Te Paiaka MARAE TOUCH Tournament

18/03/2026

He hōnore nui 🤎

Hokianga ki te manawa

2025 Northland Sports Awards || Community Impact Award sponsored by PAK'nSAVE Whangārei

Te Paiaka Marae Touch

Te Paiaka Marae Touch is an initiative that represents a significant expansion of an existing project and now supports the participation of more than 1000 individuals from across the South Hokianga, many of whom were not previously affiliated to a club. It is a whānau-led, hapū-based community sport programme grounded in Māori values and delivered entirely by dedicated volunteers, with collective governance shared across all marae.

The programme provides six competition grades, including three for tamariki and rangatahi and three for adults, ensuring pathways for participation across all ages. Entry costs are kept free or deliberately low to remove financial barriers and reduce pressure on whānau and hapū, supporting equitable access to sport and recreation.

The module has contributed to increased participation throughout South Hokianga and has delivered strong mental, physical, social, and cultural wellbeing outcomes aligned with Te Whare Tapa Whā. It has created a safe, supportive, inclusive, and culturally affirming environment and has been intentionally designed to be inclusive, accessible, and equitable, particularly for rural Māori communities.

Hikitia Wikaira, an advocate for this community project, stated “This tournament has become a cornerstone of our marae and community calendar, fostering whanaungatanga among whānau from eight marae across South Hokianga and beyond... The tournament is more than a sports event, it is a kaupapa that embodies the essence of whānau, culture and community.”

Congratulations Te Paiaka Marae Touch!

17/03/2026

Kua roa koutou e tatari ana, and guess what….
its finally here!

🔥 OUR TE PAIAKA MARAE TOUCH KĀKAHU STORE IS NOW LIVE! 🔥

After nearly five years of requests and kōrero, the Te Paiaka Marae Touch kākahu store is finally open! 🙌

We now have a range available so you can proudly represent your marae:
👕 T-shirts
🩳 Shorts
🧢 Hats
🧥 Hoodies

Each marae has its own gear, so whether you’re playing, supporting on the sidelines, or just wanting to rep your marae around town — there’s something for everyone.

⚠️ PLEASE NOTE: This is a PRE-ORDER store only.
📅 Pre-orders open: 15 March 2026
📅 Pre-orders close: 5 April 2026
📦 Estimated delivery: 31 May 2026

The store will only be open for this short pre-order window, and once it closes the orders go into production. We don’t know when the next release will be — it could be another couple of years — so don’t miss your chance hurry up and get your orders in now.

🛒 Order your kākahu here:
https://kbsportswear.co.nz/collections/te-paiaka-marae

Can’t wait to see everyone repping their marae loud and proud! Get in quick so you don’t miss out🔥

This online store is for pre-orders only, meaning production will begin once the pre-order period closes. Delivery is expected within 8 weeks from the closing date. KBS will not be holding any extra stock after the pre-order period ends. All sales are final for these products - no exchanges o...

11/02/2026

SAVE THE DATE

Tuhia ki ngā wātaka
Tuhia ki ngā whounu
Tuhia ki ngā group chats
Taria atu te pānui ki ngā marae AGM’s 😂
Write it in your calendars
Write it in your phones
Post it in the group chats
Take it to your marae AGM’s

E mea nei ngā rā tū ai tā tātou kaupapa (here are the dates for our comp):
28th + 29th December, 2026

HOST ANNOUNCEMENT:
And announcing that this years hosts will be..….
Te Whakamaharatanga,
Waimamaku

Haramai!

