'It hits differently': King fulfils Māori dream after code switch

Tyla King has revealed how she and her Olympic gold medal winning Rugby Sevens team-mates would look enviously at the NRL All Stars match and the opportunity for female players to represent their Māori culture.

King, who is now a full-time NRLW player after two seasons of swapping between the Dragons and New Zealand’s Black Ferns, will fulfil a long-held ambition when she makes her Māori debut against the Indigenous All Stars on Saturday night at CommBank Stadium.

“In rugby union there is no Māori for women,” King told NRL.com. “There is the Māori All Blacks for the men but there is no Māori Ferns, so this is the first time I get to represent my culture, and it just hits differently.

“It is special playing for your country but when you get to represent your culture, that’s who we are; it’s in your blood, it’s your whakapapa, it’s all that kind of stuff, so this one hits different and it’s pretty special to be here.”

For the past two seasons, King has played for the Black Ferns at the start of year and then switched to the NRLW, so she has been unavailable for Māori selection in the annual All Stars fixture.

However, after retiring from Rugby Sevens at the Paris Olympics, the dual code superstar was hoping for an All Stars call-up from Māori coach Keith Hanley.  

“I have been watching these girls play over the years," King said.

Me and a few other Sevens girls have always talked about how cool that would it be to one day play in this team - just looking from afar - so now to be here has been so cool.

“I would play in the NRLW and then I would switch back to Sevens, so I missed that window, but I had retired from Sevens after the Olympics to be able to switch fully into the league space not only for my development but also for this opportunity.”

Growing up, King (nee Nathan-Wong) had a closer connection to her Chinese heritage but through a 15-year career as an elite New Zealand sportsperson she has learned about Māori culture.

King’s Māori iwi (tribe) is Ngāpuhi and a visit to her whānau (family) marae in 2018 sparked a desire to connect more closely.

“For me I was slightly disconnected from my culture growing up,” said King, the 2023 World Rugby Sevens player of the year and record pointscorer.

“It was never taught to me, our language or anything like that, and most of what I have learned about our culture has come through sport, so I am so grateful for that.

“Being part of the Sevens environment, that was very good for our culture as well and learning about the tikanga (customs), karakia (prayer), waiata (song), haka and then just this week being fully immersed.

“I have fully embraced everything from the waiata to the haka and the poi, even, and learning that as well. We learned a waiata within an hour – or less than that.

“It is just incredible learning more about our culture. I did my first karakia in Māori so that was special too. Everyone is fully buying into everything and wants to get everything right, so I can’t wait to go out there and play."