Hawaiian Football Reveals National Team Crest

WAILUKU, MAUI – With great honor and excitement, Hui Kanaka Pōwāwae (Hawaiian Football) reveals its National Team Crest – created to represent the Hawaiian Islands as an Independent State in football competitions worldwide.  The National Teams’ Crest was fashioned after the Coat of Arms unveiled at the opening of the Hawaiian Legislative Assembly on May 25, 1845.

The NATIONAL FLAG adopted by Hawaiian Legislature with eight stripes “for the eight islands under one sovereign.” [SOURCE | The Polynesian (1845)]

Central to The Crest and in the first and fourth quarters are the royal standards of ancient chiefs – the Pūlo‘ulo‘u, Puela, and Ālia – adopted by Legislature purely to embody the refuge and protection of the monarch.

The Union Flag (also known as the Union Jack) hangs vertically in the second quarter – in remembrance of Great Britain as Hawai‘i’s Protectorate between 1794 and 1843.  Formal separation from the British Empire occurred upon recognition of Hawaiian Independence by the United Kingdom and France.

The feathered cloak (‘ahu ‘ula) and helmet (mahiole) of Ali‘i Nui (Paramount Chief) KALANI‘ŌPU‘U. [PHOTO | Office of Hawaiian Affairs (2017), Nā Hulu Lehua The Royal Cloak and Helmet of Kalaniʻōpuʻu]

The third quarter of The Crest contains four of the eight stripes of the National Flag – in tribute to the Island homes of our first Teams’ players.

The colors are evocative of the feathered cloaks (‘ahu ‘ula) and helmets (mahiole) worn by the chiefs of old Hawai‘i, and are the colors of the National Team.