Twenty metres out from the goal line, the forwards well into attack as the ball is chucked out to the winger who makes a quick burst up the sideline with another lovely pass into space for Damish Puna to run on to and score that brings the score to 5-3 with two minutes left. Hold on who's Damish Puna? For those people who don't know he is currently a New Zealand hockey player. You might even say he's another finally tuned athlete or maybe not. In New Zealand we only see our rugby, cricket and netball players as the stars, for the amount of money and time invested into rugby, cricket and netball it seems to me like we want to endorse losing as a nation. Other sports like Basketball, Hockey, Athletics, Squash, Bowls, swimming, rowing, and tennis are neglected. They don't receive the funding but often perform at a professional level and succeed. Statistics from sports Waikato show that more children under the age of 13 would rather play hockey and soccer thus changes after age 13!
due to pressure from parents and friends to play what is labelled a hard game. "Television also contributes to players changing to rugby," said Bruce Rosemary CEO of Waikato sports. I thought to myself I would see how much rugby is shown on sky sport television on a Friday when surprise, surprise 7.00 rugby, 8.45 football café followed by the league. They might as well call it sky rugby. After talks with players who have represent New Zealand in sports, which aren't, deemed popular they say that it is very hard to put your self on the world stage without the funding. You have to try and hold down a job and train, which is very hard. New Zealand Tall Blacks Guard Pero Cameron was rated one of the best in the game till he was forced to retire from international level due to financial reasons at a very young age. This was a very disappointing moment for sport. As we get
...