Brief History of Korfball in New Zealand

Following World War II there was large scale emigration from the Netherlands to New Zealand. While a number of the newcomers made ‘grass roots’ attempts to establish korfball in their new country, they were generally preoccupied with settling in and turning themselves into New Zealanders. As a consequence, concerted efforts for korfball were not a priority and, in the face of well-established traditional single sex sports, the mixed team alternative failed to properly take hold.

Korfball Development Group

With support from the International Korfball Federation (IKF) and the Australian Korfball Association (now Korfball Australia – KA), the Korfball Development Group (KDG) was set up in the mid 1980s to promote the sport into schools. KA founder and president Roy Kirkby visited New Zealand twice during this period to pursue development initiatives.

Activities were focused in Dunedin, where members of the KDG were based at the Otago University School of Physical Education under Dr Bevan Grant, and in Christchurch, where a number of Otago graduates commenced careers as secondary school teachers and as teachers at the Christchurch College of Education.