Summer reissue: In a leafy park in Queenstown, George Driver discovers why New Zealand produces the best tree climbers in the world. First published November 16 2020 I could hear them before I could see them. The sound of a dozen people hollering rolled across Lake Wakatipu. Entering Queenstown Gardens I soon found the source … Read more
In a leafy park in Queenstown, George Driver discovers why New Zealand produces the best tree climbers in the world. I could hear them before I could see them. The sound of a dozen people hollering rolled across Lake Wakatipu. Entering Queenstown Gardens I soon found the source – a group dressed in fluro shouting … Read more
Oliver Tree is a semi-pro scooter athlete, a brilliant character actor, and a musician with a breadth of experience rare for any millennial. And he’s finally released an album. That skater-emo voice, those dirty pop beats, the tearing lyrics and absurdist videos – and then, out of nowhere, ska. Oliver Tree’s inspiration must come from … Read more
Basketball is growing massively in popularity around the country, led by thousands of youngsters picking up the game every day. To the Line looks at what it’s like for New Zealand high school kids with hoop dreams. If there’s been a narrative rumbling away in the sports pages, it’s that of basketball’s seemingly unstoppable momentum … Read more
February 2020 is never coming back. In part one of a two part series, Duncan Greive looks at which industries will be smashed post-lockdown – and how elimination might provide unexpected opportunities to recover. As we turn to face the end of lockdown, the precise shape of which is necessarily still being determined, there’s an … Read more
At the highest gathering place of New Zealand sport, UFC champion and sportsman of the year Israel Adesanya delivered the message he has long been destined to give, writes Scotty Stevenson. I met Don Rowe in a Hamilton toilet. At the time I was editing a sports magazine and he was a pending graduate of … Read more
The Silver Ferns went from top of the world to rock bottom and back again in the 2010s. Four different coaches brought four very different approaches to the game over 10 years, and the team ended up writing the biggest comeback story of the decade. Here’s how. At the start of this decade, the Silver … Read more
Emily Writes gushes about the show she never thought she’d enjoy so much: the endurance-testing, gravity-defying Australian Ninja Warrior. I never intended to watch Ninja Warrior. I had originally thought it was similar to that show where people get nailed on a course above water. I didn’t really see the appeal of people getting smacked … Read more
With the fourth and final game of the Constellation Cup this afternoon, the Silver Ferns are out to prove their consistency and put a bow on what has been an amazing 2019 season. Coach Noeline Taurua shares her thoughts on today’s game and the changing landscape of netball in New Zealand. In ten years of … Read more
In this episode of our new tarot reading show Wild Card, The Spinoff’s resident psychic divines the outcome of the All Blacks’ opening match against the Springboks on Saturday. In the first and potentially only episode of Wild Card, we have a focus on sport. The Spinoff’s psychic-in-residence, Jo Sees, specialises in divining breakups and … Read more
In 2003 the Silver Ferns won the Netball World Cup, breaking the Australian Diamonds’ 16-year winning streak. In 2019, they’ve just done the same thing. Leana de Bruin was a rookie in that 2003 team, and talked to The Spinoff about the hard work and emotional high of becoming world champions. Just 11 months since … Read more
Twelve years since she last watched a Netball World Cup, Alice Webb-Liddall revisits her childhood passion to preview the 2019 competition before the Silver Ferns’ first game tonight. New Zealand has been in a bit of a slump when it comes to netball. What used to be a staple school sport is being closed in … Read more
After a decade feeling alienated from sport, Hannah Spyksma returned to the netball courts and found it just as good as when she left. It’s winter sport time and this year I’ve decided to break an almost 14-year drought. A Saturday netball playing drought. These are sentences I never imagined I’d write because in all … Read more
Madeleine Chapman on dropping the perfect (dive) bomb – and why it’s worth protecting. This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine. The key to popping a perfect manu lies in the bum. Before the body has even left the platform, or rock, or bridge, the bum is out. Arms up, back straight, knees bent, … Read more
