Issue 112 : 28 August 2022
Talofa Lava, Kia Orana, Malo E Leilei, Tena Koutou, Hello ...
... and welcome to the latest issue of “For The Love Of The Game”, the official e-zine of the New Zealand Amateur Sport Association Inc., founded in Wellington, New Zealand in 2017.
If you have any feedback on this issue, ideas for future articles, or would like to contact the Editor, please click here. And, you are invited to forward the e-zine to others you know, who may be interested in reading it. An archive of earlier editions of the e-zine can be found here. For those who follow Twitter, you can also follow the Association, @AmateurSportNZ.
If you are interested in applying for membership of the Association, please click here.
Fifth Annual National Sport Club Survey Opens ...
The National Sport Club Survey (NSCS) was first undertaken by the Association in 2018, with the fifth iteration of this important national on-line study commencing on Thursday last week. Over 7,000 community sport clubs from throughout the country have been invited to participate in the 2022 survey. The survey is a partnership between the Association and AUT’s Sports Performance Research Institute. If your club has not received an invitation to take part, please contact support@asa.org.nz.
Survey participants are also invited to enter a prize draw for a $500 credit toward the purchase of sports gear, courtesy of survey sponsor Dynasty Sport. We’d also like to acknowledge our other important survey supporters, Forsyth Barr and Pinnacle Corporation.
Sport Canterbury Hosts Two Regional Seminars …
Christchurch’s Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub was the location for two well-attended seminars on the new Inorporated Societies Act last Wednesday, hosted by Sport Canterbury. Around 100 people in total representing Canterbury’s vibrant and diverse sport community attended the lunchtime and evening seminars presented by the Association at Christchurch's new sporting home for athletics, hockey, tennis and rugby league.
Ngā Puna Wai is a fantastic community facility featuring an athletics track and field, hockey pitches, rugby league fields, tennis courts, two grass multi-purpose community fields and a centralised sports hub, (which is where the seminars were held). A further seminar for Mid-Canterbury and South Canterbury sport communities is also being planned for September.
Inaugural Matariki Award Presented …
As regular readers of this newsletter will recall, in June the Association presented the inaugural "Te Tohu Tiketike o Matariki" award to a community sport organisation which has taken steps to embrace te reo Māori as part of its kaupapa.
On 17 August, we were pleased to visit Ōtaki Surf Lifesaving Club Inc. (OSLSC) who were the inaugural award winner, to present the trophy to club committee member Nikki Lundie. The origins of OSLSC date back a century to 1922, with the club holding its centenary celebrations earlier in June. Today OSLSC continues to go from strength to strength, with the core goal of the club to perform preventative actions and provide first aid and emergency care. Surf Lifesaving New Zealand Inc. (to who OSLSC is affiliated) is an Association NSO member.
Manawatu Seminar Underscores Need For Action …
On 18 August, community sport stakeholders from throughout the Manawatu region attended a breakfast seminar presented by the Association in Palmerston North on the new Incorporated Societies Act. Echoing the concerns voiced by community sport organisations throughout New Zealand, attendees agreed that more needed to be done to mitigate the impacts of the new law.
A recurring critique is that the new law does not meet the” test for reasonableness”, in that the various limbs of the legislation are written on a “one size fits all” basis. What this means is that (other than for financial reporting), the new law applies equally to multi-million-dollar sport organisations such as the New Zealand Rugby Union, and to much smaller sport entites such as the Blenheim Petanque Club, (which has annual operating expenses of $700). As a result, there is the real risk of an “extinction event” looming for those clubs unable (or unwilling) to meet the broader ongoing compliance requirements of the new Act.
Young Males, Masculinity And Mental Wellbeing Through Sport …
New research recently undertaken in Australia by Flinders University, focuses on the role that sport plays in the lives of boys and young males, focusing on “the substantial role sport plays in protective mental health through socialisation and engagement in a socially endorsed activity that seemingly has far more positive outcomes than negative ones”.
