Once were Warriors, now are Rugby Players? Control and Agency in the Historical Trajectory of the Māori Formulations of Masculinity in Rugby

In Māori society rugby has come to be viewed as a platform to maintain an indigenous model of masculinity as well as one of the main sites for the achievement of prestige. National and international representations of the Māori man as a rugby player—a present-day version of the Māori warrior—apparently corroborate the indigenous experience of rugby. This is the result of the more than one-century-long Māori negotiation with rugby, a practice where they were allowed to occupy a space. However, this phenomenon is made of multiple nuances, ambiguities and tensions, which reflect the constraints framing the indigenisation of rugby and major changes such as the urbanisation of Māori and the introduction of professionalism in rugby. This paper will explore the Māori formulations of masculinity in rugby, problematising the dominant axiomatic Māori warrior-rugby player and viewing the phenomenon as historical, contemporary and now taking new directions