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
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
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
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: 5 million Covid vaccines on the way in major new agreement, new tourism minister confirms change in industry focus, and an outstanding outline of the current drug law mess. There is now the possibility that every single New Zealander who wants a Covid vaccine will … 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
In a classic case of better late than never, pioneering Māori tennis player Ruia Morrison was honoured at the 2020 ASB Classic in Auckland. She looked so small, standing on a tennis court with Kiingi Tūheitia on one side and Serena Williams on the other. In her slightly-too-large blazer she looked too small to have … 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, Ruia Morrison meets Serena Williams. Watch the original Ruia Morrison episode of Scratched here. At the ASB Classic winner’s ceremony, Serena Williams, having just won her first title … Read more
Catch up on Scratched, The Spinoff’s video series celebrating New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. Ruia Morrison: An unlikely tennis journey from Rotorua to Wimbledon Meet Ruia Morrison, the first New Zealand woman and first Māori tennis player to compete at Wimbledon. Raised … Read more
The Spinoff produced four web series in 2019. Here is the cream of the crop. Scratched: Ruia Morrison’s unlikely tennis journey from Rotorua to Wimbledon Meet Ruia Morrison, the first New Zealand woman and first Māori tennis player to compete at Wimbledon. Raised on the courts of Te Koutu in the 1940s, Morrison quickly dominated … Read more
When Barbara Cox joined a football team in 1973, she was one of the first women in the country to do so. She’s still fighting for women in the sport to get the respect they deserve. Auckland women didn’t play football in 1972. Auckland women cooked and cleaned and looked after the children while their … 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, Barbara Cox, the matriarch of New Zealand football. New Zealand’s first women’s football team wasn’t formed until 1975. Barbara Cox was the captain, and led the … Read more
After a short but successful career in China, table tennis champion Chunli Li moved to New Zealand to coach. She soon discovered she was better than everyone, and that was a problem. Chunli Li trains alone. In the basement of the Panmure YMCA, four regulation table tennis tables occupy the floor space. On the wall … 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, quadruple Commonwealth Games medal winner, Chunli Li. Chunli Li moved to New Zealand in 1987 to retire from table tennis, aged 25. Instead, she was asked … Read more
Before Zumba, before Just Dance, before it was cool again to move in public group settings, there was Jump Jam. Madeleine Chapman reflects. Jump Jam entered the lives of New Zealand kids in 2001, a year filled with historic cultural movements. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in 2001; Frodo and Sam introduced … 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, aerobics world champion and creator of Jump Jam, Brett Fairweather. Every New Zealander under the age of 30 knows at least one Jump Jam song. “Witch … Read more
In 1981, New Zealand runner Anne Audain accepted prize money for winning a race. In doing so, she changed the status of professional sports all around the world. Anne Audain always led from the front. In middle distance running, more so than the shorter races, strategy will often beat raw speed. Drafting behind the leader, … 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, the world’s winningest road runner, Anne Audain. Anne Audain has won more races than she’s lost. In fact, of the 112 road races that Audain ran … Read more
This weekend, lend your eyeballs to our three new shows: Two Sketches with Toby Morris, Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends and On the Rag. Look, it’s the weekend and you’ve already watched all the things. You’ve watched Game of Thrones. You’ve watched Dancing With the Stars NZ. You’ve watched the video of the goat in … Read more
One of New Zealand’s most successful tennis players has fallen through the cracks of sporting history. Madeleine Chapman tells the story of Ruia Morrison, Wimbledon quarter finalist. Ruia Morrison is standing on her back porch, whacking her neighbour’s overgrown hedge with a tennis racquet. She’s employing a forehand overhead volley technique and it’s working. Satisfied, … Read more
Introducing Scratched, an original web series that finds and celebrates the lost sporting legends of Aotearoa. There are many sportspeople whose names are uttered regularly by New Zealanders, and whose stories have been told over and over again. But what about the athletes whose lives and careers have faded from the national memory? New … Read more