Sports Minister Grant Robertson. Photo / Marty Melville
Sports Minister Grant Robertson. Photo / Marty Melville
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has been the big beneficiary of the Government's sport recovery funding, receiving more than 25 per cent of funds allocated to National Sporting Organisations (NSOs).
More than $9.8m of the $38.6m allocated to NSOs has been earmarked for NZR from the fund, which was launched tohelp the country's sporting bodies navigate their way through the Covid-19 pandemic.
The package was separated into five categories: a partner support fund created from Sport NZ's re-prioritised budget, funds for international travel, a recovery package for national leagues, reset and rebuild investment, and a strengthen and adapt programme for national partners.
Other big beneficiaries included the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) ($4.6m), New Zealand Cricket ($3.5m), New Zealand Football ($3.05m), Netball New Zealand ($2.7m), New Zealand Rugby League ($2.6m) and Basketball New Zealand ($2.1m).
At the other end of the spectrum, 28 NSOs received $5000 each, paid under the reset and rebuild investment. This group included Baseball New Zealand, Boxing New Zealand, Wrestling New Zealand and KartSport New Zealand, among others.
All allocated payments for international travel have been made, with a total of $3,307,703 being paid between 12 NSOs including the NZOC, Paralympics New Zealand and New Zealand Cricket. Reset and rebuild investments, implemented to support and protect existing Sport NZ partnerships and High Performance Core Investment in the immediate aftermath of Covid-19 and its resulting impact on New Zealanders, have also now been paid in full, with those payments to NSOs totaling $13,330,835.
Included in this figure was $4.9m to NZ Rugby (including $2.4m spread between the All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens teams for their Olympic campaigns and $1.5m towards the Black Ferns' Rugby World Cup preparations), $2.06m to the NZOC and $1.13m to NZ Football.
The Black Ferns Sevens took out the gold medal in Tokyo. Photo / Photosport
The strengthen and adapt programme involves 18 national partners, with funds being released as milestones are achieved. The design of the programme is to strengthen and adapt the organisations to ensure they emerge strong and resilient from the pandemic. Sport NZ agreed to detailed outcomes for each funded initiative with the relevant organisation.
Approximately 58 per cent of $15.26m set aside for this fund has been distributed: $13.18m of that allocated to NSOs, with Recreation Aotearoa ($75,000), Girlguiding NZ ($519,875) and YMCA NZ ($1.47m) the other groups to benefit.
Twelve of the country's national leagues (basketball, bowls, football, rugby, league, netball, cricket, hockey, softball, ice hockey, touch and water polo) received a share of $4,732,318 between them, while 15 NSOs were allocated a share of a $4.09m partner support fund, with NZ Rugby receiving $2.1m of that.
Outside of the national bodies, some of the country's professional teams have also received Government funding to help them navigate their way through the impact of Covid-19.
The Wellington Phoenix have received $2.5m since May 2020, with a $950,000 payment made in May 2020 to help the team continue its operations and remain viable under Covid-19 restrictions, while the New Zealand Warriors received a payment of $200,000 at the same time for the same reason.
The Phoenix received a further $1.63m between December 2020 and April 2022 to help with increased costs directly brought on by the pandemic. The Warriors received a further $2.33m paid between December 2020 and March 2022.
The New Zealand Breakers also received financial support to help with increased costs directly due to Covid-19, with $829,405 paid to the club between May 2021 and March 2022.
Highest NSO funding allocations
NZ Rugby: $9,838,263 NZ Olympic Committee: $4,615,895 NZ Cricket: $3,551,520 NZ Football: $3,057,360 Netball NZ: $2,709,420 NZ Rugby League: $2,638,523 Basketball NZ: $2,164,188 Paralympics NZ: $1,941,599 Touch NZ: $1,318,336 Women in Sport Aotearoa, Ngā Wāhine Hākinakina o Aotearoa: $1,039,500
