The star of the 1990 Commonwealth Games was a young New Zealand gymnast whose shock win catapulted her to national celebrity status. But Nikki Jenkins wasn’t our only gymnastic champion that year – this is the story of Angela Walker, New Zealand’s forgotten gold medalist. When you see an athlete competing at an Olympics or … Read more
The star of the 1990 Commonwealth Games was a young New Zealand gymnast whose shock win catapulted her to national celebrity status. But Nikki Jenkins wasn’t our only gymnastic champion that year – this is the story of Angela Walker, New Zealand’s forgotten gold medalist. When you see an athlete competing at an Olympics or … Read more
Watch all the episodes released so far from Scratched, The Spinoff’s video series celebrating New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. Tuariki Delamere’s somersault long jump In the 1970s, a young New Zealand athlete introduced the world to a radical new long jump technique. … Read more
Watch the trailer below, featuring Meda McKenzie, Tuariki Delamere, Lee Ralph and more. Watch episode one: Meda McKenzie vs the Cook Strait Watch episode two: Tuariki Delamere’s somersault long jump One morning in 1978, 15-year-old Meda McKenzie got into the water off the coast of Wellington and started swimming. Just over 12 hours later, she … Read more
In the 1970s, a young New Zealand athlete introduced the world to a radical new long jump technique. But unlike high jumper Dick Fosbury and the Fosbury Flop, the Delamere Flip never got off the ground. Tuariki Delamere is upside down. Suspended in mid-air above the sandpit at the LA Coliseum, his knees are tucked … Read more
At a college track and field meet in 1974, a New Zealand long jumper representing Washington State University did something that had never been done in competition before – a somersault. Years before he joined NZ First and became a member of parliament, Tuariki Delamere was a promising long jump athlete with a scholarship at … Read more
The gymnastics governing body has admitted the sport has been physically and psychologically abusive, and apologised for past harms. But saying sorry isn’t enough, writes former international gymnast Georgia Cervin. Within days of serious allegations of physical and psychological abuse in New Zealand gymnastics emerging in late 2020, the sport’s governing body Gymnastics New Zealand … Read more
The NZ men’s cricket side has gone from hopeless to number one in the test rankings in seven short years. Michael Appleton breaks it down, and asks: can we lock in that run of success? To be a Black Caps fan is to be familiar with disappointment. Thudding, repetitive, painful disappointment. For much of our … Read more
What compels someone to swim in open water for 12 hours, and what motivates them to turn around and swim the whole way back? Meda McKenzie did it simply to prove it could be done, and was far too stubborn to ever give up. Watching Scratched – or the Olympics, or virtually any professional sport – … Read more
Not many people have swum across the Cook Strait – fewer still have turned around and swum all the way back again too. Scratched meets Meda McKenzie, endurance swimmer. Meda McKenzie could swim. She was never a particularly fast swimmer, and never went to an Olympics or Commonwealth Games. It was her stamina and endurance … Read more
After a byzantine process, some beautiful performances and a fair splash of luck, the Black Caps will be playing for the biggest prize in cricket – the first ever World Test Championship. Alex Braae explains how they got there. What’s all this then? In June this year, Kane Williamson will lead the Black Caps onto … Read more
New to sailing? As the Prada Cup resumes, here’s how to talk like a pro. When I was 10, my mum made my brother and me join the local sailing club. It was a favourite pastime of families in Kerikeri, and my brother was actually quite good. I lasted only a few weeks before being … Read more
Summer reissue: Crowd entertainment at sports games is a hard task, but please let’s stick to T-shirt cannons and on-field japes instead of watching strangers smooch, eh? First published July 13, 2020. Funny kiss cam footage is a key element of any viral fail video compilation. A “she’s my sister” sign pulled out of a … Read more
Summer reissue: After last weekend’s Bledisloe Cup match, Justin Latif asks why we’ve fallen out of love with drop kicking. First published October 17, 2020. October 6, 2007 was truly one of the darkest days of my life. To many New Zealand sports fans, just hearing the words “two thousand and seven” elicits cold sweats … Read more
