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
Steven Naismith by McCann. Naismith scored Rangers first goal against Hearts in October 2011, and Rangers went on to win the game 2–0. During the 2011–12 season, Naismith began a goalscoring celebration where he crosses his arms in front of his body. This was later revealed by a family friend to mean that he is sending a kiss to his girlfriend when doing so. On 29 October, Naismith injured himself after attempting to tackle Aberdeen's Rob Milsom. A scan later confirmed that he had damaged his cruciate ligament and would be out of action for around nine months, ending his season. In