Sport diplomacy is often talked about through the lens of relationships between countries. Delegations, partnerships, handshakes and photos – which, don’t get me wrong, have their place.
But as I arrive in India as part of a sport diplomacy delegation supported by the Asia New Zealand Foundation, I’ve been thinking about sport diplomacy differently – particularly with women in sport. And aligning my own values with a version of sports diplomacy that resonate with me.
I’ve always tried to adapt sports diplomacy as building relationships that last over time with people on the ground doing work in our communities. Soaking up culture and seeing what comes from it – as opposed to having an aim. I believe through connection something always happens.
I couldn’t write this without drawing on the voices of students in my classroom. One student in particular, Brunelle Barretto – originally from Mumbai – has significantly shaped my thinking through their work exploring the relationship between cricket and hockey in India.
Their research examined a fascinating contradiction: Hockey is widely recognised as India’s national sport, yet cricket overwhelmingly dominates the country’s sporting landscape at all levels of society. From gully cricket right through to the billion-dollar Indian Premier League.
Growing up, Barretto had always been told hockey was central to India’s identity because of its Olympic success and historical significance. Yet when examining India’s contemporary sporting environment, they began questioning whether that identity still reflected reality.
Because in modern India, cricket is impossible to ignore.
The Indian Premier League, alongside the immense influence of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, has transformed cricket into far more than a sport. It dominates media coverage, sponsorship, broadcasting, celebrity culture and public conversation. It exists not only as entertainment, but as a powerful cultural and economic institution.
Hockey occupies a very different position.
Barretto’s work asked an important question: If hockey is considered India’s national sport, why doesn’t it receive the same visibility, investment or influence as cricket?
What stood out most to me was the argument that popularity in sport is rarely accidental. It’s constructed through systems of governance, sponsorship, political influence, financial backing and media visibility. The sports people consistently see become the sports they value.
Once you begin looking at sport through that lens, it becomes impossible not to think about women’s sport, too.
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The same systems shaping the dominance of cricket over hockey also shape whose competitions, athletes and stories are prioritised more broadly.
Globally, women’s sport continues to receive significantly less media coverage and sponsorship despite growing audiences, participation and commercial potential. Some sports and athletes are consistently positioned as worthy of investment and visibility, while others are expected to continually justify their value.
This is part of why I’m excited to meet Women in Sport India while I’m there.
Sport diplomacy is often framed around governments and institutions, but organisations like Women in Sport India, on the ground, remind us that diplomacy also happens through people working to shift systems from within the community.
I’m interested in hearing how they navigate the realities of gender, visibility and power within the Indian sporting landscape, and what parallels exist with the work many of us are doing for women in sport in Aotearoa New Zealand.
This is where sport diplomacy becomes particularly powerful. Its role in building relationships between nations helps us better understand sport as a vehicle which shapes national identity, social norms and access to opportunity.
I’m also conscious that this delegation builds on work already happening between India and Aotearoa New Zealand through sport. In March, the Associate Minister for Sport and Recreation, Chris Bishop, led a cross-code delegation of New Zealand sporting leaders to India to mark 100 years of sporting ties between the two countries. It all began with the historic 1926 Indian Army men’s hockey tour to New Zealand.
The delegation included leaders from organisations such as Sport New Zealand, Hockey New Zealand, Paralympics New Zealand and the Asia New Zealand Foundation, with conversations focused on strengthening relationships, women and girls in sport, leadership and future collaboration across the sector.
This trip feels like a continuation of those growing connections and shared conversations.
As someone working in sport governance and research in Aotearoa New Zealand, these are the conversations I’m increasingly drawn towards. Not just how sport is played, but how sport acts as a vehicle through which we can see, solve and understand social issues.
What I love most is that sport diplomacy isn’t about how countries play sport differently – it’s about how societies choose what sport represents within society and how it shapes national identities.
I’m excited to experience India, and curious to see how my thinking evolves around the relationship between sport, identity and gender, and what we might learn from one another through those conversations.