New Zealand currently invests in Olympic medals when it should be investing in viable careers for our athletes, argues Madeleine Chapman. “Inspiring the nation through winning on the world stage” That’s the core value expressed by High Performance Sport New Zealand, the agency responsible for allocating government funding to national sporting bodies each year. Last … Read more
The Football Ferns are about to get equal pay to the male All Whites when they represent New Zealand. It’s a huge step for the sport, but will it lead to genuine equality across football? Read on in today’s cheat sheet. What’s all this then? For what is believed to be the first time in … Read more
Christchurch’s new sports hub Ngā Puna Wai is set to open in stages over 2018–19, with track and field facilities due first in May this year, followed by hockey in July. Big-ticket metropolitan projects like Ngā Puna Wai of course stand out, but meanwhile there’s also a quiet sports-hub revolution going on in the suburbs, … Read more
Madeleine Chapman tunes into DUKE to watch their new sport chat show Short & Wide, and amazingly doesn’t find a particularly comfortable place for women. When TVNZ announced their new male-skewed channel, DUKE, at the start of this year, it was unsurprisingly met with disdain. But programmers were quick to note that it wasn’t a channel for … Read more
Why are so many women’s sports played in near-empty stadiums? Madeleine Chapman suggests some big changes to bring in more fans. Over the weekend I took a bus to Tauranga to watch the first of three tournaments aimed at deciding the best women’s basketball team in New Zealand. The event was held at ASB Baypark Arena, a huge sporting complex … Read more
Everybody else is dabbin’ it so why can’t we? Calum Henderson surveys the field and offers a tempting range of odds on the first Kiwi to dab during a live TV sports event. Cam Newton wasn’t the first professional athlete to dab during a game, but he dabbed with such panache that it helped ignite … Read more
There are turbulent times ahead as we enter the five stages of hysteria leading up to the Rugby World Cup final, writes Finlay Macdonald. It began immediately after Australia’s mildly convincing win over Argentina in the second semi-final, with a classic bit of clickbait: “Five reasons to fear the Wallabies”. The article was really just … Read more
For the past few years, Israel Adesanya has been on an unstoppable tear through combat sports, racking up titles across Australasia and the stadiums of China. Don Rowe sits down for breakfast with the Stylebender ahead of his third King in the Ring elimination tournament next weekend. With more than 40 professional kickboxing wins, two King in … Read more
We thought about doing a Rugby World Cup drinking game, but, let’s face it, that would be kind of seedy for games that kick off at 4am and 8am. So instead, in a breakfast mood, The Spinoff presents a (Non) Drinking Game, in which the penalties involve the consumption of dry breakfast cereal biscuits (such … Read more
There are approximately three million golfers active on the PGA tour. We know the big names – the Spieths, the McIlroys, the Days – and they’re all well and good. But who are the cool, funny, and weird golfing legends hiding down the card, the ones we can really get behind? Is there a golf … Read more
Ever wondered why has a horse never won an ESPY? Joseph Harper spends a vexed afternoon watching the surreal awards ceremony, and reports back with his findings. Yesterday I watched the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, aka the ESPYs. It was super weird. I’ve never watched the Halberg awards, but based on video highlights and pictures … Read more
Some great news came through yesterday: John Campbell is going to Samoa to play rugby. In anticipation of the big match The Spinoff’s leading rugby expert has picked John Campbell’s Rugby Team XV for their first ever test match against Samoa. 1 Duncan Garner Like his front row teammates, Garner has proven he can more … Read more
With the first full-time female referee appointed to the NFL last week, Elle Hunt examines the low-key feminist crusaders who blazed the fictional way in Friday Night Lights. // Friday Night Lights is ostensibly about a high school football team in Texas – but is actually about being a good friend and partner and parent, especially … Read more
Dan Clist watched all four hours of 2015’s Wrestlemania extravaganza, and argues that wrestling remains one of the greatest forms of television entertainment on offer.. // Something weird happened to me about 18 months ago. I still cannot explain it to this day, but I had an inkling and I began to – once again … Read more
Stevie TV is a monthly column for The Spinoff by Steve Braunias. Here he makes a really convincing argument that it was better to watch the Black Caps game last night on TV than being stuck at Eden Park. // Did you watch last night’s game? Most New Zealanders who saw the Black Caps incred, … Read more