ABSTRACT
The historiographical cupboard of New Zealand soccer is bare. Sports historian Charles Little registered his disbelief in 2002[ 1 ] and since then very little has changed. Yet the variance in literature discussing rugby, in this small window of time, has continued to provide evidence of the fact that rugby, and not soccer, is, and has always been, portrayed as the national sport of New Zealand.[ 2 ] While this essay cannot change the ever-strong current of feeling between the two sports and their different histories, it is hoped that, like Little’s paper, it may provide a basis for more work to be done on this subject.
