Black, Silver and Gold: New Zealand Sport Quiz

Answer: Athletics

On July 29, 1887, the NZ Amateur Athletic Association (NZAAA) was founded. At its first national event, there was a prize for anyone who could run the 250-yard sprint in less than 27 seconds. That prize was a silver trophy and a black cap. No one won at that meet but the black cap prize was a big incentive and several were earned in the next few years. The colour and the significance caught hold, because, in 1888 the national rugby side decided to switch colours and follow the lead of New Zealand athletics. A national rugby team was to tour through New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland. (Previously the first New Zealand national team had toured New South Wales playing in Australia wearing a blue shirt with a gold fern on the chest. But the 1888 native team had switched to black and was described in the July 6 edition of the "Auckland Star as
"Colours: All Black with a silver fern."

The silver fern was important as this is a very powerful symbol in Maori folklore and its inclusion on early sporting uniforms of the day was important but its enduring feature on sporting uniforms connected it to New Zealand as a whole and was recognisable as a New Zealand identifying characteristic worldwide. National New Zealand teams that use the silver fern include: All Blacks (rugby); Silver Ferns (netball); All Whites (soccer); Tall Blacks (basketball); White Ferns (women's cricket); Black Caps (men's cricket), Black Ferns (women's rugby); Black Sticks Men & Black Sticks Women (hockey).

Ron Palenski, a journalist and chief executive of the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, said the colour was practical for the [national] teams, rather than any cultural significance at the time. "What you've got to remember is, England wore white, Scotland were blue, Ireland green and Wales wore scarlet," Palenski said, "So it made a lot of sense to wear black because they weren't going to clash with any of those teams... There is the concept that it had some kind of cultural significance but nobody has ever found any proof of that."

Stephen Berg, director of the New Zealand Rugby Museum in Palmerston North, said there were two main practical reasons he thought the colour was initially used. "A: it was easier to get than other colours at the time," Berg said, "And B: The silver fern was important. There is an old Maori proverb about the fern, and we think that may have been important for the New Zealand Natives team. Black shows that colour up really well."

In 1892, Leonard Cuff, the founding secretary of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association managed a five-strong New Zealand team which travelled to England and France. During that tour, Kiwis are wore black singlets. When Cuff returned to New Zealand he turned his focus to cricket, and captained the first ever New Zealand national side. The players wore black caps, and the players were handed black blazers. From that point forward, when teams made their debuts in international sport they selected black as their colour (except the 1904 New Zealand soccer team [See below]). New Zealand first competed at the Olympic Games as its own country in 1920, with athletes dressed out in black uniform.

Rugby sevens was first included in the Olympics in 2016. When the New Zealand women's team won the gold medal in 2020, decked out in black replete with silver fern, New Zealand had won three medals out of four in the event.

This question was typed in black by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

Answer: Richie McCaw

All the answers played in both RWC championships. Richie McCaw led the All Blacks in 110 of the 148 tests he played for New Zealand's rugby team between 2001 and 2015. His accolades include World Rugby player of the year on three occasions and World Rugby player of the decade (2011-2020).

The 2011 RWC championship was hosted in New Zealand. The final on October 23, 2011, was played at Eden Park in Auckland between the All Blacks and France. In a tightly contested encounter, the New Zealand side emerged victorious by the narrowest of margins: 8-7. The 2015 RWC championship was held in England. Trans-Tasman rivals the All Blacks and Wallabies (Australia) met in the final at London's Twickenham Stadium on October 31, 2015. The final score was 34-17 to the All Blacks, the first time that a nation had retained the RWC trophy, the Webb Ellis Cup.

Phoenix Rising's resident New Zealander, psnz, blew the whistle on this question.

Answer: NZ Warriors and Wellington Phoenix

While Rugby Union is the dominant football code in New Zealand, Rugby League has a strong presence with the New Zealand Warriors (formerly Auckland Warriors) taking on a national representation in the Australian National Rugby League competition since 1995. The national rugby league sides (Kiwis and Kiwiferns [women]) have managed to take a few titles off the Australian national sides (in Australia, league is more dominant than union) winning the World Cup in 2008 and winning the 2010 and 2014 titles in the five times the competition was run between 2009-2016 (Australia won the other three). The uniform is black with white highlights.

