NRL set to introduce New Zealand Maori clash with Indigenous All Stars

[Valheru]

Lol, poor whiteys.

'It's not fair, why should we be excluded'.

Get over it.

Get over what?

I don't think any reasonable white person wants their own team.

Let's not kid ourselves and pretend that this isn't 2 teams picked along racial lines though.

Bizzarrely, the sentiment on LU is that if you call that fact out, that makes you a racist.

 

[Springs09]

So how many Aborigines and Maori have come out and condemned this as racist? None? f**king get over it.

Anyone saying 'what if Anglo-Saxon side blah blah blah' seriously? No one in Australia identifies with cultures that were relevant over a thousand years ago. Australians and NZers who still do identify with a European culture are able to represent that culture through the national side, the old European cultures are so far removed they are no longer relevant. Aboriginal and Maori culture is still very relevant and a major part of their lives.

And these aren't the only heritage or culture based sides, they just have a higher profile. Many teams play in lower level tournaments, such as the Fijian Australians, Maltese Australians, the Latin Heat and several others most commonly seen at the Cabramatta 9s. No one has ever kicked up a stink about that even though it is the same thing. Is it only racist if the game is broadcast on TV and played in a big stadium?

 

[Springs09]

20k is a large crowd?

It seems important in a competitive market to keep your product front of mind of consumers but there can be too much of a good thing. Before the season starts you are already risking fatigue from supporters which can dilute interest of what should be the main event, the season proper. Shorten the pre-season, give the players adequate rest and make the season itself the drawcard early in the year rather than one off exhibitions.

Pre-season games like this are not the problem. Pre-season training should be shortened, and trials. The season itself should also be shortened.

 

[Springs09]

This is a silly idea, and I'm Maori.

We had our own team at the 2000 World Cup, with our own theme song which I can't find on the internet right now. (if someone has that song hook me up).

I don't want traitors and plastic Maoris like Tamou, McLean, Ponga, Holmes and co involved in a team that represents me and my heritage. I also wouldn't want a guy like Norman involved when he doesn't want to play for the Kiwis.

Btw, why don't they list Thurston as a guy who can play for both teams? His Dad's Maori. Is that cos he's a "big star" so has to play for the Aborigine team?

lol, 'plastic maoris', would like to see you say that to McLeans or Holmes' face. And Holmes, Ponga and McLean, born in Townsville, Port Hedland and Sydney respectively are traitors how?

 

[Valheru]

So how many Aborigines and Maori have come out and condemned this as racist? None? f**king get over it.

Are you saying it is only racist if people from those 2 cultures determine it to be so?

Australians and NZers who still do identify with a European culture are able to represent that culture through the national side, the old European cultures are so far removed they are no longer relevant. Aboriginal and Maori culture is still very relevant and a major part of their lives.

Rubbish.

Both national sides represent all people from their respective countries, as it should be.

And these aren't the only heritage or culture based sides, they just have a higher profile. Many teams play in lower level tournaments, such as the Fijian Australians, Maltese Australians, the Latin Heat and several others most commonly seen at the Cabramatta 9s. No one has ever kicked up a stink about that even though it is the same thing. Is it only racist if the game is broadcast on TV and played in a big stadium?

This is a good point but the key here is that (i assume) there is no 3rd party preventing a team representing any culture/heritage from competing.

 

[Te Kaha]

Get over what?

I don't think any reasonable white person wants their own team.

Let's not kid ourselves and pretend that this isn't 2 teams picked along racial lines though.

Bizzarrely, the sentiment on LU is that if you call that fact out, that makes you a racist.

Do you support the Lebanese "national" team? the Scots "national" team? the Tongan "national" team? The Samoan "National" team? if you do, you are a massive hypocrite.

Each of those teams have recently selected players were where neither born or raised in those countries. They are "ethnically" eligible based on parents or grand parents. They are not citizens of those nations at all their ethnicity is all that matters. Did you even know that the Maori are a "nation" with our own king? The fact that we are also NZers makes not one once of difference.

 

[Valheru]

Do you support the Lebanese "national" team? the Scots "national" team? the Tongan "national" team? The Samoan "National" team? if you do, you are a massive hypocrite.

Each of those teams have recently selected players were where neither born or raised in those countries. They are "ethnically" eligible based on parents or grand parents. They are not citizens of those nations at all their ethnicity is all that matters. Did you even know that the Maori are a "nation" with our own king? The fact that we are also NZers makes not one once of difference.

I have already addressed that point. They are national sides that do need non nationals to fill their team because quite frankly they wouldn't be competitive otherwise. It is a different example anyways because i assume there are very few non ethnic tongans living in tonga for example but i am confident if there were, they wouldn't be excluded from the national side based on race/culture.

 

[carcharias]

Do you support the Lebanese "national" team? the Scots "national" team? the Tongan "national" team? The Samoan "National" team? if you do, you are a massive hypocrite.

