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Kōrero: Sport and the nation

'We're the greatest'

Image
'We're the greatest'

Murray Ball's 1967 cartoon of a small rugby supporter grabbing hold of a huge All Black and shouting out across the ocean, 'We're the greatest', expresses well how much some New Zealanders identified with their national rugby team. They hoped that the success of the All Blacks would attract notice from distant countries.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: H-543

by Murray Ball

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Jock Phillips, Sport and the nation – The relationship between sport and nationalism, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/cartoon/41191/were-the-greatest (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Jock Phillips, i tāngia i te 26 March 2013.