The four NRL All Stars teams, Māori and First Nation’s Men’s and Women’s, were welcomed this morning onto Turangawaewae Marae by Te Arikinui Kuini Ngawai hono i te po, the Kiingitanga, and Tainui waka, ahead of their clashes this Sunday at the FMG Stadium in Kirikiriroa.

For Indigenous Men’s All Stars player Hohepa Puru, the pōwhiri was a powerful homecoming. Puru has whakapapa on his mother’s side to Waikato Tainui & Ihumatao, despite being raised on his Mununjali & Githabul people’s country in the south-east part of Queensland on his dad’s side in Australia.

“I got a bit emotional. It’s hard to put in words. It’s a certain respect, she got up for us and the boys don’t realise, but it’s an honour that I’m gonna carry with me. She got up and did the haka and embraced her culture for us,” Hohepa Puru said.

“I’m home. We spoke on the way here about drawing strength from the mother country in Australia. But I’m drawing strength from the rivers, from the trees, from everyone’s presence here. This is home, this is my whaanau, so I’m drawing strength from everywhere. So I’m very proud,” Hohepa said.

“I take that mana and the power that she instilled in me just then and represent that culture.” 

Alofiana Khan-Pereira, also an Indigenous Men’s All Stars player, holds whakapapa to Ngāpuhi through his mother. On his father’s side, he was raised among his Bundjalung people on their traditional coastal country, which stretches from Grafton in northern New South Wales to the Logan River and inland to Tenterfield. He described the powhiri as a rare and significant occasion.

“You know some boys don’t really get to experience that. It’s kinda rare but it’s a massive privilege and a massive honour,” Khan-Pereira said. 

“Mum’s always been a massive ambassador for our culture and you know, she’s always led with her front on. She always wanted to pass that down to us,” he said.

The pōwhiri also proved to be a nostalgic moment for Māori Men’s All Stars player Te Maire Martin (Waikato, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairārapa), a former player of the Turangawaewae Rugby League Club. He was particularly moved by the presence of the Māori Queen Te Arikinui Kuini Ngawai hono i te po.

“The feeling itself just coming on here was just wow. I was saying before, I’ve never been that close to the Māori queen before. It’s crazy and I probably wouldn’t have gotten that close if it wasn’t for our Māori team,” Te Maire Martin said. 

He reflected on the cultural grounding he received from a young age: “Even coming through school and kura kaupapa, you’re always putting in your mihi to the Atua and the Kuini, or the Kiingi back when I was doing it, Kiingi Tuheitia,” Te Maire said.

Martin highlighted that the cultural build-up is a key component of the All Stars week, transcending the game itself. “For me, the game is one part. You get to showcase what you can do. But, for me it’s the whole build up throughout the week. Doing stuff like this and learning new things about their indigenous culture, even our own culture, the stuff that I’m still learning at the moment. That’s what I like the most about these weeks.”