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Club membership

The purpose of a national sport organisation (NSO) is to ensure that their sport is run smoothly, to organise national events and to develop talented performers so they can be internationally successful.

The figures below provide club membership numbers provided by NSOs back to 1985.

Notes:

  • Membership figures are provided to SPARC (and the former Hillary Commission) by the NSOs and therefore are not generated by SPARC. Membership numbers have not been provided to SPARC/the Hillary Commission in some years for some sports.
  • Membership figures for rugby union were not provided in 2001 and 2002, which affects the total national club membership figures for those years. Membership information is available directly form the New Zealand Rugby Football Union.
  • Remember - some keen people may be members of more than one club!

Note: This table has been split over three pages: Page 2 ('91-'97) | Page 3 ('97-'03)

Organisation name 1985/86 1986/87 1987/88 1988/89 1989/90 1990/91
Archery New Zealand Inc. 922 596 663 0 671 745
Athletics New Zealand 35700 32890 27140 25776 25632 26532
Basketball New Zealand 37500 38000 0 25000 24650 37210
Blind Sport New Zealand - - - - - -
Bowls New Zealand 57609 57363 57373 57489 56124 56882
Boxing New Zealand Inc 2840 2840 517 1580 1580 1580
Cycling New Zealand 5000 10000 866 888 1378 1461
Deaf Sports Federation of New Zealand 0 760 667 800 600 612
Gliding New Zealand Incorporated - - 1242 1169 1176 1094
Ice Speed Skating New Zealand Inc 395 395 400 0 0 100
Karate New Zealand 0 0 0 0 5100 5600
Marching New Zealand 5001 4586 4309 4055 4055 3654
Motorcycling NZ 5452 4628 3355 2999 3500 3208
Motorsport NZ (Inc) 10550 11341 0 0 0 0
Netball NZ 110760 109200 104800 107010 106080 105930
Nga Kaihoe o Aotearoa Inc - - - - - -
NZ AFL Inc - - - - - -
NZ Amateur Fencing Association 370 350 300 0 1500 350
NZ Axemens' Association Inc - - - - - -
NZ Badminton Federation Inc. 18000 16750 16441 14276 14276 13500
NZ Billiards and Snooker Association 1325 1340 1370 2000 2000 2100
NZ BMX Association 0 0 0 0 0 0
NZ Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association - - - - - -
NZ Canoeing Federation 1186 1277 0 1636 1307 1105
NZ Cricket 85718 84917 85841 83853 79470 59234
NZ Croquet Council 4232 4263 4354 4195 4155 4195
NZ Curling Association - - - - - -
NZ Darts Council Inc. 6159 6300 6500 6850 6590 6706
NZ Dragon Boat Association Inc. - - - - - -
NZ Equestrian Federation 4596 4685 4576 4933 5149 5600
NZ Federation of Bodybuilders - - - - - -
NZ Golf Association 68700 77000 66064 64871 64871 64238
NZ Gymnastic Association 62338 63021 63418 0 45000 45000
NZ Handball Association - - - - - -
NZ Hang Gliding and Para Gliding Association 0 0 0 0 0 0
NZ Hockey Federation 41600 42074 13515 13759 32500 33000
NZ Ice Hockey Association 0 95 278 350 467 600
NZ Ice Skating Association 1160 1160 942 - 1258 1400
NZ Indoor Bowls Incorporated 49900 47000 42573 40107 34500 38493
NZ Indoor Sports Incorporated - - - - - -
NZ Judo Federation 6800 6915 7141 8000 10000 11000
NZ Kart Federation 0 0 883 886 900 1047
NZ Olympic Luge Association 0 0 0 0 0 38
NZ Olympic Wrestling Union 5000 5200 0 4057 950 950
NZ Orienteering Federation 1805 1440 1538 1194 1390 1170
NZ Parachute Federation 2650 2376 0 0 0 0
NZ Petanque Association - - - - - -
NZ Polo Association 3600 3600 320 3308 0 450
NZ Polocrosse Council 881 1000 644 768 704 715
NZ Pony Clubs Association 15800 15400 0 0 13336 12870
NZ Power Boat Federation 0 0 0 0 0 59
NZ Power Pulling Association Inc - - - - - -
NZ Powerlifting Federation 152 400 0 0 0 0
NZ Riding for the Disabled Assn 0 2736 0 0 0 2541
NZ Rodeo Cowboys Association 476 478 0 0 0 0
NZ Rugby Football Union 200000 200000 207907 200000 207000 207000
NZ Rugby League 24800 25300 27750 30250 30230 32430
NZ Sheep Dog Trial Association - - - - - -
NZ Shooting Federation 5221 5727 0 8819 8819 4000
NZ Snow Sports Council 15000 15900 0 15000 15000 1200
NZ Soccer Inc (mens) 67103 67242 0 67944 71000 75000
Soccer (womens) 7864 8124 8124 8516 8500 7500
NZ Taekwondo Federation 0 0 4400 5000 0 5000
NZ Tennis 63500 65000 55838 54874 65000 54002
NZ Tenpin Bowling Congress 0 3034 0 54874 3500 3500
NZ Water Polo Association Inc 0 0 0 0 0 0
NZ Water Ski Association 0 2704 2788 0 2788 2800
Olympic Weightlifting New Zealand - - - - - -
Recreational Aircraft Association of New Zealand 584 650 0 0 50 510
Rowing New Zealand 3410 3399 3268 3204 3204 3406
Royal New Zealand Aero Club (Inc) 8100 8350 0 0 0 0
Shearing Sports New Zealand (Inc) - - - - - -
Skate New Zealand 2534 760 0 5000 0 0
Softball New Zealand 35932 33241 36028 35400 35460 21130
Special Olympics New Zealand 0 0 0 2000 3000 3100
Squash New Zealand 53640 50351 47279 42920 42920 38645
Surf Life Saving New Zealand 0 0 9210 0 0 5000
Surfing New Zealand 0 1000 1500 0 850 850
Swimming New Zealand 29581 29550 23865 23745 23745 22840
Table Tennis New Zealand 24493 23455 51813 0 14276 14500
Touch New Zealand 0 0 0 24000 43584 36000
Trampoline New Zealand 2940 2720 2595 345 267 276
Triathlon New Zealand 0 0 0 0 1018 1000
Volleyball NZ Inc 6500 9307 11139 12000 12000 16000
Windsurfing NZ 0 0 0 0 0 0
Womens Golf NZ 39000 39000 36674 35580 34550 0
Yachting New Zealand 55000 55000 60800 60800 66600 66000
Total 1,314,096 1,331,575 1,113,048 1,134,039 1,245,618 1,196,050

Updated | 10 May 2006.

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