Read Getting Set for an Active Nation - Sport New Zealand

“home”. Imperial links were further reinforced by the institution of the Empire Games in
1930, now known as the Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand’s initial entry into the Olympic Games in the early decades of the twentieth
century was undertaken as part of an Australasian team. Subsequent decades have seen the
country perform in its own right with a range of Olympic heroes.
For Maori, marae sport and activity was a special feature of their life in the first half of the
twentieth century. Haka, poi and action songs shared the billing with such sports as hockey,
netball or tennis keenly contested at iwi gatherings that attracted thousands. The physical
and leisure activities became a feature in settings such as those of Waihirere and Ngati
Poneke.
The impact of political and economic forces upon New Zealand society in the depression of
the 1930s was also seen in their influence upon sport, such as at the annual meeting of
Auckland soccer in 1932 when many clubs were declared to be unfinancial. A 1935
advertisement for Darlow’s footballs advised potential purchasers they would be assisting the
New Zealand farmer, tanner and football maker “and thus relieving the bugbear of
unemployment in your own country”. Two years later, however, a step forward in New
Zealand sport came with the Physical Welfare and Recreation Act 1937. The Labour
Government of that time was concerned at the low level of fitness of young New Zealanders
and implications this had for defence. Parliamentary rhetoric revealed bipartisan beliefs in the
moral and social values of sport for the individual and society. The Act provided for central
government to grant sport facilities money to local governments and allowed local
government to spend money on these facilities. A physical welfare programme was hindered
by the advent of World War II. A National Council for Sport, set up to support sporting
bodies, withered.
Post-war, the country’s population became more urban and increasingly mobile. Perceived
social problems, such as the antisocial behaviour of teenagers with few facilities for activity,
influenced consideration of the social role of sport in New Zealand society. Coupled with the
post-war industrial growth and resultant urban development, the integral place of sport in
New Zealand society was reflected in the provision of sports grounds and facilities by local
governments. In the late 1950s and early 1960s for example, the new timber town of
Kaingaroa had two dozen different organisations associated with sport (Chapple, 1973,
p.129). The daily press of each decade reveals the extent to which recreation and sport
featured in contemporary life and indicates the gendered experience of these for much of the
century.
The Recreation and Sport Act 1973, provided for the establishment of a Council for Recreation
and Sport and created the Office of a Minister of Recreation and Sport. Administratively, the
political recognition of sport – at times in a response to perceived social needs – was further
reflected in the rise of the New Zealand Sports Foundation and the Hillary Commission.
Arguably, these structures have assumed de facto roles of social organisation and control of
recreation and sport through their powers of financial disbursement and economic patronage.
In the past three decades the main administrative changes, and reviews of recreation and
sport have included:
Ministerial Taskforce on Sport, Fitness & Leisure January 2001 page 20 of 153