page_title: Māori people
section_title: Sport
hierarchical_section_title: Māori people / Culture / Sport
caption_attribution_description: Ka Mate haka of the All Blacks led by Richie McCaw before a match against France in 2006.
context_page_description: The Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from eastern Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of waka voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed their own distinctive culture, whose language, mythology, crafts and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. Some early Māori moved to the Chatham Islands where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori.
  The arrival of Europeans in New Zealand, starting in the 17th century, brought enormous changes to the Māori way of life. Māori people gradually adopted many aspects of Western society and culture. Initial relations between Māori and Europeans were largely amicable, and with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the two cultures coexisted. Rising tensions over disputed land sales led to conflict in the 1860s, and massive land confiscations. Social upheaval, and epidemics of introduced disease took a devastating toll on the Māori population, which fell dramatically.
context_section_description: Māori participate fully in New Zealand's sporting culture, and are well-represented in rugby union, rugby league and netball teams at all levels. The New Zealand national rugby union team performs a haka, a traditional Māori challenge, before international matches. As well as participation in national sports teams, there are Māori rugby union, rugby league and cricket representative teams that play in international competitions.
  At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, 41 of the 199 competitors (20.5 per cent) were of Māori descent in the New Zealand delegation, with the rugby sevens squads alone having 17 Māori competitors (out of 24). There were also three competitors of Māori descent in the Australian delegation.
  Ki-o-rahi and tapawai are two ball sports of Māori origin. Ki-o-rahi received an unexpected boost when McDonald's chose it to represent New Zealand. Waka ama (outrigger canoeing) has also experienced a resurgence of interest in New Zealand since the 1980s.
caption: A haka performed by the national rugby union team before a game
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