Issue 50 : 8 March 2020

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.


This is the 50th issue of the Association's fortnightly newsletter, which was first published on the 18th of March, 2018. Since then, the editorial focus has been based on the Association's strategic pillars of amateur advocacy, thought leadership and community engagement.


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.

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“Chequing Out” – The Impact On Community Sport ...

Another case of shareholder dividend before social cost?

In July 2011, “Payments NZ” commissioned a review into the use of cheques in New Zealand. The review found that accounts in rural regions use approximately 15 per cent more cheques per year than accounts in urban areas and that organisations are by far the biggest cheque acceptors, receiving 87 per cent of all cheques issued.



Should news this week that Government-owned Kiwibank will no longer accept cheques become a portent for all retail bank customers, there is a risk that New Zealand’s rural sporting communities will be widely affected. In particular, in areas where cash is no longer freely available from over-the-counter banks, or where internet access is still unreliable, cheque payments for club fees and other associated club costs have long been an effective and secure way for clubs to manage their finances.



While electronic banking is common-place in urban areas, rural New Zealand (according to a recent Consumer New Zealand survey), found that rural internet services are more expensive and less reliable than elsewhere, with a third of survey respondents disappointed in their connection speeds. Moreover, in June last year, Sport New Zealand published an on-line resource for the “Financial Management of Clubs” (click here for more details), noting that in order to run successfully, “club[s] will need a cheque account” and that “cheque books provide a simple and effective way to track the club's spending”, with a common process being that “usually clubs have two management committee members (including the treasurer) who are authorised to jointly sign the club's cheques.”



For many sport clubs, cheques are an important part of their financial management and form part of the necessary checks and balances for good governance. Perhaps the metaphorical “Bank Of Success” needs to fully consider "social" as well as "shareholder" returns?


NSCS Southern Seminar Series ...

The National Sport Club Survey (NSCS) will be expanded to focus on "participation" in amateur sport in New Zealand. Findings from the NZ Amateur Sport Association and AUT Sports Performance Research Institute "National Sport Club Survey" for 2019 were presented to representatives of sporting organisations in Christchurch and Dunedin last week.

Lead AUT researcher Dr Michael Naylor says the response was very positive. “The national concern about the loss of young people to sport across New Zealand is being turned into positive action with clubs facing the realities of building and retaining membership and understanding how to approach the problems being faced within amateur sport,” says Dr Naylor.



Dr Naylor and researcher Mel Johnston revealed issues within club management, professional administration, attracting more resources through sponsorship, and the potential role of casual membership in maintaining participation. The survey also revealed the need for younger members to be involved in club and sport administration roles to bring in new ideas and reflect the needs and values of younger people.

“Our 2020 research focus which gets under way later this year will concentrate on participation, which is a key factor in growing and retaining the number of young people involved in sport across all levels. Participation is about enjoying sport, friendships, and encouraging opportunities for casual engagement together with harnessing technology to make access easier,” he says. “Change will be a challenge for some clubs and sporting codes and for some there will be a need for hard decisions to be taken now before it is too late,” he added.



Association Chairman Gordon Noble-Campbell says the workshops provided a valuable resource for all sports organisations and sharpened focus on key areas that need to be addressed. “Our snapshot of participation within clubs across New Zealand association has a vital role to play in broadening the vision of organisations promoting and administering sport.”

(Article kindly provided by Warren Inkster, Canterbury Branch Chairman, NZ ASA)


Sesquicentennial Of Club Rugby Football ...

150 years ago, Nelson Football Club travelled to the Capital to play Wellington Football Club on a “rather stony” ground “overgrown with Scotch thistles” in Korokoro, near Petone. Newspapers of the time noted that “the match taking place so far from Wellington caused comparatively little interest to be taken in it”, with the greatest excitement being, “the race out to the Hutt and home again in the rival vehicles”. Nelson won the match, with 14 men against 12 (according to the Wellington papers), or with 14 men against 15 (according to the Nelson papers).


(The Wellington team in gold and the Nelson team in blue, following yesterday's match)


Yesterday saw a sesqui-centennial commemorative match played between the two clubs at Wellington’s Hataitai Park, with Nelson emerging the victors by 32 points to 21. At the time of the first match, Queen Victoria was on the throne and Joseph Dransfield was the first Mayor of Wellington, following the establishment of the Wellington City Council that year. Hataitai Park did not become the home ground of the Wellington Football Club until 1935, with the Wellington City Council contributing 50 per cent of the cost of the new club rooms. Both clubs (Wellington and Nelson) have official commemoration events planned this year.


(Hataitai Park in Wellington has been the home of the Wellington FC since the 1930's)


Viewpoint : School Sport For Sale ...

Is the purpose of sport in schools to form citizens for community benefit, or to produce athletes for commercial benefit? Recent media reports indicating that the rights to broadcast certain student sport competitions have been sold by New Zealand secondary school sport’s governing body, underscores the increasing alarm over decreasing teenage participation in sport and the flow-on impact for community sports clubs.

