporting events and the All Blacks traditionally perform a haka before the start of international matches.

Sailing and Watersports

New Zealand are big into sailing, seeing as they are surrounded by water! Yachting New Zealand is the national body for competitive and recreational sailing. They are the central communications service for boating members of 128 clubs and 47 class associations. With 40 events for 2007 you can see why sailing is so popular.

Team New Zealand will compete for the America's Cup at the next regatta in Valencia in 2007. The team manager is Grant Dalton.

Swimming is also quite popular with over a million people in New Zealand taking part every year, whether for health, sport, recreational or safety reasons. The 12th FINA World Championships will be held in Melbourne, Australia in 2007.