Soccer is popular in New Zealand but it is seen to be rather provincial with the Wellington area being the only region where it has consistently been the most dominant code of football. Wellington Phoenix FC plays in the Australian A-League, the only team from outside Australia.

The national soccer team are called the All Whites (Women - Football Ferns). They wanted to wear a black uniform to be consistent with other national teams but were not allowed as this was the referee's uniform colour. At least the nickname had a tie-in with other national teams. When the All Whites qualified for their second World Cup tournament in 2010, they played three matches for three draws, including 1-1 against Italy (the defending champions). They were the only team that was not beaten in the round-robin part of the competition.

This question was kicked into the quiz by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.

Answer: False

Bruce McLaren, born in Auckland in 1937, was a racing driver, an engineer and a racing car constructor. He won his first Grand Prix (United States) in 1959. He raced under Jack Brabham at Cooper and came second in the Formula One Championship in 1960. He had considerable success in Can-Am racing where his cars won all 11 races in 1969. He also had success at Le Mans and won three Indianapolis 500 races. He became better known as a racing car constructor and his McLaren Racing Team has been one of the most successful Formula One teams of all time. He died tragically in 1970 aged 32 testing one of his Can-Am racing cars at Silverstone.

Denny Hulme, born in the South Island in 1936, won the 1967 Formula One World Drivers' Championship for the Brabham team. He also raced for McLaren winning the individual Drivers' Championship twice between 1967 and 1971. He retired from Formula One in 1974 but still raced touring cars in the Australian competition. He died from a heart attack whilst racing in the 1992 Bathurst 1000 in Australia.

This question was raced into the quiz in top gear by JAM6430 of Phoenix Rising.

Answer: Ball

Ki-o-rahi is a fast-paced ball sport played by two teams of seven on a circular field divided into concentric zones. The outer zone is known as Te Ao ("the world"), the middle zone as Te Roto ("the lake"), and the central zone as Te Motu ("the island"). "Ki" is the name of the small round ball used to play the game, which these days is generally made of soft foam. Points are scored by touching the boundary markers ("pou") and hitting a central target ("tupu").

Ki-o-rahi is similar to fast-paced Western games such as rugby and netball, which are very popular in New Zealand. The two teams are named "Kioma" ("ball-carriers") and "Taniwha" ("lake monsters"): Kioma accumulate points by scoring tries, and Taniwha by hitting the "tupu" with the ball. The rules of the game vary depending on the area of New Zealand in which it is played: they are decided before each match by a process called "tatu".

Believed to have been played by the Maori for centuries, the game is said to be based on the legend of Rahitutakahina and the rescue of his wife, Tiarakurapakewai - where it was used as a means to settle differences between two tribes. In 2005, ki-o-rahi made headlines when it was chosen by McDonald's as part of its "Passport to Play" programme to teach physical play activities from around the world to the students of 31,000 US primary schools.

LadyNym was pleased to score a few points by writing this question.

Answer: Both bungee jumping and zorbing

Bungee jumping has its origins in land diving at Pentecost Island in Vanuatu where young men would dive off a tower with vines attached to their ankles. As it originated in New Zealand, the vines of Vanuatu bungee jumping are replaced with strong elastic cords. David Kirke and Simon Keeling made the first such jumps from Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England on 1 April 1979. They were arrested for the feat, but went to the Golden Gate Bridge and repeated the act. Allan John "A. J." Hackett (born May 1958 in Auckland) is a New Zealander who made a bungee jump from several New Zealand bridges before he bungee jumped from the Eiffel Tower in 1987 and was jailed briefly for the act. He founded the first commercial bungee site in Queenstown in 1988.

Zorbing is an extreme sport where you are strapped inside a plastic ball about 3 metres or 10 feet in diameter, which is then rolled down a hillside for about 400 metres or ¼ mile. Alternatively, Zorbonauts have the option of a hydro zorb where a couple of buckets of water are added to the inner ball which gives the zorbonaut a first-hand view of how a washing machine works. In 1990, Zorb was coined by David and Andrew Akers and Dwayne van der Sluis, all New Zealand scientists. The first tests were performed by them in Rotorua in the central North Island of the country, and the first commercial centre opened there in 1998. The sport is now franchised all over the world.

After a cord-strapped free fall, Phoenix Rising member Rizeeve took a leap of faith when he rotated this question into the quiz.

