No, it is not the 15-man code. Or the 13-man one.
But handball. The game of leaping, running and throwing.
It is a game that gets a bit of profile in New Zealand once every four years when it is played at the Olympics. Apart from that, it flies well below the radar.
But there are hopes to get the game more of a profile in New Zealand with a national league mooted.national Women's handball coach Ben Birkenhake has been in Dunedin over the past couple of days.
He watched a secondary schools tournament on Monday and then spread the word about the sport yesterday.
Birkenhake (40), who played the game semi-professionally in Germany before moving to Australia and then New Zealand, said the sport was trying to encourage the game among school pupils.
''What we have been trying to do is get into the schools and younger people and not rely so much on migrants. They have dominated teams in the past but we want to change that,'' Birkenhake said.
''The development of the sport here has been going well, but we are always going to be up against it, taking on Australia. They are a bigger country, and have more migrants.''
He said handball was a tough, physical sport but had the advantage over other sports such as rugby that the chance of injury was small.
''It is quite a safe sport with a lot less injuries ... you might get the odd rolled ankle but, apart from that, there are not the same amount of injuries. The way the sport is regulated makes it impossible to get blind-sided by a tackle.''
Under the rules of handball, defenders can only tackle front on.
So all tackles must be made by defenders between the goal and the attacking player.
''You cannot be hit on the side. Or hit from behind. All the tackles must be front on and the defenders must be going for the ball. You can only attack the person who has got the ball.''
He said the game was hugely popular around the world and was increasing in popularity.
The New Zealand Handball Federation was trying to get a national league established but, as with all minority sports, money, or lack of it, was an issue, Birkenhake said.
There were plans to start a national league next year involving teams from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and, hopefully, Dunedin, he said.
How it works
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outfield players and a goalkeeper on each team) pass a ball on a court slightly bigger than a basketball court, with the aim of throwing it into the goal of the other team. A standard match consists of 30-minute halves. Players are not allowed within 6m of the opposition goal, although they can leap into this area and let the ball go before touching the ground.