We’re excited, and can’t wait for another year of connecting with whānau and relations again, masters players playing like they could be in the open grades, seeing people that you didn’t even realise were from the same hapū as you, little cuzies scooping on the 7m - and the halfway 😆, generations of whānau playing together, uncle talking about ‘back in my day’ then realising he actually does have a few skillies on that field, the fit cuzie playing a full game by the end of the day because you’re low on subs, the babies playing their little hearts out and repping their marae, chasing uniforms from the ones who almost ‘forgot’ to give them back 👀, seeing who recruited well in terms of new in-laws to play in your marae team 😂, practicing moves in the warm up that you don’t even use in the game, a new round of marae running relays yeeow, seeing who can field a team across all 6 grades again this year 🙌🏽, some of our refs reffing in Māori, seeing who does the marae switch from one marae last year to their other line of whakapapa the next valley over this year and getting all the stick for it, nannies cheering their mokopuna on from the sidelines, seeing if anyone is able to take the top spot from Te Piiti who managed a 3-pīti in December 👏🏽, making memories with cuzies that you’ll tell your future uri about, planning awa swims for after the games, and of course that top tier kāinga marae vs marae banter.

This will be our fifth year of Te Paiaka and we can’t wait.

Save the date, e kahi mā!

14/01/2026

KA NUI TE MIHI!

It was another epic tournament this year, and we’re grateful to our amazing sponsors who helped to make it happen - from supporting the whīra rehabilitation in Rāwene and having that back as a sports field after 30-odd years (how good!), to the preparation, planning and running of the kaupapa, to supporting our local Hokianga weekly touch module in the lead up to the annual 2-day tounament, to the kākahu and gear gifted in for the team prizes, to the kai, to the top tier kākahu that all of the cuzies got to rep their kāinga with on the day. Tēnā koutou! It’s because of your support that the kaupapa was another big success.

We’re also super excited that in future tourneys our tamariki grades get to wear a flash set of uniforms as well. Just like the adults. Haramai!
🫶🏽 Tēnā rā koutou e ngā kaitautoko xx

04/01/2026

Te rā tuarua: NGĀ MĀTUA

I heke te ua, i pupuhi te hau, i tae tonu mai ngā tini whanaunga. Mangu pai te whīra - me ngā tēneti. Despite the rain and wind in the morning all 8 of our marae arrived ready to roll for day two of the competition and try to win the marae bragging rights. There were some unreal displays of skill out there across all grades, including our Masters with quite a few of them looking like they wouldn’t be out of place in the Open grades. The sun came out by the afternoon and we went into a few tight drop offs in the semis and the finals. It was an epic day, made possible by all of you, our whanaunga, who came to represent your kāinga and celebrate whanaungatanga.

If you met a new whanaunga at the tourney that you didn’t know before, you’ve won. If you have more memories and stories to tell of playing sport with your relations here in Hokianga, you’ve won. If you represented or supported your marae (even if it wasn’t your other marae down the road that aunty was giving you the side eye about), you’ve won. If you and your tamariki learned more about your kāinga, your marae, your moana, your whenua, you’ve won. If you got to play with a sibling, cuzie or maybe even a parent, you’ve won. Kua wini tātou katoa.

Congratulations to Te Piiti on not only hosting an amazing tourney in Rāwene, but also on the three-peat for overall marae. Massive. Te Piiti with the 3-piiti.

A huge mihi to our 8 marae who represented their kāinga well and all of the marae reps who coordinated their teams and had the unenviable task of collecting up sweaty uniforms to wash. Don’t forget to thank them - and return tops if you happen to ‘accidentally’ still have one. Ka nui rā te mihi ki a koutou e ngā tini whanaunga! Our 8 marae are:
• Te Whakamaharatanga, Waimamaku
• Te Kaiwaha, Waiwhatawhata
• Kōkōhuia, Ōmāpere
• Maraeroa, Pākanae
• Moria, Whirinaki
• Mātai Aranui, Whirinaki
• Pā Te Aroha, Whirinaki
• Te Piiti, Omanaia

Here are your 2025 adult grade champs for 2025
🏆🏆

28/12/2025

Te rā tuatahi:

NGĀ TAMARIKI
What a beautiful day for our tamariki on day 1. Like it was said in the karakia in the morning, whanaungatanga was the main goal of the day. It was awesome to see our babies repping their marae across the three grades today. Haramai!

Here are our winners for Day 1:
🏆🏆

27/12/2025

TE PAIAKA 2025

It’s all on! Ka kite aini, e kahi mā
🏉🏉

27/12/2025

Kotahi anahe rā e toe ana!

