February 27, 2024
Culture driving age group sports boom
Veteran commentator Ken Laban says codes struggling to fill teams could take lessons from rise of Indigenous sports, especially rangatahi Māori rugby league.
He’s in Brisbane helping with a three-match tour by a Wainuiomata Marae under-18 girls side – which has already beaten one top high school by 30 points to 4, and trounced the national champions 48 to zero.
The team’s strong culture practices – bolstered by years of Aotearoa Maori Rugby League tournaments – contributed to its success.
There’s a similar cultural dynamic with Pacific age grade teams.
“It’s a very, very strong connector for all of us because some people that have been born into the urban areas and may have only been back to their iwi or their marae a couple of times in their life, well here’s another way, and here’s another vehilce, as Liam Messam said, for us to be able to keep our culture relevant and keep it in our lives,” Mr Laban says.
The Aotearoa Maori Rugby League now has to run separate age grade tournaments on four different weekends to ensure all teams can participate.