(New research shows the importance of sport clubs to the well-being of adolescent males)
The research notes that many young males pass through a sporting club at some point in their developmental years, whether for a short or extended period, with the research data showing that sport clubs at which young males are located can provide important support networks and enhance mental health. The research also highlighted the need for traditional masculinised sporting clubs to become inviting and nurturing spaces for young males. You can read the full research report by clicking here.
Next Association Seminar Scheduled For Upper Hutt City …
If you live in the Hutt Valley or lower Wairarapa and would like to learn more about how the new Incorporated Societies Act will affect your community sport club, please register to attend the next seminar in the national series which will be held on Wednesday, 31 August at 6.00pm, at Upper Hutt City’s "Whare Taonga", by clicking here.
There will also be an opportunity to attend a further on-line seminar for those in the Wellington region on Tuesday, 6 September, with ZOOM details able to be provided on registration.
From The Archives …
NZ TRUTH, ISSUE 188, 23 JANUARY 1909, PAGE 3
“No man in Wellington takes a keener interest m athletic sport than that worthy medico, Dr. David James, who is always in evidence at the Basin [Reserve] during the cricketing period. When football is in the ascendancy, the Doctor spends his Saturday afternoon off at the Athletic Park. He is patron or president or vice-president of nearly every cricket and rugby football club m the Dominion's capital.”
Among the many volunteers to serve amateur sport from the side-lines at the turn of the 20th century, Dr David Philip James MRCS, FRCS, LRCP was an honorary surgeon at Wellington Hospital, supporting boxing, cricket, cycling, horse racing and rugby football in the Capital for nearly 25 years.He was born in Narberth, Carmarthenshire, Wales in 1847, the son and middle child of John James, a farmer, and his wife Elizabeth.
James was educated at the Grammar Schools in Carmarthen and Haverfordwest, then studied medicine at St Bart's Hospital, London, where he became gold medallist in clinical medicine in 1871. He was first registered as a medical practitioner in New Zealand in 1873, initially settling in Reefton. From 1878 to 1884, he was Surgeon Superintendent at the Westland Hospital.
(Haverfordwest Grammar School, Wales)
He married Jane McLean Clayton in 1875, from whom he was separated in 1883. Their only child, Laura Elizabeth was born in 1880. Dr. James returned to England in 1884, before finally deciding to come back to New Zealand permanently in 1892, settling in Wellington where he lived at lived at “Henllan”, 16 Sydney Street.
In 1897, David was elected President of the United Tradesmen’s (Rugby) Football Club. He served as Patron of the Melrose (Rugby) Football Club (1898-1902) and as Vice-President of the Poneke (Rugby) Football Club (1905-1913). He was also a Vice-President of the Wellington Rugby Union (1899-1900). Among other sporting interests, Dr. James was Vice-President of Midland Cricket Club (1895-1901), the Wellington Boxing Association (1911-1916), the Wellington Cycling Club (1897-1902) and he was a committee member of the Wellington Racing Club. He was a generous benefactor to all sports with his time, money and donated trophies.
(Welshman Dr. David James was an active supporter of community sport in the Capital)
Appointed Public Health Officer for Wellington in 1895, in the spring of 1897 he was in attendance at the Basin Reserve for the cricket match between the Midland and Rival clubs, when a ball was hit by a batsman among the spectators seated in front of the pavilion, striking one of them on the head with great force, rendering him insensible. It was at first feared that the man had been killed, but after some little time, under the care of Dr. James, the spectator recovered his faculties and was taken home "in a dazed state".
(Crowds watch a cricket match at the Basin Reserve on a damp afternoon)
Following a short illness, Dr. James died on 24 July 1916. He was buried in Wellington’s Karori cemetery the following day, attended by members of the medical profession and Railways Department (to whom he had provided service as medical officer).
The Final Word …
“We live by history; history is what defines us."
(Warren Mfula – Corinthian-Casuals FC)
