Broadcaster Sky Sport is giving viewers the option to watch the All Blacks Rugby World Cup campaign in te reo Māori.
Te Aorere Pēwhairangi (Ngāti Porou) and teaonews.co.nz reporter/presenter Tūmamao Harawira (Ngāpuhi, Te Whānau a Apanui) return to the airwaves, having provided reo Māori commentary for Sky Sport over the past few years, notably for All Blacks and Māori All Blacks matches.
It’s not the first time the Rugby World Cup has been given te reo Māori treatment, with Whakaata Māori broadcasting 16 games of the 2011 competition live on its Te Reo channel.
Pēwhairangi says having a mainstream broadcaster like Sky TV continue its support of te reo Māori is a positive sign for the advancement and revitalisation of the language.
“Ko te pai o tēnei, o te tahuri mai o Sky Sport ki te hāpai i ngā kaupapa Māori, i te reo Māori, ehara i te mea ko Whakaata Māori anake e pīkau ana i tēnei pakanga engari arā ētahi atu kei te torotoro atu ki ētahi atu hongere. Kei te māori noa te reo Māori kaua i Whakaata Māori anake engari i ngā hongere auraki hoki.
(The beauty of Sky Sport getting behind the efforts to support te reo Māori is it means Whakaata Māori is no longer standing alone in the fight for survival and other broadcasters are coming on board. Te reo Māori is becoming normalised in other broadcasters and not exclusively at Whakaata Māori.)
Taking te reo to the world
For Pēwhairangi, who has commentated various sporting codes in te reo Māori across multiple platforms, it’s the embodiment of the words of one of his elders, Ngoi Pēwhairangi, “Whiua ki te ao” (Spread our language to the world).
“Me te aha he pai kei te rongo tātou kei te putaputa haere te reo Māori ki ngā pae auraki kua roa nei e pāoho ana i te reo Pākehā ki Aotearoa nei.”
(And it’s great to hear our reo emerging on the same platforms that have long been operating exclusively in Pākehā here in Aotearoa.)
The pair will commentate all four All Blacks pool matches and any playoff matches involving the New Zealand side.
The All Blacks play France, Italy, Uruguay and Namibia in pool action and, with the butchering of Māori names by commentators in the past causing frustration and anger among Māori viewers, learning to correctly pronounce the names of opposition players has been an important part of their preparation, Pēwhairangi says.
Getting names right
“E mōhio nei māua ki te āhua o te iwi Māori me te āhua o tā tātou pīkau i ngā ingoa tīpuna, i ngā ingoa rangatira ka tapaina ki runga ki tēnā ki tēnā. Ko ērā whakaaro ka whakatauiratia hoki ki a Wīwī, kia Namibia ki a wai ake rānei.
(We both know how important names of tīpuna and chiefs that we carry is important to us as Māori. So we will take that with us when it comes to the likes of French, Namibian and all those teams players as well.)
“Kō Tūmamao, ko ia te mea tino mōhio ki te āta whakahua i ngā ingoa. Engari kāore māua e haere i runga i te pōhehē. mēnā kāore māua i te mōhio ki te tētahi ingoa, ka pātai māua, ka toro atu ki tētahi e mōhio ki tērā reo kia tika.”
(Tūmamao is probably the better of us at getting the names correct. But we also don’t assume either. If there is a name we don’t know, or unsure of we will go and find someone who is familiar with that particular language and ask for help.)
The All Blacks open their World Cup on Saturday morning against host nation France with te reo commentary available throughout their campaign on Sky Sport 2.
