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Story: Sports reporting and commentating

First rugby test between New Zealand and Britain, 1930

Audio file

On 21 June 1930 Alfred Canter commentated on the first live rugby test broadcast in New Zealand. Although the cartoon suggests that the game was between England and New Zealand, the winning team was actually the British Lions. The match was at Carisbrook in Dunedin. Listen to an excerpt from Canter's commentary.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-315-2-190

by Trevor Lloyd

Sound file from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero (NZ vs Lions 1930/Reference ID25948)

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.

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How to cite this page

Keith Quinn, Sports reporting and commentating – Radio, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/speech/40099/first-rugby-test-between-new-zealand-and-britain-1930 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Keith Quinn, published 30 November 2012.