Ki-o-Rahi

Ki-o-Rahi Akotanga Iho (KAI) and Waitangi National Trust will be hosting the 2011 Waitangi Bowl – New Zealand’s premiere mixed Ki-o-Rahi tournament. For more information about the tournament, how to apply as a team and to read the rules of the game, download the Waitangi Bowl document (PDF 124Kb).

This national competition for a game older than rugby will take place on the Waitangi sports field at 10am on Saturday 5th January.  The ball game ki-o-rahi is now played by millions of school children through the USA, and many thousands throughout France and  Italy, where it was introduced by the Maori Battalion during World War 2.  Today it thrives throughout its homeland with some 50,000 players.  Last year the inaugural Waitangi Bowl trophy marked the start of a move to national championships.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds deputy CEO Andy Larsen hopes that including a national championship during the Waitangi Day "season" of celebrations will shine a brighter spotlight on the game. "It pre-dates rugby, the game upon which the name of the Treaty Grounds’ founder Lord Bledisloe is indelibly engraved.  Sport and leisure were key elements in the deed of trust through which Bledisloe gifted Waitangi to the nation, so it is fitting to host the Waitangi Bowl here as a national, annual trophy. Ki-o-rahi has also turned lives around and provided a focus and an alternative for motivating youth in rural areas."

Harko Brown, the Northland Chairperson of Ki-o-Rahi Akotanga Iho (Ki-o-Rahi NZ) and NZ coach, selected Buck Shelford for the national men’s team which played the first ki-o-rahi international against France in Dieppe on September 26th this year.  He says the crowds were large, and enthusiastic.  "The international match was about NZ’s best players meeting with the players and administrators of Ki-o-Rahi Dieppe Organisation (Ki-o-Rahi France) who have sustained guardianship of ki-o-rahi since WW2.  It was about spiritual reconnections as much as a physical test, and with the mana of Buck Shelford earning his 23rd test cap,  and Renata Tane observing the significant traditional Maori games protocols, there was plenty of attention from European media."

Friday 4 February (10am) will be the Waitangi Ki-o-Rahi exhibition day - a friendly "whanau day" where school children and the public can learn about, and perhaps take part in, the sport that has stormed much of the world, yet still attracts little media attention in its homeland. You can download the itinerary (PDF 184Kb) and the invitation poster (PDF 4.16Mb)

"The games in the two days prior to Waitangi Day will be friendly, and players will be trying to involve the crowds", says Harko Brown.  "We are expecting some celebrities there, and we have plenty of spare jerseys.  We’ll be encouraging members of the public to join a team for five or ten minutes to get a feel for the game –  the emphasis is on getting together."  Harko Brown says the sport has become a force for cultural inclusiveness and motivation throughout schools in the region.