ABSTRACT
Introduction As a former colony and Dominion of the British Empire and, at present, a Realm of the Commonwealth, New Zealand has continued a historically nuanced, politically significant, economically valuable and ideological laden relationship with its imperial
colonizer (Belich 2001, 2009; Coombes 2006; Palenski 2012; Pickles 2009, 2011; Ryan 2004, 2005; Sinclair 1986). I will discuss significant aspects of this history with reference to New Zealand’s national Olympic committee and its nascent presence in the developing international Olympic Movement (Henniker and Jobling 1989; Jobling 2000; Kohe 2010, 2011; Letters and Jobling 1996; Little and Cashman 2001).1 I focus predominantly on the interwar period – demarcated by the New Zealand Olympic Committee’s (NZOC) official recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1919, and administrative changes wrought by the onset of British Empire Games in the 1930s – as a context to examine and articulate some of the complexities and characteristics of New Zealand’s imperial associations, identities and loyalties, and transnational connections.2 During this time, the NZOC’s early participation in the international sporting scene was, to an extent, largely contingent not primarily on British agents, but, instead, on a few successful and well-placed expatriate New Zealanders in Britain (namely Arthur Porritt and Jack Lovelock) who worked closely with NZOC members (particularly, Secretary-General Harry Amos) to provide a voice for New Zealand sporting concerns, and a useful conduit for transmitting information to and from Britain and the IOC.3 Below, I detail how such expatriate agents worked with NZOC administrators to help fortify the organization, advocate for its causes within Britain, Europe and the IOC, facilitate the country’s athletic competition abroad and better enable administrators to respond to athletes’ ‘professional’ needs. In so doing, I raise questions regarding the strength and political influence of the imperial core in determining (and controlling) New Zealand’s peripheral sporting participation.
