Ki-o-Rahi & other traditional sports of Aotearoa

[steiny]

Kia ora koutou, I am a pakeha from the US but nevertheless I am totally interested in the sports that the Maori people once played and still do to this day even though it was a struggle to hold on to them through oppressive Pakeha regimes in this country over the centuries - because of the early missionaries, ongoing legislation, societal racism, ommission in educatinal institutions and so forth!. I have given out what little I do know on the 'Maori' discussion forum. Generally Maori are made to feel their traditional sports are inferior to the introduced "white" sports such as league, rugby, cricket, soccer...schools dont teach them and funding is not given either - its a vicious cycle so more and more Maori are turning away from them , it has happened this way in the states too with indigenous tribes.I would appreciate contributions from people who have participated in traditional Maori sports or games and to describe how they are played even as I want to write a book on this fascinating subject someday - all contributions I may use will be acknowledged. You can also e-mail me at newyork911@yahoo.co.nz thanks and kia ora!

[steiny]

apologies my e-mail address is newyorkusa911@yahoo.co.nz one of those days! I'm in Aotearoa until June 2003

[ManuRuka]

thanks to you mr. american it is sad to me when it takes a visitor to showup the people who are ment to be carring for our youth like the teachers and the ligislation people and programe people of our schoolactivitees. I played the game called kiorahi and it was a very fisikle game indeed we useda piece of pumice shaped about size of big softball but when very young played we toned it down we marked someone who we guesed was our skill level. Good luck to yuo in the book for nz i will send some more notes to your e-mail when i gathr that notes up so can send alott of infrmation to you good on you and good luck mr. Steiny

[fyzykyl]

wow! you've certainly got a passion Mr. America! On a serios note though from what little i know about sports psychology aren't sports used by societies to "program" their populace into capitalistic modes of conforming. For instance competition is vital in the corporate world and the well-known teams are also walking billboards for advertisers and the horrible injuries in sport help support the farmasuiticle companies and the medical profession. i think the more people friendly and communal games of the Maori just don't fit into our societal structure - they would be difficult to introduce back into even Maori communities because they too would prefer the "pakeha" sports now after over 200yrs of indoctrination and "pakeha" legislating? This is true I feel as I've never seen a traditional sport take higher billing than a "pakeha" one. If Maori sport was valued wouldn't the Tainui people have had the power to direct, smack bang in the middle of their territory,that they wanted their traditional form of rugby called kiorahi to open the Waikato stadium instead of the "pakeha" version? No way and even at the annual coronation ceremony at Ngaruawahia "pakeha" rugby and league feature. Give it up Mr. America if Maori aren't interested in that facet of their culture then i can't see how you could possibly change things? But I'm all ears!

[spaade]

I HAVE AN INTEREST WITH KIORAHI - WATCHING IT! ITS HARD AS YOU SAY TO REPROGRAMME MAORI SO IT BOILS DOWN TO 'DO THEY WANT IT BAD ENOUGH(THEIR HERITAGE)????BOOZE, DRUGS, CRIME & ANY EASY OUTS SEEM TO BE ON MAORI AGENDAS TODAY - IT WOULD BE 'TOO HARD' FOR MOST MAORI TO CARE ABOUT THE VALUES OF THE COMING GENERATIONS SO THEY LET THE KIDS STEW IN THE INTRODUCED SPORTS IT SEEMS. iT WILL TAKE A REALLY DEVOTED DISCIPLE OF MAORI SPORTS TO LEAD THE RENAISSANCE AND THE STARTER OF THIS THREAD MAY BE THE ONE??? WHO KNOWS THE FUTURE MAY HOLD MANY SURPRISES!!!

[BjornAgain]

settle down spaade, maybe you could go dig yourself a

hole and JUMP INTO IT!!!