While this Association suggests that developing a “love of the game” should be the primary factor behind secondary schools offering sporting opportunities to their students, it also understands the attraction for schools to maximise commercial opportunities arising from fostering a high-performance environment which invites media attention. If students are placed under pressure to perform in the sporting arena at a cost to their broader education and social development, they may simply choose to opt-out of school and community club sport altogether.


(Who receives the money paid for the broadcasting of secondary school sport?)


Observing that the Education Act 1989 makes no reference to sport and that the Education Ministry’s Health and Physical Education curriculum highlights the purpose of students’ involvement in sport as “contributing to the well-being of those around them, of their communities, of their environments, and of wider society”, the Association wonders if all secondary school students and their families are aware that their sporting performances are now potentially being monetised?


(What are the qualities that secondary school sport is intended to foster in students?)


Given that state and state-integrated schools are required to provide free education and free enrolment, the Association believes that the question of who benefits from the sale of student sport performances (across all sports) is one which requires urgent attention from schools, from the Ministry of Education and from Sport New Zealand. Moreover, as the majority of secondary school students are minors under law, the Association notes that schools have both an explicit and implied obligation to protect their students from harm, (including media exploitation).


Otago All-Rounder Reflects On Community Sporting Spirit ...

One of Edwin Harley’s fondest sporting memories was selection for the Otago Brabin Shield cricket side as a 19 year-old bowler and scoring a hat-trick in his first match for the province. But his sporting memories, like for most amateurs, also carry their share of disappointments. Selected for the Otago Country rugby football team, Harley broke his leg five days before the team’s first fixture. As an adult, Harley discovered the Scottish sport of curling and went on to become a member of the New Zealand curling team which participated in the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships in Samagihara, Japan in 1991, coming third. His continued interest in the sport saw him becoming a driving force behind the development of Dunedin’s Ice Stadium. In more recent times, Harley has been heavily involved with the Mosgiel RSA Bowling Club, whose grounds were sold last year to meet the financial needs of the Mosgiel RSA Club.


(The Mosgiel RSA Bowling Club's grounds have been sold by the Mosgiel RSA)


Attending the Association’s NSCS seminar in Dunedin last week, Harley observed that Otago still has a strong community sporting spirit. A club man through-and-through, he notes that sport clubs provide an opportunity for people to come together around a common interest, particularly those living alone. Having achieved sporting success as a teenager, Harley believes the biggest challenge for Otago’s sporting community is getting youth involved in clubs following their school years, noting that teachers are no longer as involved in promoting team sport to students. In this regard, Harley suggests that schools need to develop stronger relationships with clubs. According to Harley, future success relies on youth becoming involved in sport in the community, whether or not they have aspirations to become champions.


(Edwin Harley, Otago sport all-rounder and community sport advocate)


From The Archives ...

“THE ROARIN’ GAME”

EVENING STAR, ISSUE 22694, 7 JULY 1937

“With 104 players from 13 clubs, the New Zealand Curling Provinces’ bonspiel commenced at Naseby yesterday morning. With the influx of players and visitors the old mining town, now only a shadow of itself in the hectic days of the gold rush, assumed a new atmosphere and above all was the roar of the stones as they glided over the ice and the shouted instructions of the skips to their teams.

Six inches of keen black ice were available, but a knife-like wind from the south, accompanied by occasional falls of snow made the conditions unpleasant. As the day progressed conditions improved, and the sun shone through the clouds. There was a fall of snow before nightfall, however. The ice conditions were good, and after the curlers had learned the run of the ice some very fine, exhibitions were witnessed. As the preliminary games were disposed of there was keen excitement in the games for the provincial medal and the two district medals.”



John D Enwright from St. Bathans, the son of prospector James Enwright, was elected President of the New Zealand Curling Province in 1934, which was originally formed in the 1880’s at St. Bathans, Central Otago. A member of St. Bathans’ Alpine Curling Club (which was originally formed in 1895), in June 1935, he and seven others from Otago travelled to Australia for a series of matches in Sydney and Melbourne, in a team which became known as the “Ladies Hairdressers”, in a typically Trans-Tasman jibe at the name of the New Zealander’s unfamiliar sport.



The Australian side for the Trans-Tasman "test matches" was captained by Captain Moffatt-Pender, whose wife had won Switzerland’s St. Moritz Curling Club’s “Jackson Cup” in the sport. In perhaps the world’s first example of gender-neutral international sport, Mrs. Moffatt-Pender and “Mrs Allen” played in the Australian team against the New Zealand men. The New Zealand team lost two out of the three test matches, drawing the third. New Zealand first entered a team in the World Curling Championships in 1999, finishing 10th out of 10 teams. New Zealand’s best international result was 5th place in 2012.


The Final Word ...

"The message that they [NZASA] are trying to get across is that for the wellbeing and health of society, sporting clubs have an important and beneficial role to play."

(Otago Daily Times, 5 March 2020)


© 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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