Media Release 4th April 2020

Following an urgent New Zealand Maori Hockey Kaunihera (Committee) meeting today, of which 21 members from around New Zealand attended via video, a discussion was held specifically on two issues:

1. National Maori Hockey Tournament and
2. New Zealand Maori Hockey Junior & Senior Tane (Men) and Wahine (Women) fixtures for 2020. The following decisions are:
   • A decision has been made to wait until the 30th June 2020 to make a final decision on the National Maori Hockey Tournament this year. The landscape of COVID-19 is changing daily and by the end of June 2020 we should know what we are up against.
   • If the National Maori Hockey Tournament goes ahead over the October 2020 long weekend – then the venue will be confirmed. Takitimu (Wellington – Hawkes Bay) have advised that they will decline the tournament this year due to COVID-19. The Kaunihera will therefore plan and run a tournament with a chosen host Rohe (Region).
   • All Maori Hockey Junior & Senior Representative Fixtures will be cancelled for this year. Due to the likelihood of international borders being closed during 2020 it goes without saying that all overseas hockey trips and visiting hockey teams will be affected, and therefore are cancelled.

The Kaunihera will carry on “business as usual” with the health and safety of whanau in mind. Part of that resolution is what we can do collectively in light of the challenge that affects all our lives across the country.

Our focus will be

Plan A – Plan for a National Maori Hockey Tournament over October 2020 long weekend.

Plan B – Plan for a Hockey Tri-series between Rohe across regions.

Plan C – Plan for Maori hockey at a community level.

The Kaunihera is concerned about the financial constraints, affordability, funding, employment and hardships that will be affecting some of the Maori community. We take this into consideration for this year and in moving forward.

The Kaunihera acknowledge the decisions from Hockey NZ in consulting with Hockey Associations and understand the focus on Community Hockey at this present time. We will continue to update as more information comes to hand.

For more information around this release please contact chairperson@hockey.maori.nz or secretary@hockey.maori.nz