basketball »
Basketball was invented in 1891 by Dr James Naismith, and it was termed basketball because the aim of the game was to shoot the ball into a basket. A real basket. With a bottom. Which meant after every score the players had to climb up a ladder to retrieve the ball. Imagine the face palms when someone asked them why don't they just put a hole in the bottom so the ball comes straight back out.
1 subalbum
cricket »
New Zealand's national summer sport. And a great way to spend a day in the sun drinking beer.
3 subalbums
football »
Association Football. Soccer. Futbol. Footy. The Beautiful Game. Plain old football. Slightly misnamed, in that you can use your head, chest, stomach (if you so wish), and one player per team can use their hands.
12 subalbums
netball »
If there is one sport that epitomises the maxim that "the ball is faster than the woman", then netball is it. Because the players are not allowed to move when they are in possession of the ball, the only way to progress the game is to move the ball; looking through the restricted view of a camera lens and trying to follow that movement is challenging at best, frustrating at worst. But all the more fun because of that.
9 subalbums
recreational »
Occasionally I'll come across people taking part in some sort of physical activity that isn't part of an organised event, but which you'd have to call sport. (Or would you?) In any case, these are photos from such pastimes.
1 subalbum
roller derby »
Roller Derby is a surprisingly old sport (1884, if you count roller skating endurance events as roller derby and believe Wikipedia), but it has only recently set up shop in Wellington with the Richter City Roller Derby League.
12 subalbums
rugby »
Rugby is New Zealand's national sport, and it's one which we seem to be pretty good at. Every World Cup since 1987 notwithstanding.
11 subalbums
rugby sevens »
A popular variant of rugby union, sevens is played on a full-sized rugby field by teams of seven. Over the years it has become more and more specialised, and now has its own international circuit. Historically dominated by Fiji and New Zealand, more and more countries are now genuinely competing. And like it or not, sevens will be making its debut as an Olympic sport at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
2 subalbums