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National

Māori Football and Kanaka Pōwāwae sign historic partnership

Māori Football Aotearoa and Hui Kanaka Pōwāwae are combining forces to strengthen the two cultures through the world's most popular sport.

The respective football organisations represent the indigenous cultures in Aotearoa and Hawai'i. Both say the partnership will foster the character between Kanaka Maoli and Māori.

The partnership will see the two groups involved in annual exchanges, with Kanaka Pōwāwae bringing youth and senior teams (men and women) to Aotearoa in 2023, visiting Auckland and Kaikohe while also attending the FIFA Women's World Cup that will be played here.

Aotearoa will then send its teams to Hawai'i in 2024.

Māori Football Aotearoa kaitiaki Phil Pickering-Parker says sport has a significant social impact, and football is a vital social connector for communities, families and people.

Mana as Polynesians

"Working alongside and with Kanaka Pōwāwae will only enhance the mana (pride) of the organisations as Polynesians and ancestors in our service to the people. Tihei Mauri Ora!"

Kanaka Pōwāwae chief executive and president Vernon Kapua'ala says the partnership with Māori Football recognises the importance of sport as culture and shaped by those who play it.

"These international fixtures create a platform from which both sides can live aloha ‘āina (“pride of country”) – in a way that reshapes our shared histories and represents the values and sense of self that is uniquely Kanaka-Māori."

While the partnership between Māori Football Aotearoa and Kanaka Pōwāwae is new, the two organisations have shared the same vision and drive - to support and encourage the indigenous communities of both lands, to achieve success on and off the pitch.

The sport and cultural exchange will be in addition to the series, named the Clash of Cultures, already in place between Māori Football Aotearoa and the First Nations people of Australia, which seen male and female teams from Under 14 through to senior level represent their cultures on the football pitch.