NZ Māori Touch travelling to New South Wales for historic tour

It’s been a long time coming for the New Zealand Māori Touch Association, who are finally heading to Australia to take on the New South Wales Touch Association.

The inaugural tour is offering a different experience to the usual New Zealand national Touch tour by emphasising Māori cultural practices and the players’ cultural identity.

The tour has been made possible through the hard work of the NZ Maori Touch Association, which has involved years of organising and developing of a plan to showcase the presence of Māori Touch in New Zealand.

Pat Spellman, a trustee member and partnerships communications director of the NZ Māori Touch association, believes that the tour started with the NRL All Stars event.

“I guess the starting point for the most recent phase of international footy for Māori touch is the NRL All Stars fixtures that we've been a part of for the last three years,” Spellman told Te Waha Nui.

“For the last few years, we've obviously had a Māori touch team as a part of that fixture, and what that did was it sort of reignited this passion and this desire within our Māori touch community to see Māori touch representative teams for this space.”

LISTEN: NZ Maori Touch Partnerships and Communications Director Pat Spellman

Eligible players are given a choice on whether they want to be considered for the national Māori Teams and then selected by high-performance staff at the annual New Zealand Māori Touch Nationals.

Spellman explains that the plan in Australia is to honour and acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of Australia, while also having their own team events.

“We will meet with the Aboriginal, indigenous peoples of Australia and then that'll be a part of a traditional Aboriginal welcome with those who participate, and that's just the first of a few different cultural kaupapa, or cultural initiatives that will take place.”

One of the Men’s 2025 players for this tour to Australia is Finlay Barnett, who says that this tour means something more than just a normal New Zealand tour over the Tasman.

“It means everything, it’s a huge step for our people being able to represent our whānau and whakapapa - and more importantly after years of the all-stars comp, the selection process behind actually requiring players to compete at the Māori nationals comp is super cool,” Barnett said.

“There’ll be a lot more tikanga around everything we do, and a lot more focus on people like me who have been less connected, learning and engaging with our culture.”

The tour’s games will be announced in due course but will feature matches against high-quality club opposition in Australia and games against NSW in the lead-up to their 2025 Origin Series against Queensland Touch in late June.

For more information on the tour, head to https://www.maoritouch.co.nz/whakataetae-events/2025-nsw-tour