Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

There have been massive changes in how we receive our (sports) news, since the first newspaper in the New Zealand Gazette was published in 1839.

Newspapers, radio and then television took centre stage, before social media kicked them into the background.

A much awaited recent development is likely to propel a myriad of minority sports back into the limelight, thanks to a ground-breaking grassroots initiative.

More than 50 national dports organisations have come together to form the New Zealand Sports Collective.

The new initiative has been led by Olympic gold medalist and America's Cup sailor Rob Waddell, through his extensive contacts in New Zealand sport.

The New Zealand Sports collective has partnered with Sky Sport Next, which is the streaming service of Sky Television.

Through Sky Sport Next, New Zealanders will get free access to watch their favourite sports courtesy of Sky Sport Next You Tube channel.

Sideline Sid believes this is the lifeline minority sports in the country have been searching for, since the decline of mainstream media.

A recent trawl through the Sky Sport Next menus reveals, that just five weeks into 2021, baseball, motocross, football, athletics, archery, badminton, boxing, volleyball, canoe slalom and surfing have enjoyed hours of coverage.

In particular, Sky Sport Next will shine a spotlight on Olympic pathway sports such as swimming, climbing, athletics, gymnastics and boxing.

The country's many national sporting championships will also find a home on Sky Sport Next, with the individual sports followers able to watch the live action unfolding.

The recent Boxing New Zealand National Championships gave Sideline Sid an up-close and personal view of the boxing action, without leaving home.

Boxing New Zealand received an indication of the support that the nationals live streaming would receive, when they live streamed the North Island Golden Gloves in October 2020, receiving 40,000 views.

While the print and radio media totally ignored the Boxing New Zealand National Championships, the power of social media saw a big number of amateur boxing fans in the country, alerted to the live streaming.

From the first bout on day one to the Super Heavyweight title decider on the evening of day four, the nationals coverage flowed with non-stop action.

In addition to the live coverage, a daily highlights package was put together featuring the best fights of the day, with each session remaining on the platform well into the future.

An added bonus was finals night was screened on one Sky Sport 9, which opened up another viewing option.

Tauranga Boxing Club supporters had the luxury of watching the fortunes of their four boxers, who all returned home with a medal.

Women's defending welterweight titleholder Ariane Nicholson shone on the big stage winning back to back titles.

In one of the fights of the championships, Ariane repelled everything thrown at her by Jessica David, to take out a hard fought 3-2 spilt decision.

Tauranga Women's light welterweight Michelle Nuku faced a tough assignment when squaring off with defending champion Cara Wharerau.

Michelle had impressed many with her non-stop going forward victory in her semi-final bout.

The Light Welterweight title decider was another closely fought contest, with Michelle on the wrong end of another 3-2 spilt decision.

However, the Tauranga Boxing Club fighter could hold her head high with her performance.

Junior Super Heavyweight Te Kehu Kerr, who travels each week from Maketu to Tauranga for training, also thrilled his local supporters, when he won his gold medal bout.

The only Tauranga boxer not to make in onto the live streaming platform, was Hannah Walker who won an unopposed title, when she had no opponents in her weight class.

While obviously biased, Sideline Sid was hugely impressed with the coverage, from the slick running of the bouts through to the professionalism and knowledge of the commentary team, which sets the bar high for other sporting codes.