\n
\n
\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/butlerh-kempg-008.jpg\"\/)
\n
\n
\n The Maori All Stars will go head to head with the Indigenous All Stars at FMG Stadium on February 15.
\n
\n <\/p>\n
When Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was growing up, he admits being M\u0101ori didn\u2019t mean a great deal, for him, or a whole lot of others in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Now, a couple of decades on, the Warriors and Kiwis rep is as proud as punch of his lineage, and knows he\u2019s far from the only one, in a changing society where diverse cultures are brought to the fore much more than before.<\/p>\n
February 15 next year promises to be another such occasion, with the next instalment of the NRL\u2019s All Stars match.<\/p>\n
Having played for the Maori All Stars twice in Australia, Nicoll-Klokstad is desperate to represent his heritage on home soil for the first time when his side takes on the Indigenous All Stars in Hamilton.<\/p>\n
\n 599″, “>809”, “>959″]”
\n data-eqio-prefix=”video-post-screen”
\n ref=”root”
\n ><\/p>\n
\n
\n Up Next
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n \/
\n
\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Replay
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Play Next
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Maori Haka<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember growing up, you weren\u2019t as proud as you are these days about being M\u0101ori,\u201d the 30-year-old tells NRL.com in Hamilton, as he donned the latest version of the team\u2019s jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that things have definitely done the 180 and people are standing up and being proud of who they are as a person.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something that the people of Aotearoa, the families, the children, the communities, are going to really look forward to, putting our culture on display.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicoll-Klokstad was speaking in Hamilton as tickets for the clash at FMG Stadium went on sale on Friday, with fans urged to get in early before they sell out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since the M\u0101ori sides were introduced to the pre-season game in 2019, the ledgers have been very tight.<\/p>\n
\n 599″, “>809”, “>959″]”
\n data-eqio-prefix=”video-post-screen”
\n ref=”root”
\n ><\/p>\n
\n
\n Up Next
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n \/
\n
\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Replay
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Play Next
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Maori All Stars lift the trophy<\/p>\n
On the men\u2019s side it\u2019s three-apiece, as well as a draw (there is no golden point), with this year seeing a 10-6 win by the M\u0101ori in Sydney.<\/p>\n
Nicoll-Klokstad played in both the draw (in Townsville in 2021) and this year\u2019s victory, and is excited by the prospect of another opportunity, particularly after a hamstring tweak kept him out of the 2023 iteration in Rotorua, the only other time the event has been staged on his side of the ditch.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou walk in feeling a little bit whakam\u0101, or shy, and you leave proud, grateful, and ready to learn a lot more about who you are as a person, who you are as a tribe or iwi, and you take that back to clubland and to your family,\u201d says the Auckland-born utility, whose iwi is Ng\u0101ti T\u016bwharetoa, with his family from Taup\u014d.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a sentiment shared by Harata Butler, who is in line for a fifth appearance in the women\u2019s fixture, for a M\u0101ori team that means everything to her.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n The Maori All Stars will go head to head with the Indigenous All Stars at FMG Stadium on February 15.
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been honoured to put on the black and white jersey as a Kiwi Fern, but this jersey means way more,\u201d she said. \u201cI hold it probably the highest of any of my accolades in sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a game, a kaupapa that embraces and represents my people, my family, my whenua, my pepeha, my whakapapa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born and raised in the far north of the country, the 32-year-old former Sharks, Cowboys and now Warriors prop moved to the Waikato town of Huntly aged 12, and these days represents the Taniwharau club based there.<\/p>\n
Just south of that is Taupiri Mountain, where Butler\u2019s parents, and more extended wh\u0101nau of hers lay, then a little further south again is Ng\u0101ruaw\u0101hia, residence of the M\u0101ori Queen.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s time to turn the tables of an 0-3 record at FMG Stadium Waikato this year, where the Warriors made the venue their second home in the NRLW.<\/p>\n
The Indigenous All Stars will arrive off a 20-18 victory this season, which broke a six-year run of alternating winners, and they will be hungry to make it three in a row, notes Goulborn-born, proud Wiradjuri woman, Grace Kemp.<\/p>\n
The Raiders prop, and former Wallaroos representative, whose six rugby tests all came in 2022 in New Zealand, featured in the last two editions for the Indigenous team.<\/p>\n
\n 599″, “>809”, “>959″]”
\n data-eqio-prefix=”video-post-screen”
\n ref=”root”
\n ><\/p>\n
\n
\n Up Next
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n \/
\n
\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Replay
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n Play Next
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Indigenous women perform the Unity Dance<\/p>\n
After missing playing in Hamilton this year against the Warriors due to a broken finger, the 24-year-old is anticipating a great atmosphere when she\u2019s back there in two months\u2019 time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really different this year. We know our M\u0101ori sisters are going to pull their strength from their people here, and we\u2019ll definitely feel that energy when we come over.\u201d<\/p>\n