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Story: Children and sport

Top 15 sports among secondary school students, 2012

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Top 15 sports among secondary school students, 2012

This graph shows the 15 most popular sports played by secondary school students, as determined by the 2012 New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Census. The national game rugby union pipped netball to the top spot by only 1,164 players.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council

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How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, Children and sport – Greater diversity, 1970 to 2010s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/graph/41522/top-15-sports-among-secondary-school-students-2012 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 1 May 2013.