IS COLOUR BAR KEEPING MAORIS OUT OF N.Z. SPORT?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 1, 22 February 1950, Page 5

IS COLOUR BAR KEEPING MAORIS OUT OF N.Z. SPORT?

The absence of Maori competitors in the Empire Games at Auckland recently has drawn some comments from many people in different parts of New Zealand. In the Bay of Plenty comment has been made in some quarters and one prominent Maori made the suggestion that the average Maori sportsman received little or no encouragement when he joined a sports club. It was not uncommon for a Maori to be overlooked when a representative sports team was being selected and even in rugby, the sport where the Maori has made the most progress, there have been occasions where Maori players have been ignored and even refused consideration.

Some people think there have been too many such occasions. Not Isolated That this feeling is not an isollated one among Maoris is shown in the comments of a leading Maori in Dannevirke who referred to the statement made by the Prime Minister, Mr S. G. Holland, at t}ie recent gathering in Ngaruawahia where he said he hoped that Maoris would be represented at the next Empire Games in Canada. According to the Dannevirke Maori: “It is not that the Maori has not the physique, or even the desire to excel in such sports as athletes, but he is a sensitive fellow and it does not take much to let him know that he is not wanted. He would rather stand down than knowingly push in where he is not wanted.”

The speaker added that the Maori preferred games in which he could take part with his fellows, rather than compete as an individual. As an example he said that, with some exceptions, Maoris seldom made goood dairy farmers, but when together in a shearing gang they excelled in their work. It was the traditional community spirit. Some years ago a Maori Rugby team, , Aotea, won championship honours in the Danevirke competition. Working as a team the players were outstanding, but when racial discriminations manifested themselves among a part of the public and some members of other teams, the Maori players withdrew rather than impose themselves in a sphere where they believed they were not wanted.

There was no stated colour bar, but the same effect was achieved by more subtle methods.

“The Maori suffers from an acute inferiority complex,” he said. “It is unfortunate, but we all do.”

Few In Sport

The Maori had found he was accepted in some sports and in some there was a feeling that he was not wanted. The effect of this was evident in the fact that few Maoris today took part in competitive sport. Even in the football world there were few players as compared with those of a few years ago. “While a colour bar did, in effect exist, the Maoris were well pleased with the manner in which they were treated in the broader scheme of things and were proud, to call themselves members of the British Empire,” the speaker added.