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HON TREVOR MALLARD
Minister for Sport, Fitness and Leisure
January 2001
Getting Set - For an Active Nation
REPORT OF THE SPORT, FITNESS & LEISURE
MINISTERIAL TASKFORCE
Part 4 cont'd.
An Enhanced Sense of Identity and Image
An enhanced sense of national identity through recreation and sport, is evident in the way New Zealanders identify themselves overseas. It is observed in the political statements that follow an international sporting success which attempt to capitalise upon such achievements. The wearing of national team gear and the identification with recreation and sport symbols such as an All Black jersey or a Team New Zealand jacket illustrate their pervasive presence just as with the recognition accorded to Sir Edmund Hillary on the $5 note. New Zealanders identify themselves, and are identified by others, through recreation and sport.
At the national level, we have seen the emphatic impact of Hillary's scaling of Mt Everest, the 1956 rugby tests against South Africa, Peter Snell and Murray Halberg's 1960s golden achievements, the All Blacks winning the Rugby World Cup in 1987, Susan Devoy's World Squash Championships, and the 1995 and 2000 America's Cup victories. The workplace, traditionally, is a different site when this small country has attained an international sporting achievement. Inescapably linked with the media presentation and packaging of recreation and sport, New Zealand homes and workplaces understand the country's major sports fortunes each week.
- New Zealanders' identification with the silver fern illustrates the extent to which sport and its symbols are embedded in New Zealand culture.
- "… surveys of our national identity have revealed that 95 percent of New Zealanders would derive greater satisfaction from world-class performance by New Zealand sports teams or individuals than from parallel achievements by our artists, scientists or business executives" (Massey University, 1997, cited in Volkerling, 2000, pp.65-66).
- New Zealand's "sports men and women have established a reputation out of all proportion to our size" (Bolger, 1993, p.33).
- "Sport would appear to be occupying an increasingly significant place in the lives of many New Zealanders" (Collins and Downey, 2000, p.310).
Inseparable from regional and national identity is an enhanced regional or national image shaped by recreational and sporting identity and success. The image and media recognition of East Coast, for example, was raised after winning rugby's National Provincial Third Division final. The Ranfurly Shield stimulates parades, regional activity, symbols and economic activity. The Golden Shears brings a national media focus to rural town New Zealand just as Round the Bays does for Auckland City.
- The image of New Zealand as an island country with opportunities for sailing has been reinforced by global racing, Olympic and world championship victories and the America's Cup results.
- The world championship fight of David Tua and the Coast to Coast multisport event are different examples of recreation and sport that shape our country's image.
- The inclusion of sportspersons as ambassadors by The New Zealand Way, now known as the Brand New Zealand campaign, initiated in 1993, illustrates the Government's awareness of the image held abroad of New Zealand's sport achievers.
Crime Prevention
An interdisciplinary programme, with physical activity as an integral component, can lessen antisocial and potentially destructive behaviour in young people. The Australian Institute of Criminology and Australian Institute of Sport have released a report that supports the belief that recreation and sport, organised as a positive community experience, can assist crime prevention.
It may be argued strongly that recreation and sport are particularly well placed in providing programmes to combat the major risk factors for young offenders. The Ministry of Youth Affairs has noted the following characteristics in youth offenders: a lack of social skills and networks; a lack of motivation; poor school attendance, low vocational skills and unemployment; substance abuse; and a lack of cultural pride or positive culture identity. Intensive outdoors based and/or positive team sport programmes could assist adolescents to overcome these negative traits. The Department of Work and Income's "Residential Motivational Training Programme" may be an example of such a personally enhancing project through which recreation and sport have an economic impact of savings and public good.
- "If it wasn't for [my sport] I would have been in jail. The team became my family" (provincial rugby player, in personal communication to a Taskforce member).
- "Sport and physical activity can combine with other interventions to reduce crime in particular groups and communities. It appears that sport and physical activity can reduce crime by providing accessible, appropriate activities in a supportive social context. In other words, sport and physical activity must be connected positively within the social fabric of groups and communities" (Cameron and MacDougall, 2000, p.1).
- "We know that sport and physical activity can improve our quality of life. But this report reveals just how it really can change people's lives and society for the better" (Dr Adam Graycar, Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, in a 6 September 2000 media release).
- There is evidence that projects utilising the outdoor environment, as with Conservation Corps and Youth Services Corps run by the Ministry of Youth Affairs with unemployed youth, have a favourable outcome. Similarly, a combination of outdoor activity and mentoring, as with Project K, a development programme for 14 year olds, can be effective (NZIER, 2000).
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