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Hockey's emergence as an organized sport in New Zealand is typically regarded as having occurred during the 1890s. Reverend Henry Mathias, who formed the Kaiapoi Hockey Club in 1895, has been credited with a particularly influential part in the game's development. Indeed, there is considerable truth to this foundation story in that the formation of clubs in Christchurch was the catalyst for the adoption of the 11-a-side form of the game played under the rules of the Hockey Association of England. Arguably, however, these 1890s developments represent a reformatory phase rather than an origin story in and of themselves. The analysis of online newspaper records contained in this paper suggests a widespread presence of informal games from at least as early as the 1860s, through to the formation of the Dunedin Hockey Club in 1876. Hockey also appears to have been played in schools from at least as early as the 1870s and, outside of school, was sometimes associated with 'larrikinism'. By the 1890s, though, it was perceived to be a respectable game, supported by dedicated patrons and a much more developed sporting infrastructure in New Zealand.
Geoff Watson (Sun,) studied this question.