Each of those teams have recently selected players were where neither born or raised in those countries. They are "ethnically" eligible based on parents or grand parents. They are not citizens of those nations at all their ethnicity is all that matters. Did you even know that the Maori are a "nation" with our own king? The fact that we are also NZers makes not one once of difference.

Does the king live in Australia?

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I don't love the idea of "ethnic" or "racial" teams. It just seems like common sense that it's more divisive than celebratory, more regressive than progressive.

However, it's better than gutting other national teams (specifically mine) to form an ethnic team, pretending it's a national team, putting it in a World Cup and then having to watch the pricks make it to the semi-finals, disposing of actual national teams along the way.

 

[The Great Dane]

Only if you think picking a team based purely on race is racist.

I don't really want to get back into this discussion, but that is some crazy doublethink right there!

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Get over what?

I don't think any reasonable white person wants their own team.

Let's not kid ourselves and pretend that this isn't 2 teams picked along racial lines though.

Bizzarrely, the sentiment on LU is that if you call that fact out, that makes you a racist.

And your problem with this is?

You don't have to watch it you know.

 

[Te Kaha]

I have already addressed that point. They are national sides that do need non nationals to fill their team because quite frankly they wouldn't be competitive otherwise. It is a different example anyways because i assume there are very few non ethnic tongans living in tonga for example but i am confident if there were, they wouldn't be excluded from the national side based on race/culture.

Its irrelevant that they wouldn't be competitive without them, they are racially selected. The only connection they have to the country that they represent is there race\ethnicity.

Do you support the cook islands? if so you are also a hypocrite. Since all Cook Islanders are eligible to play for NZ being New Zealanders, but not all New Zealanders are eligible to play for the Cooks, because they are not racially\ethnically cook.

 

[Canard]

Do you believe forming sport teams based primarily on race/culture to the exclusion of all others is wrong? If yes, you have answered your own question.

I don't believe in absolutes.

This is a fantastic initiative that celebrates the contribution these two cultures have made to our great game. No-one is excluded from that celebration.

 

[Canard]

Most actually want the NRL season shortened and far more international and rep games played

Most is an exaggeration.

 

[Te Kaha]

Does the king live in Australia?

No, why does that matter?

 

[Matua]

Well, this thread has been a doozy. I haven't been here long but I expect all the posters complaining this match complained each year about the indigenous match?

This is a silly idea, and I'm Maori.

We had our own team at the 2000 World Cup, with our own theme song which I can't find on the internet right now. (if someone has that song hook me up).

I don't want traitors and plastic Maoris like Tamou, McLean, Ponga, Holmes and co involved in a team that represents me and my heritage. I also wouldn't want a guy like Norman involved when he doesn't want to play for the Kiwis.

Btw, why don't they list Thurston as a guy who can play for both teams? His Dad's Maori. Is that cos he's a "big star" so has to play for the Aborigine team?

I don't think this is comparable to the world cup, this is a preseason exhibition match - the Maori team shouldn't have been in a WC because nations contest that.

This is a Maori ethnic team, not a NZ team, so all Maori, whether you consider them traitors or not (and only really Tamou is from that lot) should be eligible.

Also, I thought Thurston's dad was pakeha?

 

[carcharias]

No, why does that matter?

It was a joke
So many live here already
That’s because we are a superior country

Aborigines by 22

 

[Canard]

Well, this thread has been a doozy. I haven't been here long but I expect all the posters complaining this match complained each year about the indigenous match?


I don't think this is comparable to the world cup, this is a preseason exhibition match - the Maori team shouldn't have been in a WC because nations contest that.

This is a Maori ethnic team, not a NZ team, so all Maori, whether you consider them traitors or not (and only really Tamou is from that lot) should be eligible.

Also, I thought Thurston's dad was pakeha?

Thurston's Wikipedia page currently has this awesome edit

Born in Brisbane, Queensland, to a Gunggari (Indigenous Australian) mother and a New Zealand-born father, Thurston is as Maori as they come.

Haha.

 

[carcharias]

Thurston's Wikipedia page currently has this awesome edit



Haha.

Good on him for staying loyal to his birth country.

But geeze
I thought he was all aboriginal

 

[JJ]

So how many Aborigines and Maori have come out and condemned this as racist? None? f**king get over it.

Anyone saying 'what if Anglo-Saxon side blah blah blah' seriously? No one in Australia identifies with cultures that were relevant over a thousand years ago. Australians and NZers who still do identify with a European culture are able to represent that culture through the national side, the old European cultures are so far removed they are no longer relevant. Aboriginal and Maori culture is still very relevant and a major part of their lives.

And these aren't the only heritage or culture based sides, they just have a higher profile. Many teams play in lower level tournaments, such as the Fijian Australians, Maltese Australians, the Latin Heat and several others most commonly seen at the Cabramatta 9s. No one has ever kicked up a stink about that even though it is the same thing. Is it only racist if the game is broadcast on TV and played in a big stadium?

The bold bit is just bullshit tbh - all cultures are equally relevant FFS