Planet Rugby Forum

UncleFB wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 11:27 pm

Anonymous 1 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 1:43 pm

Jay Cee Gee wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 12:06 pm

Anonymous 1 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 7:57 am

UncleFB wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 7:36 am
He might be referring to 1928, 1949, 1965?

https://youtu.be/htCTWZqCMhQ?t=13

Literally the first All Black you see in that clip is Maori.

Seriously. There was a Maori in the team in 1973. Well I never

It was a serious question though. I remember reading some time ago that Maori made up 15% of the kiwi population yet the pro rugby percentage was way way higher. I can't remember but it may well have been north of 40% and in 2004 it was only 20%

If it was a serious question (and I don't think it was at the time ) then I'll give you a serious answer.

Maori have historically not made up 15 % of the population, the percentage was a lot lower. In the 1920s NZ's population was roughly 1.3m, the Maori population was around 50k.
Furthermore, Maori mostly lived in rural areas (90%) pre the 1950s/1960s when the urban drift happened which also saw birth rates rise.

There have been Maori players in NZ representative teams since they were first selected. The first NZ representative team had a Maori captain. Aside from tours of SA every NZ team would have had Maori players.

The great Magpies teams of the 1920s (think Crusaders of the era with ABs on the reserves) were filled with Maori players who went on to the ABs. Hawkes Bay had a high percentage of Maori in the area and the players filtered through.

Regarding more players in the pro era, of course talented Maori are going to move into pro rugby if the opportunity is there, but in the past players had to make a living. It was harder to hold down a job/run a farm etc, if you're off touring, so much fewer numbers of players would have come through.