TVNZ Broadcasts Maori Sports Specials

PANUI PAPAHO / MEDIA STATEMENT
Te 30 o nga ra o Whiringa-a-rangi 2004 / 30 November 2004

ATT: Chief Reporters
Broadcasting Reporters
Sports Editors

TVNZ BROADCASTS MAORI SPORTS SPECIALS

Unsung Maori sports heroes will be celebrated in an hour-long special on TV One's Marae programme this Sunday (Dec 5) in the build-up to TVNZ's coverage of the 2004 Trillian Trust Maori Sports Awards.

The annual ceremony - at the Auckland Showgrounds on Saturday (Dec 4) - attracts more than 1200 dignitaries, celebrities and sportspeople who gather to honour the achievements of top Maori athletes, administrators and coaches.

TVNZ's Maori programmes department is producing a one-and-a-half hour awards show which screens from 1.30pm to 3pm on Sunday.

Producer/director Derek Wooster - who has covered the event for TVNZ since the inaugural ceremony in 1991 - says a special edition of Marae from 11am to 12 noon earlier that day will focus on Maori sports supporters.

They include Bay of Plenty touch rugby coach, Darkie Reedy (Ngati Porou); Te Puke tae kwon do coach Paraone Wirihana (Waikato); Whakatane sports administrator Noel Horlock from He Oranga Poutama and the Mataatua Sports Trust; Ngawhakawairangi Hohepa, a staunch supporter of the Rotoiti Rugby Club; Kawerau squash coach Hemi Hope; and softball coach Sam Clarke from Whakatane.

The Marae show will also feature highlights from the Mataatua Sports Awards held in Whakatane in November.

"As we celebrate the efforts of athletes on the field, it is also an opportunity to acknowledge the unsung heroes of Maori sport such as coaches and administrators and their work off the field," Mr Wooster says.

"This programme is dedicated to those people - the makers of champions, the backbone of Maori sports at grass-roots level."

'Te Rongo-Tu-Taua a Maui' - honouring male Maori champions from the past - is the theme of this year's ceremony with great Maori sportsmen of the past officially inducted into the Maori Sports Hall of Fame.

Awards in 10 categories are up for grabs including Maori sports administrator of the year; umpire/referee; sportsperson with a disability; coach; junior sportsman and woman; senior sportsman and woman; sports team; and world champions.

Scholarships worth more than $20,000 will also be presented on the night as well as a special Maori Olympian prize, the Maori Sports Media Award of the Year and SPARC's Best Community Initiative Award.

The entertainment line-up includes Sir Howard Morrison, Auckland cultural group Te Tira Hou, Whakatane High School's Super 12 kapa haka troop and Rotorua classical singer Timua Brennan.

The finalists are:

Te Whanau o Waipareira Trust Maori Sports Administrator - Maui Tikitiki-a-Taranga:

Robin Manihera, Auckland (Ngati Hine, Ngati Porou) - netball

Gail McLauchlan, Christchurch (Ngati Raukawa, Ngai Te Rangi, Ngati Awa) - netball

Wiremu Neho, Whangarei (Ngapui) - golf

ACC Maori Sports Umpire - Te Aratiatia:

Lyn Farrell, North Shore/Auckland (Ngati Maniapoto) - hockey

Wiremu Tamaki, Hamilton (Waikato, Raukawa) - softball

Josef Brown, Papakura/South Auckland (Ngati Porou) - netball

Human Rights Commission/Health and Disability Commissioner Disabled Maori Sportsperson - Te Toihuarewa:

Peter Martin, Cambridge (Te Arawa) - field athletics

Sholto Taylor, Napier (Ngati Kahungunu) - wheelchair rugby

Maioro Barton, Hamilton (Ngati Wai, Ngati Porou) - wheelchair basketball/athletics

UNITEC Maori Sports Coach - Te Maru o Tumatauenga:

Chubb Tangaroa, Havelock North (Ngati Kahungunu) - softball

Dr Simeon Cairns, Auckland (Ngati Whakaaue) - table tennis

Kiwi Takao, Gisborne (Ngai Tuhoe, Ngati Porou) - waka ama

ACC Sports Team - Nga Ika a Whiro:

Aotearoa Maori Women's Sevens Rugby

NZ Maori All Blacks

Hinerupe Maidens U-16 Junior Girl's Waka Ama (Gisborne)

Te Puni Kokiri Junior Maori Sportswoman - Te Tamahine-a-Papatuanuku:

Sarah Jarvis, Hamilton (Tainui) - alpine ski racing

Airini Mason, Whakatane (Ngati Awa) - surfing

Rona Peters, Auckland (Te Aupouri, Te Rarawa) - rugby league/touch

Mighty River Power Junior Sportsman - Te Tama-a-Ranginui:

Tanerau Latimer, Te Puke (Tuhourangi) - rugby sevens/rugby

Jordan Vandermade, Auckland (Ngai Tuhoe, Ngati Te Rangi) - athletics

Hikawera Elliott, Hastings (Ngati Awa) - rugby

Fletcher Construction Senior Maori Sportswoman - Hinehuone:

Marnie Grant, Rotorua (Te Arawa) - indoor/beach volleyball

Leanne Walker, Hamilton (Te Whanau-a-Apanui) - basketball

Shelly Stephens, North Shore, Auckland (Ngapuhi) - tennis

Trillian Trust Senior Maori Sportsman - Te Tame-a-Tanenuiarangi:

Jarrad Martin, Waitara (Ngati Mutunga) - softball

Wayne Ormand, Mt Maunganui (Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngai Tuhoe) - rugby

Kees Meeuws, France (Ngati Maru, Ngati Whare, Hauraki) - rugby

The Wanderers Club World Champion Awards:

Jason Wynyard, Henderson/West Auckland (Ngati Maniapoto, Ngapuhi) - wood-chopping

Hinerupe Maidens U-16 Junior Girl's Waka Ama, Gisborne

More information about the Maori Sports Awards is on the website http://www.maorisportsawards.co.nz/

ENDS

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