Issue 42 : 3 November 2019

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. We hope you enjoy reading the articles below. 

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.

If you are interested in applying for membership of the Association, please click here.


Association Welcomes New Members ...

Sport Northland and Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby Football Union are two new regional sporting bodes who have recently elected to join the Association.



They are joined by Petanque Taieri (Otago), the Mountain Green Archery Club (Auckland) and Bay Twisters Cheerleading (Bay of Plenty), who have also joined the Association, as Community Clubs. The Association also welcomes Mark Watson as a Member.



Whanau First For Ngati Porou East Coast RFU ...

Despite six seasons without registering a win, the Ngati Porou East Coast senior rugby side came close to breaking their drought twice this year, narrowly losing to West Coast and Poverty Bay in the Heartland Championship. Despite their determined efforts, the Union's last on-field victory was against their close neighbours Poverty Bay, in 2013.


(Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby is New Zealand's only iwi-based rugby body)


However, while the Union may have experienced little by way of championship success in recent times, readers may recall that in 2001 East Coast were only one victory away from promotion to the first division of the National Provincial Championship (NPC). Moreover, since 1921, the Union has provided New Zealand with five All Blacks: George Nepia, Buff Milner, Tori Reid, Andy Jefferd, and Jimmy Mills.

New Zealand’s smallest rugby union, which in 1998 considered amalgamating with Poverty Bay, East Coast provides a strong sporting and community connection to around 500 players between Potaka (north-east of Hicks Bay) and Pouawa (north-east of Gisborne). As the sole iwi-based rugby union in New Zealand, it provides representative teams for Hurricanes regional competitions from the Under 14 to the Under 18 age-groups.


(Cushla Tangaere-Manuel,Chief Executive of Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby)


Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, East Coast's CEO says, "if you are raised on the coast, you are involved in rugby” and with nine close-knit community clubs, the Union continues to play a key role in connecting the region’s geographically diverse communities. The Association warmly welcomes Ngati Porou East Coast’s membership.


2019 National Sport Club Survey Seminars ...

A reminder that you are encouraged to attend a “Reflection on the 2019 National Sport Club Survey”, (NSCS) seminar this month. There are two seminars scheduled in November – one each in Wellington and Auckland. Seminars in other regions are planned for early 2020.



The NSCS is a collaboration between the Association and the Sport Performance Research Institute of New Zealand (SPRINZ) at AUT. Representatives from more than 750 clubs across 75 sports and representing all corners of New Zealand participated in this year’s survey, making for a robust cross-section of the sector. This survey and the insights derived from it - with its broad focus on community sport clubs across codes – complements what we know about individual New Zealanders and what is known within sporting codes.



At the seminars, insights will be provided and discussion facilitated across important topics including Membership, Facilities, Management/Governance, Sponsorship and Governing Bodies. Regional nuances and insights about many codes will feature in these sessions.

  • Wellington Seminar
  • Monday 18 November, 5.00pm - 6.30pm, Sport Wellington, L1, 223 Thorndon Quay.
  • Auckland Seminar
  • Wednesday 20 November, 4.00pm - 5.30pm, Auckland University of Technology, North Campus Stadium (AH) 214, 90 Akoranga Drive, Northcote.

To register your attendance, if you’ve not already done so, please click here.


Sport As “A Tool For Development And Peace” ...

The United Nations defines “sport” as “all forms of physical activity that contribute to physical fitness, mental well-being and social interaction, including: play; recreation; organised, casual or competitive sport; and indigenous sports or games.”



In many parts of the world, there is increasing interest in the potential of sport as a tool to reach personal, community, national and international development objectives. This includes considering how sport can be used as a tool for addressing some of the challenges that arise from humanitarian crises and in conflict (and post-conflict) settings.



As a topical example, charity "Friends of Rwandan Rugby" (FoRR) is helping the Rwanda Rugby Federation to prepare a national team “the Silverbacks”, to compete in a 2023 World Cup qualifying match on 23 November against Ivory Coast. The planned match will be the very first qualification game for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which will be hosted by France.


(The Rwandan "Silverbacks" will play Ivory Coast on 23 November)


You can read more about the United Nations goals by visiting the sportanddev.org web-site.


New Zealand Masters Games – 2020 ...

Since its inception in 1989, the New Zealand Masters Games has grown from 1,500 entrants competing across 29 sports, to over 8,000 entrants and 67 sports, with participants aged from under 20, to over 90. The Games are the largest multi-sport event in New Zealand, with the 2020 New Zealand Masters Games to be held in Dunedin from the 1st to the 9th of February.



The Masters Games offer a full range of sports to participate in for both summer and winter codes. Participants are not elite athletes and there is no qualification criteria. Anyone can register. The goal of the Masters Games is to encourage participation in sport where camaraderie and competition are equally celebrated.



From The Archives ...

TOXOPHILITES* FOREGATHER

ASHBURTON GUARDIAN, VOLUME 71, ISSUE 35, 21 NOVEMBER 1950

"Toxophilites will gather and will exercise their art in Ashburton on Saturday next, and if you hear in the Domain on the nearest football ground to Walnut Avenue the cry of “timber” don’t look up, for fear you meet the same fate as did Harold at Senlac (1066).

Archery flourishes in England, on the Continent of Europe and in the U.S.A., while in Australia there are hundreds of clubs. The pastime apparently began in New Zealand, at Dunedin, in 1939, but was in abeyance during the war. There are now clubs in many New Zealand centres, including Auckland, Gisborne, Wellington, Christchurch and Timaru.

There is a New Zealand Archery Association, with a monthly magazine “The Archer,” and from this periodical even the amateur may learn something of the fascination of the cult of the bow. He reads, for instance, that while a golfer calls “fore” an archer cries “timber” to warn the unwary that a missile will anon be in flight; he gathers that bows are made of yew, hickory, lemonwood or steel, and that the paraphernalia of the sport no longer need be imported, as it is “Made in New Zealand,” and lastly that there is a target, but no bull’s eye, for it is called “the gold.”



Nicholas Joseph Ryan is widely known in New Zealand as the “founder of archery”, establishing the Dunedin Archery Club in 1938, which was to become the largest archery club in Australasia. In 1942, Ryan became the regional executive officer of the newly formed “Australasian Archery Association”. He then formed the “New Zealand Archery Association” in February 1943, which by 1946 had 450 registered members.

In 1945 he was awarded Life Membership of the Dunedin Archery Club. Ryan was President of the New Zealand Archery Association from its formation until his death in 1947 at the age of 65, following which the N J Ryan Memorial Trophy for inter-provincial competition was inaugurated in 1949, (won by Auckland that year).



Today, “Archery New Zealand” is the name of the Association which was first established by Nick Ryan. It is New Zealand’s “target archery” organisation, while the “New Zealand Field Archery Association” is the national body for archers with a broader focus. Both bodies, which are administered by volunteers, work closely together and encourage their respective members to try each other’s sport.

*For those interested in the etymology of archery, the term "toxophile" refers to 'Toxophilus" (a "lover of the bow"), a fictional character who defended archery as a noble pastime in a book about longbow archery, first published in London in 1545.


The Final Word ...

"We can achieve anything, if we work together."

(Siya Kolesi, South Africa's Rugby World Cup winning Captain)



© New Zealand Amateur Sport Association Inc. (2669211), 2017

Registered Office, Level 1, 57 Willis Street, Wellington, 6011

P O Box 582, Wellington, 6140


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