Story: Sport and society

Sporting teams in the Catlins

Sporting teams in the Catlins

The top photograph shows the Ōwaka rugby team in the late 1890s. Below is the Willsher Bay cricket team a few years later. Their casual attitudes and haphazard uniforms show how difficult it was in isolated areas like the Catlins, on the east coast of the lower South Island, to organise regular fixtures, let alone ensure that team members came to practices. Seasonal work and high levels of itinerancy made attendance erratic.

Using this item

Owaka Museum
Reference: CT79.1051g (top); CT80.1294d (bottom).

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How to cite this page:

Greg Ryan, 'Sport and society - The limits of sporting participation, 1870–1910', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/39387/sporting-teams-in-the-catlins (accessed 3 May 2024)

Story by Greg Ryan, published 5 Sep 2013