A Te Arawa kapa haka expert is backing calls to ban boys from using poi at the national secondary schools competition.
According to Willie Te Aho, of the National Secondary Schools kapa haka organising committee, the new rules could be changed if eight of the 14 rohe involved want the decision, made at a committee meeting last week, reconsidered.
"Ultimately this is a board with 14 rohe and if the majority say 'hey we need to rethink this, we need to go back to the drawing board' then this is absolutely what will be done," he told Radio New Zealand.
Trevor Maxwell, who has coached and mentored kapa haka groups for more than 35 years, has no issue with the decision as long as single sex schools were not disadvantaged by the ruling.
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