🏔️🏔️A-MARAE-A-DAY SERIES🏔️🏔️

Te marae: Te Piiti
Te kāinga: Ōmanaia
Rohe: Hokianga

To our last marae of the series we travel one raorao over, to our reigning overall champs, and this years hosts, Te Piiti marae in Omanaia. Featured on the Te Piiti uniforms are two maunga, Ngāpukehaua and Pukehuia, which represent the two hapū and valleys of Omanaia.
🎶’Ko Te Piiiti te marae, Taukahawai te awa, ko Tāpikitū te tapu, Hokianga te moana. Ko Pukehaua me Pukehuia ngā maunga tūpuna, anei rā ko ngā hapū Ngāti Kaharau me Ngāti Hau e!’
Ringatā: Ariana Morunga

Ka nui te mihi ki ngā tini kaitautoko. A special mention to those who supported the new tamariki uniforms for Te Piiti:
North South Contractors
Emma Davis
Tangaroa Butler

📆Sunday 28th & Monday 29th December 2025
📍Rāwene Fields, Hokianga

26/12/2025

E 2 anahe rā e toe ana!

🪁A-MARAE-A-DAY SERIES🪁

Te whare tūpuna: Pā Te Aroha
Te kāinga: Whirinaki
Rohe: Hokianga

The Pā Te Aroha uniforms also feature the classic red, black and white colours, synonymous with Whirinaki Warriors. On the kākahu you’ll see the pākaurererangi (he ingoa anō mō te manu aute) famous across all of Ngāpuhi, called Tūhoronuku.
In tale as old as time, like Mufasa and Scar in the Lion King, like Māui and his brothers, like our atua, there was the famous sibling rivalry of the north between two brothers, Uenuku and Kaharau, sons of Rāhiri. Rāhiri devised the plan to fly Tūhoronuku as a means to settle this rivalry, and decide on the rohe for his sons. Many kōrero and names stem from this story, including Whiria. And one of the ones important to the hapū of Whirinaki is the origin of the name Whirinaki (tētahi o ngā kōrero), when Tūhoronuku was flown from Whiria and landed against a pūriri in the rohe ‘i whakawhirinaki atu ki te rākau pūriri’, before it was flown once more and flew eastward landing ‘ki te take o Puketona i raro i te pā o Pākinga e’, near Kaikohe. He nui noa atu ngā kōrero, heoi anō tēnei he whakatakoto i tētahi wāhi whakamārama mō te tohu kia mārama tātou ngā tini whanaunga.
Ringatā: Ariana Morunga

Ka nui te mihi ki ngā tini kaitautoko. A special mention to those who supported the new tamariki uniforms for Pā Te Aroha:
Boyd Broughton
Marama Davidson
Rae Wynyard Turner

📆Sunday 28th & Monday 29th December 2025
📍Rawene Fields, Hokianga

25/12/2025

E 3 anahe rā e toe ana!

🏔️ A-MARAE-A-DAY SERIES 🏔️

Te whare tūpuna: Mātai Aranui
Te kāinga: Whirinaki
Rohe: Hokianga

In the classic red, black and white colours, synonymous with Whirinaki Warriors, the Mātai Aranui uniform features Kupe and the revered maunga, Te Ramaroa. Te rama roa a Kupe. He mea hua i a Kupe i mua rā i te houtanga mai o Matawhao ki te wahapū o Hokianga. Some have referred to it as te maunga mātāmua for this very reason, so it’s fitting that it’s on the shirt of the oldest of the three marae in Whirinaki. He nui ngā kōrero mō tēnei maunga, me ngā tapu. Also featured further along the Te Ramaroa range is the tallest peak in all of the north (including Tāmaki) - ko Te Raupua te ingoa. Te Ramaroa, te pou tūrama o Ngāpuhi.
Ringatā: Ariana Morunga

Ka nui te mihi ki ngā tini kaitautoko. A special mention to those who supported the new tamariki uniforms for Mātai:
Whītiki
Amai Rawiri
Maareirangi

📆Sunday 28th & Monday 29th December 2025
📍Rawene Fields, Hokianga