Sports in New Zealand

The unique topography and geographical location not only affects the weather and climate in New Zealand, but also the activities dependent and influenced by them. Most of the sporting activities in New Zealand showcase a culture that is a result of the British colonization. There are a number of sports played in New Zealand and the popular ones include cricket, rugby and net ball, which are also common to the countries that comprise of the British Commonwealth.
The national sport of New Zealand is the rugby union. Net ball played in New Zealand in fact has the maximum female participation on record. The other sports played in New Zealand are golf, tennis and a variety of water sports such as rowing and sailing. Then, there are snow sports like skiing and snowboarding and equestrian sports that are especially popular with women. 

New Zealand is also celebrated as the ‘The Adventure Capital of the World’. Professional tour operators put together great holiday packages that include regular holiday activities like shopping, indulging in the night life and sight seeing, along with adventure sports. You can choose from an array of sporting activities and a number of fun-filled pursuits, while planning a holiday in New Zealand. The great outdoors enable you to consider the excitement that accompanies the shooting white water rapids, or riding rocket ships on wires. While in New Zealand, you could also consider jumping off a bungy platform, trekking on a glacier, skiing on an active volcano or abseiling into a canyon. You can also consider options like parapenting from a mountain from amongst a number of other daring adventure sports.

• The 2006 born Air New Zealand Cup, successor to the National Provincial Championship. It is played mainly in winter and is a professional competition.
• The amateur Heartland Championship is a competition between the lower-level New Zealand teams.
• The Super Twelve also born in 2006, involves a competition between teams from the home land, Australia and South Africa.
The New Zealand domestic rugby league is semi-professional. Although the team is not recognized as high profile, the game between the Australian NRL and the New Zealand Warriors is very popular. The New Zealanders have only succeeded in being announced runners-up on two occasions.

New Zealand is one of the ten countries that participate in Test Cricket. The international matches are watched and enjoyed by a large audience and is more widely followed than the domestic games. New Zealand played its first test cricket match in 1930, but met with more success only in the 1970s and 80s. New Zealand's fast bowler Richard Hadlee went on record as the first bowler to take 400 wickets in test cricket!
Netball is played mostly by women and is very similar to basket ball. Soccer is not so popular in New Zealand. In 2006, the Tall Blacks listed in the final 16 of the FIBA Basketball World Championships. In golf, New Zealand's Michael Campbell won the US Open golf championship in 2005.

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