A Century Of Maori Rugby

PUBLICITY RELEASE
THURSDAY 8 APRIL 2010

All Areas Access Pass To Over A Century Of Maori Rugby

As Maori rugby gets set to celebrate its centenary in May, a landmark documentary series on Maori Television will trace the evolution of Maori rugby and examine its place in New Zealand society.

BENEATH THE MAORI MOON, screening from Thursday May 6 at 8.00 PM, is an all areas access pass to Maori rugby. The programme begins with the early pioneers who helped spread the gospel of the game at home and abroad, through to the modern day men who will take to the field for the centenary series in June against Ireland and England.

The 15-episode series profiles important players and colourful characters, and examines the times in which they lived – both world wars, The Great Depression, urban migration of the 50s and 60s, through to the modern professional era of the game.

Whanau and whakapapa play an important role in Maori rugby, and this programme looks at the impressive contribution of the likes of the Goings, the Brookes, the Osbornes and the MacDonalds. Viewers also meet the first families to field husband and wife and mother and son national rugby representatives.

BENEATH THE MAORI MOON does not shy away from the contentious issues. It touches on the battle between union and league for the top talent. It examines the changes brought on by the move to professionalism in the sport, and the impact the South African apartheid policy had on Maori players half a world away.

In the lead up to next year’s World Cup, BENEATH THE MAORI MOON meets those that have left the shores of Aotearoa to play their rugby elsewhere – the player who donned the red rose of England, the Ngaruawahia-born Wallaby and the Ngapuhi boy who hopes to thwart the All Blacks quest to win the World Cup.

We also check in with the players at the flaxroots – those who keep the game hearty and healthy – from regional legends such as Harry Jacob of Horowhenua, to the vigorously contested Pa Wars and those who ensured the success of the Ngati Porou East Coast NPC team in the 1990s.

General manager of programming Haunui Royal says the series expands on the critically-acclaimed book of the same name by Malcolm Mulholland (Ngati Kahungunu). He says it incorporates the views of legendary rugby commentator Keith Quinn and social historian Ranginui Walker, as well as speaking to a host of Maori rugby talents across the decades. “It’s not all talking heads, there’s documentary footage, pictures and re-enactments as well as lots of the flair and exciting play we’ve come to expect of Maori rugby. It truly captures the X-factor that makes Maori rugby so magical.”

“BENEATH THE MAORI MOON is a thorough review of the history of Maori rugby …and the pivotal role it plays in both Maori society and the overall history of New Zealand. It also examines the way that that history can be built on as we move into the next hundred years of Maori rugby. Ka haere whakamua me hoki whakamuri.”

Maori Television, the lead free-to-air broadcaster of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, will screen BENEATH THE MAORI MOON from Thursday May 6 at 8.00 PM.

ENDS

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