New Zealand Sports – The Most Popular Sports in New Zealand
Wondering what sports the New Zealanders like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in New Zealand in this post. 🏉
The Most Popular New Zealander Sports
Find below New Zealand national sports, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rugby union |
| 2 | Cricket |
| 3 | Rugby league |
| 4 | Netball |
| 5 | Football |
| 6 | Basketball |
| 7 | Motorsport |
| 8 | Golf |
So there you have them, the most popular sports of New Zealand! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in New Zealand.
What is the National Sport of New Zealand?
The national sport of New Zealand is rugby union. Who has never heard of the All Blacks? The almighty New Zealander national rugby union team is probably the best team to ever compete in the sport, and they have won as many World Cups as the Springboks, South Africa’s team.
Everyone who knows about rugby knows about New Zealand and admits they are always part of the favorites in any World tournament.
Learn More About New Zealand Popular Sports
New Zealand is an island country, famous for being home to the legendary All Blacks as well as being the film location for “The Lord of the Rings”. It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, and it is situated around 2,000 km / 1,200 mi east of Australia. Its capital city is Wellington, which counts more than 215,000 inhabitants (but more than 436,000 if you include the metropolitan area).
An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its most popular sports. In light of that, I have listed all the New Zealand popular sports, and I hope you will love them:
Rugby union
The most popular sport in New Zealand is, unsurprisingly, rugby union. The All-Blacks. The most successful sports franchise in history, in any sport on the planet, ever. Rugby union is very popular in the country for this very reason, and it has the largest fanbase. The national team has won the first Rugby World Cup in 1987, and won it again in 2011 and 2015, becoming the only team to successfully defend its title.
While it has now been overtaken by South Africa in the World Rugby Rankings, New Zealand is still the biggest powerhouse rugby union has ever seen.
Famous New Zealander Rugby union players: Jonah Lomu, Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Sonny Bill Williams, Colin Meads, Michael Jones, Beauden Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Zinzan Brooke, Kieran Read, Aaron Smith, Sam Whitelock, TJ Perenara, Ben Smith, Dane Coles, Israel Dagg
Cricket
The second most popular sport in New Zealand is cricket. Cricket is extremely popular in New Zealand, and it is also the national summer sport. While the national competition is not as popular as rugby union matches, many New Zealanders closely follow international tournaments.
Unfortunately, the New Zealand national cricket team has not been as successful as the rugby union team, but no team is, right? They have still reached the World Cup Finals twice in both 2015 and 2019 though and respectively lost to Australia and England.
Famous New Zealander Cricket players: Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson, Richard Hadlee, Martin Crowe, Chris Cairns, Shane Bond, Daniel Vettori, Trent Boult, Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle
Rugby league
The third national sport in New Zealand is rugby league. It looks like New Zealanders really like rugby. So much in fact that 2 of their 3 most popular sports are rugby variants. In case you didn’t know, rugby league is generally less popular than rugby union, and it is played with 13 players on each team, instead of the classic 15.
The national league is only semi-professional, but the New Zealand Warriors play in the Australian National Rugby League, and the sport is slowly growing.
Famous New Zealander Rugby league players: Benji Marshall, Simon Mannering, Sonny Bill Williams, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Hugh McGahan, Shaun Johnson, Mark Graham, Gary Freeman
Netball
The fourth New Zealand’s national sport is netball. Netball is most popular among women, as it is the most popular women’s sport on the island. The sport is still considered a women’s sport, and even though men have their own team, they are largely less popular than the women’s team.
Again, netball is most popular thanks to the national team, the Silver Ferns, which remained at the top of the table alongside Australia for several decades. Since 2008, the sport has been semi-professional and overseen by Netball New Zealand.
Number of Netball licensed players in New Zealand: 140,000 (and 300,000 more play casually)
Famous New Zealander Netball players: Lois Muir, Maria Tutaia, Waimarama Taumaunu, Sandra Edge, Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick, Casey Kopua, Laura Langman, Belinda Colling, Bernice Mene
Football
The fifth most played sport in New Zealand is football. Football fans are unhappy in New Zealand. While the sport is still in the top 5 most popular ones, it still takes a huge hit compared to other countries where it is used to be #2 at the very least.
