New Zealand Cricket is this week launching a range of initiatives to help celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori – Māori Language Week – and highlight the organisation’s new approach to embracing diversity and inclusivity.
Our Te Reo word of the day is tīma: team
Among the initiatives planned are video clips of some of our BLACKCAPS and WHITE FERNS spreading messages of goodwill in Te Reo; the translation of some of NZC’s website material into Te Reo, social media content promoting the use of Te Reo and Māori Language Week logos affixed to the electronic signatures of all NZC staff.
However, by far the most visible initiative will be for the BLACKCAPS to wear, in the opening ODI against Zimbabwe in Harare on August 2 (the final day of Māori Language Week), playing shirts emblazoned with “AOTEAROA” across the front.
NZC chief executive David White said while the change in name on the playing shirts was a one-off activity designed specifically to mark the end of Māori Language Week, the overall intent was to provide Māori communities with improved access to cricket on an ongoing basis.
“NZC want to extend cricket’s reach and make it more welcoming to communities not always closely aligned with the game,” said Mr White.
“It’s something we haven’t done particularly well in the past,” he said. “We’ve been too one-dimensional in our approach and especially in regard to addressing under-representation in certain communities.
“But we have to start somewhere.”
Mr White said NZC would shortly launch a range of new community cricket playing programmes that would better suit the needs of people in today’s world, particularly in terms of duration, access and cost.
“Cricket is a wonderful game that anyone can play, irrespective of age, gender, ethnicity or culture,” he said. “We just need to make sure everyone feels it's accessible and welcoming – which is part of the reason for reaching out this week.”
