Basketball in New Zealand Basketball in New Zealand The sport of basketball was first played in New Zealand in 1908. When basketball invented by the Canadian Dr James Naismith in 1891 it had failed to reach New Zealand until the early 1900s. A former Naismith student, J. H. Greenwood, introduced basketball to New Zealand when he was appointed physical director of the Wellington branch of the YMCA in 1908. The sport was called indoor basketball to avoid confusion with the English offshoot of basketball played by females outdoors. New Zealand women's basketball was renamed netball in 1970. The YMCA spread the game from the
The Massachusetts Game The Massachusetts Game The Massachusetts Game was a type of amateur club baseball popular in 19th century New England. It was an organized and codified version of local games called "base" or "round ball", and related to town ball and rounders. The Massachusetts Game is remembered as a rival of the New York Game of baseball, which was based on Knickerbocker Rules. In the end, however, it was the New York style of play which was adopted as the "National Game" and was the fore-runner of modern baseball. The form of the Massachusetts Game that is best known today comes