Answer: John Walker

On May 6, 1954, at the Oxford University running track, English doctor Roger Bannister (1929-2018) became the first athlete to beat the four-minute mark for the mile with a time of 3:59.4. Bannister was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in later life, in 2011.

Just over 21 years later, John Walker raced at Gothenburg, Sweden on August 12, 1975. His winning time that day was 3:49.4. The fastest men's time in the twentieth century was set by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj in Rome on July 7, 1999: 3:43.13, a record that has lasted into the next century. In 1985, Walker became the first athlete to complete 100 sub-4 minute miles, finishing his running career with a total of 135. In 1996, he revealed that he was suffering from Parkinson's disease.

All the answers are New Zealand athletes whose training and coaching were directly or indirectly influenced by the philosophies of Arthur Lydiard (1917-2004). This former marathoner and coach based his methods on runners having a strong endurance base together with systematic planning into different phases to prepare for events. Lydiard is also credited with the renaissance of jogging and running. Under Lydiard's guidance, Sir Peter Snell won three Olympic gold medals (1960, Rome, 800m; 1964, Tokyo, 800m and 1500m). Rod Dixon won a bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympic games (1500m) and the 1983 New York City marathon. Dick Quax won a silver medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics (5000m) and in 1977 set a world record time for that event.

Phoenix Rising's resident Kiwi, psnz, raced this question over the finishing line.

Answer: Rowing

New Zealand have performed well at the Olympics ranked at number 32 on the all-time Olympic Games medal table for total medals won and number 24 when weighted by medal type. In particular New Zealanders have won 14 gold and 29 total medals for rowing, more than any other sport, though other maritime sports such as canoeing (10 gold, 15 total) and sailing (9G, 23T) are not far behind. The other major Olympic achievement is in athletics (10G, 26T). The 2020 Olympics was New Zealand's best result with 7 Gold (3 in rowing 3 in canoeing), 6 silver (2 in rowing) and 7 bronze.

In 2021, their maritime sporting success was extended when New Zealand won the America's Cup for the fourth time making them only the second country to successfully challenge and defend the America's Cup twice behind the USA.

This question was sailed into the quiz with Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1 at the helm.

Answer: True

New Zealand has had a very diminished capacity in the Winter Olympics, because of the few places that receive snow plus a Southern Hemisphere location requiring athletes to peak in the New Zealand summer. The 2022 Winter Olympics featured New Zealand having their best games in their 70-year participation up to that point, with Zoi Sadowski-Synnott wining gold in the women's snowboarding slopestyle. She also won a silver medal in the women's snowboarding big air. At the same games, Nico Porteous won the gold medal in the men's freestyle skiing halfpipe. Prior to the 2022 Olympics, New Zealand had won only three medals: A silver in alpine skiing in Albertville in 1992, and two bronze medals at Pyeongchang in 2018 for snowboarding and freestyle skiing.

This question was slalomed into the quiz by Phoenix Rising member Rizeeve.

Answer: Hadlee

New Zealand's first test match was against England in 1930. Seven years later, Walter Hadlee played the first of his 11 tests in a career interrupted in its prime by World War II. He captained the test team, and as his playing days neared an end, he moved into cricket administration culminating in his role on the Board of Control of New Zealand cricket where he was chairman (1973-78) and president (1981-83). Three of his five sons represented New Zealand at cricket. Barry played in the inaugural Cricket World Cup (one day cricket) in 1975. Dayle played in this tournament as well and also played in 26 Test Matches as a bowler.

With all due respect to those three, undoubtedly the family champion was Richard John Hadlee. Interestingly, all three brothers played in the same World Cup game against England. Richard was a very useful middle-order batsman with two test centuries and fourteen more at first class level. He was a brilliantly skilled fast bowler who took 431 wickets in test matches. Against India in 1988, he took his 374th wicket which made him the all-time leader in test cricket until his final tally of 431 was surpassed by Indian great, Kapil Dev, in 1994. Richard was awarded a knighthood for services to cricket in 1990 and was elected to the International Cricket Council's Hall of Fame in 2009.

This question was speared in at off-stump by Phoenix Rising's cricket tragic, Mike Master 99, who marvelled at Richard Hadlee's phenomenal skill and control when bowling, except when he was playing against the Aussies of course.