Hillie Chan won't miss an update as she's got the 2015 Rugby World Cup app on her phone. Photo /
Chris Loufte
Hillie Chan won't miss an update as she's got the 2015 Rugby World Cup app on her phone. Photo /
Chris Loufte
2011 World Cup heroics win more diverse support for national team.
When the Rugby World Cup kicks off in September, the All Blacks can expect a lot more support from Chinese fans back home.
An AUT study on New Zealand Chinese and the Rugby World Cup 2011 found that although the event hosted here did not increase the number of Chinese taking up the sport, it did turn many into rugby fans and proud supporters of the All Blacks.
More than 800 local Chinese were surveyed for the report "Migrant community participation in a Mega Sporting Event" before and after the competition.
Immediately before the World Cup, 96 per cent said they were aware of the event but more than half said they were not fans, and one in three had never watched a rugby game on television.
However, within two months after the event, 55 per cent - an increase of 7 per cent - said they were fans and 83 per cent stated they watch rugby games rarely, sometimes or often.
Richie McCaw's team won over fans in 2011. Photo / Brett Phibbs
"The survey shows that Rugby World Cup 2011 had a positive effect on attracting local Chinese to watch the games and increasing the support for rugby," said report author Chloe Kam Hong Lau.
About 85 per cent said they never played rugby, and of those who played, none participated in the sport on a weekly basis.
Although the post-RWC survey showed one in 100 claimed they played rugby every week, it was still a small number compared with the 50 to 60 per cent of New Zealanders who participated in the sport.
"Results indicated that the RWC 2011 did not have any short-term effect on increasing the tendency of Chinese to play rugby in New Zealand ... local Chinese are still much less likely to take up this sport."
Dr Lau said the study focused on local Chinese because they formed the largest Asian ethnic group and China was New Zealand's largest source country for migrants. In the 2013 Census, the size of the Chinese New Zealander population was about 171,000, representing a 16 per cent increase since 2006.
"Rugby is New Zealand's national sport, and because the Chinese are changing the country's population make-up, how they view the sport will also have a significant impact on the future of the game," she said.
Rugby convert can't wait to cheer on her team
Before the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Hong Kong-born Hillie Chan considered the sport a "brutal game" and one "played by barbarians".
But watching the All Blacks during the tournament turned the 22-year-old Auckland graphics designer into a "huge fan".
"I grew up in a typical Chinese family where no one had any interest in rugby," Miss Chan said. "Except that we were quite good at rugby, I knew nothing else about the game."
Then a student at Epsom Girls Grammar, she started watching New Zealand games on television because friends at school talked about them.
"At first it was really just so I can have something to talk to my friends about, and also to see how far the All Blacks can go," she said.
"But I found the games really exciting and started to feel for the All Blacks ... I felt really proud when they won."
Immediately after the World Cup, she bought a replica All Blacks jersey on Grabone. She's also been to Eden Park to see the All Blacks play South Africa, France and Australia.
