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The range of sports played in New Zealand reflect to a large extent its British colonial heritage. Some of the most popular sports in New Zealand, are primarily played in British Commonwealth countries.
New Zealand's most popular sports are rugby union, soccer, cricket, and netball (the top ranking female sport by participation); golf, tennis, rowing and a variety of water sports, particularly sailing. Snow sports such as skiing and snowboarding are also popular. Equestrian sports are highly popular especially with women and participation numbers begin to overhaul rugby and other contact sports in older age groups.
Rugby union is popular across all sections of New Zealand society and many New Zealanders associate it with their national identity. It has the largest spectator following of all sports in New Zealand. Given its wide following, Rugby union may be said to take the place occupied by soccer in most other countries.
New Zealand's national rugby team, the All Blacks, has the best winning record of any national team in the world. The All Blacks traditionally perform a haka—a traditional Ma-ori challenge—at the start of international matches. This practice has been mimiced by several other national teams, notably the national rugby league team and the basketball teams.
Unlike in Australia, which is an interesting comparison given its similar history and geographical vicinity, rugby league is the less popular of the two rugby codes in terms of both participation and spectatorship. It is not nearly as prominent in schools as rugby union. However, the Australian NRL (National Rugby League), in which New Zealand Warriors play, is widely followed.
Cricket is the highest profile summer sport in New Zealand. The national competition is not nearly as widely followed as the case with rugby, but international matches are watched with interest by a large proportion of the population. Historically, the national cricket team has not been a successful as the national rugby team. New Zealand played its first test in 1930 but had to wait until 1956 to win its first test. The national team began to have more success in the 1970s and 1980s. New Zealand's most famous cricketer, the fast bowler Richard Hadlee who was the first bowler to take 400 wickets in test cricket, came from this era.
Netball is similar to Basketball and is primarily played by women. It has high levels of participation and is popular as a spectator sport.
Soccer, more generally known as football in other countries, occupies a similar position to that which it occupies in the United States - it is the most popular of the football codes in terms of participation but is not particularly popular as a spectator sport. Club and provincial games attract few spectators, although overseas competitions, particularly the English Premier League and the World Cup, are widely followed.
Auckland hosted the last two America's Cup regattas (2000 and 2003). In 2000, Team New Zealand successfully defended the trophy they won in 1995 in San Diego, but in 2003 they lost to a team headed by Ernesto Bertarelli of Switzerland whose Alinghi was skippered by Russell Coutts, the expatriate Kiwi who helmed the victorious Black Magic in 1995 and New Zealand in 2000. Coutts and Brad Butterworth, along with several other Team New Zealand members, defected to Bertarelli's Alinghi team, taking with them a wealth of experience that allowed the new team to win the America's Cup on the first challenge. Coutts has since been dismissed from the Alinghi team; he fought a court battle with Bertarelli to allow him to sail in the 2007 America's Cup contest in Spain, but reached a settlement that will keep him out of that contest.
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