Honolulu Civil Beat on Hawaiian Football's National Teams
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 3, 2023 BY HONOLULU CIVIL BEAT | BY LEE CATALUNA
LEE CATALUNA: NATIVE HAWAIIAN SOCCER TEAM HAS INTERNATIONAL ASPIRATIONS
HONOLULU, O‘AHU – Vernon Kapua‘ala, a high school and collegiate soccer player who grew up to be a devoted soccer dad, was struck with inspiration.
U-16 Girls’ National Team Players (from left): Samantha Abernathy, Kilikopela Kamake‘e‘āina, Bella Kuailani, Sofia Abernathy.
He heard a lecture about the 1893 illegal overthrow and occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom and started thinking about Hawai‘i as a nation that extended from the monarchy through to modern times. He started asking himself how he could contribute to that concept of rebuilding the nation.
“I’ve always struggled with my Hawaiianness, my Hawaiian identity,” Kapua‘ala said. “I don’t hula. I don’t work the lo‘i. I never felt connected to my roots except that I have the koko, the blood. My kids all go to Kamehameha Schools. They are more connected than I am.”
The main focus in his life was running soccer leagues and tournaments on Maui, doing everything from the little errands to the big picture stuff, setting up the field early in the morning to getting scouts to look at local players for U.S. National Teams.
“In surfing and canoe paddling, there are athletes that represent Hawai‘i, why not soccer? What makes it a Hawaiian sport is who we are and how we play it.”
While watching professional soccer games on the international level, he was moved by the pre-game ritual of players singing their national anthem and saluting their nation’s flag. He started thinking about Hawai‘i teams singing Hawai‘i Pono‘ī as their national anthem instead of the state song and flying the Hawaiian flag as their nation’s flag rather than a state flag.
For the players, though traveling will require fundraising.
The idea hit him that he could establish a federation of Hawaiian soccer teams to represent Hawai‘i on the international level.
“In surfing and canoe paddling, there are athletes that represent Hawai‘i, why not soccer?” Kapua‘ala said. “What makes it a Hawaiian sport is who we are and how we play it.”
Kapua‘ala and his wife Trisha founded Hui Kanaka Pōwāwae, the Hawaiian Football Federation (choosing the term football, the preferred term for soccer in many countries outside America.) They established a board of directors for the nonprofit, scouted players and made plans to travel this summer to compete internationally with Māori Football Aotearoa.
They put up a website, www.hawaiianfootball.com, and stated their mission:
“Through Hawaiian Football, Native Hawaiians now have the opportunity to exercise their basic patriotic and humanitarian right to represent one’s country on the international sporting stage. International competition ignites our mission. It creates a fixture by which health and education can once again become cornerstones of Native Hawaiian Identity and well-being.”
The Federation has four teams (male and female, Under-16 and Under-18) with 20 players per team. The hope is to form adult men’s and women’s teams in the near future. The players either identify as being of Native Hawaiian descent or have an ancestor who was born in Hawaii prior to the 1893 overthrow.
Hui Kanaka Pōwāwae maintains a database of Native Hawaiian players from within the Hawaiian islands and also from the diaspora, that is, Hawaiians who live outside of Hawaii. Participation is free.
Trisha Kapua‘ala is writing grants seeking further financial support for the program, and the players are helping in fundraising online with websites that include testimonials like:
“Being a part of this team is of great importance to me. Hui Kanaka Pōwāwae developed a program that will help to rebuild my country’s collective sense of national identity, playing the sport that I love while representing the values, character, and history that is uniquely Hawaiian … My goals are simple: represent the Hawaiian islands, and reach my full potential, on and off the field.”
Hui Kanaka Pōwāwae is run by volunteers with one paid staff member, Ian Mork, who is Technical Director for the program. Mork came with experience from the U.S. Soccer Federation and the Belize Football Federation and is responsible for scouting talent, forming teams, coaching, and helping top talent get into college, professional clubs or national programs.
Mork said the program is guided by the Catalan Football Federation in building a national identity through the game of football.
U-16 Boys National Team Defender, Mikah Labuanan
“Starting to build the framework for the Federation has been a huge challenge, but I believe we are on the correct path,” Mork said. “Vern is the visionary for this entire program.”
The Federation is holding training camps early next month on Maui which will include classroom time studying Hawaiian culture and history. Among the lesson plans, Kapua‘ala likes to point out that the players will learn all three verses of Hawaiʻi Ponoʻi, not just the one verse commonly sung at events.
When he talks about nation-building and a national team, Kapua‘ala is careful in choosing his words.
“We’re not political. This is a patriotic exercise.”
“I want to tread lightly. I don’t want to cause further division or rift in the community,” he said. “I hate what was done to Hawai‘i, but I love Americans.”
He also loves soccer and how it can open doors for young athletes. His daughter just got a full scholarship to play collegiate soccer. He sees the game as the means for all manner of positive growth.
“We’re not political,” Kapua‘ala said. “This is a patriotic exercise.”