It is not that New Zealanders do not like football. In fact, it has always been a significant sport on the island. Instead, it is more than rugby and other sports are much more popular.
Famous New Zealander Football players: Wynton Rufer, Shane Edward Smeltz, Thomas Jefferson Smith, Ryan William Nelsen, Christopher Grant Wood, Michael Ryan McGlinchey
Basketball
The sixth main sport in New Zealand is basketball. Basketball has been around in the country since 1908. It was introduced by a former student, J. H. Greenwood.
Now, there is only one New Zealander professional basketball team, the New Zealand Breakers, and they compete in the Australian National Basketball League. There is still a local semi-professional league that runs in the winter months. Also, the national team placed 4th at the 2002 FIBA World Championship, which is their best result. Finally, some New Zealanders like Steven Adams are currently playing in the NBA.
Famous New Zealander Basketball players: Steven Adams, Kirk Penney, Sean Marks, Robert Loe, Glen Denham, Paul Henare, Casey Frank, Puke Lenden, Aron Baynes, Thomas Abercrombie
Motorsport
The seventh on the list of New Zealand most popular sports is motorsport. Even though there has been no major car industry since the 1990s in New Zealand, the country is still very proficient in motorsport. There are many different motorsports: watersports (hydro-planing, jetski racing, …), automobile racing (rallying, …), and motorcycle racing (street, motocross, …).
There has only been 1 New Zealander Formula One World Champion, Denny Hulme, in 1967. Bruce McLaren was also a New Zealand Formula One driver, and his name lives on in the McLaren team, which has been one of the most successful Formula One teams.
Famous New Zealander Motorsport players: Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, Chris Amon, Howden Ganley, John Nicholson, Graham McRae, Brendon Hartley, Mike Thackwell
Golf
The eighth and last most popular sport in New Zealand is golf. Last but not least, golf is yet another sport where New Zealand is simply very good at. Their best player is probably Michael Campbell, who won the 2005 US Open Golf Championship, and Sir Bob Charles has won the British Open as well as other titles.
When it comes to women, Lydia Ko was #1 in the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, and even won other events. She was also #1 in the professional rankings for a bit.
Number of Golf licensed players in New Zealand: 482,000
Famous New Zealander Golf players: Michael Campbell, Bob Charles, Frank Nobilo, Walter Godfrey, Danny Lee, Daniel Hillier, David Smail, Greg Turner, Michael Hendry, Josh Geary
So there you have them, these were all the New Zealand famous sports. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today. Keep reading to get a few more NZ sport facts.
What is the fastest growing sport in NZ?
There are quite a few fast growing sports in New Zealand, notably futsal, the small version of football. However, the fastest growing one has to be pickleball. And yes, this is an actual sport!
Pickleball is a mix between tennis, badminton, and table tennis. It is played on a badminton doubles-sized court and players use paddles. It began 5 years ago in the country and it is already played by around 3,000 people.
Is sport important in New Zealand?
There are many reasons for sport to be so important in New Zealand because it definitely is. First, it contributes to 2.3% of the annual GDP, which is absolutely not neglectable. There are more than 53,000 New Zealanders who work in a field related to sport. Also, it has always been part of the traditions and the local culture, even though it reflects the British colonial heritage.
Why is New Zealand so good at sports?
Generally speaking, New Zealand is just good at sports. That’s it. For such a small nation, they have accomplished a ton. Their national team is the most successful sports franchise in history, of any sport, from anywhere, ever.
For rugby and for other sports, the reason for the success of the team is that they are an important part of the national culture. Starting at a very young age, children learn about sport and spend a lot of their free time practicing.
More Sport Facts!
Loved these New Zealand sports facts? Want to see what sports are the most popular in other countries?
Then check out these posts:
Or click here to see ALL the facts up on the blog! Spoiler alert: there’s A LOT of them.
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