Sports

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The Spinoff Members

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Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.

Every sport at the Paris Olympics, ranked from least to most fun to watch

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Here's when you can cheer on our first batch of athletes at Paris 2024.

New Zealanders in action: When and who to watch in week one of the Paris Olympics

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As Paris prepares and athletes arrive for the world's biggest sporting event, one New Zealand rower is trying his best to act like nothing is happening.

Everything is on fire: Tom Mackintosh on the mental game of Olympic rowing

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A throwaway comment from the Alternative Commentary Collective during the All Blacks match on Saturday suggests a bleak resurgence of lad chat.

‘Magic handjob’: The sports lads are back, and so are their lame jokes

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A sports sceptic sees how the other half (football fans) live.

OK, turns out watching football at 7am can be fun after all

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After Dilworth beat arch-rivals Auckland Grammar, sore losers immediately got to work undoing the historical result.

The Dilworth/Auckland Grammar saga proves we take rugby way too seriously

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‘We’ve got a great community behind us. When we’re out there playing, we get up for the noise.’

How the Canterbury Rams became the hottest – and loudest – ticket in town

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The move will see 'Steady the Ship' relinquish the captaincy in all forms of the game – but NZC sees it as a positive development.

Kane Williamson latest Black Cap to turn down NZ Cricket contract

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Just another buzzy place for the flag to appear.

How the tino rangatiratanga flag ended up in Charles Barkley’s hands

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The governance battle between NZ Rugby and the provincial unions is more than just grassroots 'democracy' vs a new corporate model for an organisation worth billions. 

Rugby’s governance problem: who are the ‘blazeratti’?

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Speed puzzling is like a marathon for the mind – intense, demanding, surprisingly exhausting. But does turning it into a sport destroy it as a relaxing pastime?

The need for speed: What I learnt competing in an online jigsaw puzzle competition

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Last year Warriors fans showed us an alternative to the staid sports fandom norms in this country. This season, Phoenix supporters picked up the torch.

I went to the Phoenix’s sold-out semifinal and all I got was this overwhelming sense of pride

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What separates the chosen ones from the also-rans?

The complicated path to Olympic selection, explained

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The club's surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong... and a few other factors.

How the Phoenix went from wooden spoon favourites to title contenders

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After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter's favourite way to unwind is... kicking goals. Why can't he get enough of it?

Dan Carter won’t stop kicking

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Of course I wind down my window at the lights to profess my love to the strangers in the black De Tomaso Pantera. And of course they accommodate me with amused grins.

Confessions of an unlikely petrolhead

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Last week, Gymnastics New Zealand announced an overhaul of their competition attire rules. Now, let's make shorts the universal uniform.

Let everyone wear shorts for sports

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'I’d hate for somebody to come and watch a game I was playing and say to his kid: 'See that guy there, he used to be awesome'. That would grind my gears.'

Sam Whitelock hangs up his boots

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They're on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. But some believe they're on an uneven playing field in NZ's amateur club competition.

Tauranga City are top of the table. What’s stopping them from staying there?

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It's not the return of the Knights. Not quite.

Welcome to the Foleyverse: Name and kit unveiled for Auckland’s new A-League side

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Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation.

The Weekend: If in doubt, go to the funeral

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The funeral director and star of The Traitors NZ discusses her two favourite topics: death and reality television. 

‘What a privilege’:  Whitney from The Traitors NZ on life as a funeral director

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There's not a single dud in this dazzling collection of essays, which touches on everything from weaving to seagulls to Meccano enthusiasts.

Rich and rare: Bad Archive by Flora Feltham, reviewed

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'Mainly I just love the musical frisbees he throws out into the world, and this is one of those.'

‘Possibly the best live gig I have been to’: TRiPS’ perfect weekend playlist

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The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.

The Sunday Essay: Remembering my brother

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Imagine Aaron Smith yelling at forwards and that's how our dog of the month would sound chasing a ball.

Dog of the month: Babushka, who is notorious in Newtown

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If you haven’t started watching yet, we beg you to reconsider.

Why this season of The Traitors is the best reality TV NZ has ever made

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The Friday Poem: ‘The clothes of the dead’ by Fiona Kidman

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A spicy new romance series heats up the charts. 

The Spinoff

SportsOctober 15, 2023

The All Blacks have won

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