Global outing for traditional Māori ball game
13 May 2010
A traditional Māori ball game played in pre-European New Zealand is enjoying an international revival - with rugby legend Wayne "Buck" Shelford poised to play in a European tour in September.
Ki-o-rahi, a fast-running contact sport that has been described as the ancestor to touch rugby, was originally used to train Māori warriors for battle.
The game is now played in a number of schools across New Zealand, especially in Northland, and also in the US - where it was introduced by McDonald’s as part of an elementary school programme.
Shelford will play in New Zealand’s national ki-o-rahi team in test games scheduled for September and October in France.
Buck Shelford is passionate about his Māori heritage. He is affiliated with the Ngapuhi tribe through his father, and is a student of te reo Māori language.
Spotlight on ancient sport
The men’s and women’s ki-o-rahi teams leave the country on 15 September, kicking off with a tournament in London before visiting Poland, Germany and Holland - then playing a provincial match, a tournament and two tests in France.
The national men’s ki-o-rahi team - known as Ki-o-Rahi Akotanga Iho - is based in Northland, and captained by Matt White of Kerikeri.
Ki-o-rahi and Matariki
Ki-o-rahi is a team game for seven players that is played on a circular field with a "ki" or small ball woven out of flax. Players score points by touching the pou or boundary markers, and hitting the central tupu (target).
The seven posts scattered around the ki-o-rahi field are said to represent the seven stars of Matariki - the Pleiades constellation - which signals the start of the Māori New Year.
The game’s link to Matariki springs from a legend about the kidnapping of Rahi Tu Taka Hina’s wife by the patupaiarehe, or fairy people.
While searching for his wife, Rahi encountered all sorts of danger and came close to death. Rahi was saved by his father Eru who cast a spell to build a pathway leading him out of danger. When Rahi looked up to the heavens and saw the seven stars of Matariki, he was able to escape and achieve marama (enlightenment).
Background: Māori games
Ball games such as ki-o-rahi played an important role in traditional Māori society, which valued imaginative physical sports.
Ki-o-rahi was particularly useful as training for young warriors. Ground rules varied between tribes. A tribe that had strong ball players could be asked by another tribe to join them in battle through the presentation of a ki or poi - a flax ball attached to a short string.
Members of New Zealand’s Māori Battalion are credited with having introduced the game of ki-o-rahi to Italy during WWII.
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