All this week we’re looking back on some of the best videos published on The Spinoff in 2020. Today, when Scratched caught up with Joeli Vidiri, the greatest All Black that never was. Most customers at Mitre 10 Mega in Pukekohe don’t realise they’ve just been greeted by one of the most exciting talents in … Read more
With venues slow to pick up Spark Sport, New Zealand cricket fans might have trouble finding places showing the games. Alex Braae reports. For decades, any sports bar worth the name will have had a Sky Sports subscription. Long hazy days at the pub could be spent watching a test match slowly unfold, punctuated by … Read more
City Kickboxing’s Eugene Bareman talks to Michelle Langstone about what drew him to the sport, training his fighters during the Covid-19 lockdown, and helping build his beloved gym from the ground up. Portraits by Edith Amituanai. The air inside Auckland’s City Kickboxing gym is heavy with a fug of sweat so thick it feels as … Read more
This year, a whole lot of the traditional summer of cricket will be very different. What’s changing, and what’s staying the same? Alex Braae explains. It’s that time of year again, when we all mercifully forget the All Blacks and spend long, hazy days watching grown adults gently strolling around a park. A time of … Read more
NZ Rugby is in a fascinating situation at the moment, with some big calls to be made over the coming years. The man in charge of making them joins Duncan Greive on this week’s episode of The Fold. Mark Robinson probably has one of the most complex jobs in the country. As CEO of NZ … Read more
Rugby commentator Keith Quinn’s call for rugby players to ‘harden up’ shows how much New Zealand’s macho culture has changed since the days he ruled the airwaves, writes Trevor McKewen, author of the book Real Men Wear Black. I have a confession to make. I am helplessly addicted to the tearjerking TV documentary series Lost … Read more
Review: In their heyday they were invulnerable, but now the likes of Piri Weepu and Eroni Clarke are all too human. That’s what makes Match Fit so compelling, says Duncan Greive. Match Fit is aimed at the more casual class of rugby fan, but its audience would likely bristle at what lies underneath its code-heavy … Read more
When the Wallabies’ Oikoumene ‘Hunter’ Paisami and All Black Ofa Tu’ungafasi face off this weekend they’ll not only be representing their respective nations, but also their former school of Māngere College. A small high school in South Auckland will be cheering for both sides tomorrow at Eden Park – they’ve got old boys in the … Read more
After last weekend’s Bledisloe Cup match, Justin Latif asks why we’ve fallen out of love with drop kicking. October 6, 2007 was truly one of the darkest days of my life. To many New Zealand sports fans, just hearing the words “two thousand and seven” elicits cold sweats and furrowed brows. If you’re unsure what … Read more
Some people made sourdough. Some took up sewing. But Sacha Judd and her friends got through this pandemic-dominated year by developing a curious obsession with a curious sport. No one needs another thinkpiece about the effect of 2020 on our exhausted brains. You’ve already read a hundred hot takes bemoaning the fact that we can’t … Read more
Israel Adesanya has fought his way to the top of his sport, and into the hearts and minds of New Zealanders – whether they want him there or not. What’s at stake when he fights this weekend in Abu Dhabi? Just two years into his UFC career, mixed martial artist Israel Adesanya is a bonafide … Read more
If the government thought warding off a risk of economic catastrophe and unnecessary death was more important than securing the right to host the Rugby Championship, it has another thing coming, writes Hayden Donnell. Like many Kiwis, my biggest fear when Labour won the election in 2017 was that Jacinda Ardern would curse the All … Read more
All Black fans are desperate to watch them take on Australia. But the arguments for playing in New Zealand are worse than flimsy, writes Scotty Stevenson. On October 10 this year, the All Blacks and the Wallabies will play the first match of a Bledisloe Cup series. If there is any fairness left in the … Read more
In the Counties-Manukau and Auckland Blues teams of the late 1990s, ‘Big Joe’ was one half of a double act the likes of which we may never see again. Only a handful of players, maybe fewer, could ever claim to have equal billing in a match featuring Jonah Lomu – but Joeli Vidiri was one … Read more
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, Joeli Vidiri, the greatest All Black that never was. Most customers at Mitre 10 Mega in Pukekohe don’t realise they’ve just been greeted by one of … Read more