The new flag of the Rotorua Stockcar club flew proud last weekend. Photo / Supplied
The new flag of the Rotorua Stockcar club flew proud last weekend. Photo / Supplied
OPINION:
The All Blacks have long had a saying: 'leave the jersey in a better place'.
Their task is to represent all those who were All Blacks before them and all those who are to follow. Being an All Black is not just about the players, but the legacy theyleave with the All Black jersey.
Along with other organisations, somewhere in the past we had adopted the Confederate flag as the club flag, and it was flown proudly at many meetings and all around the club.
There was never any malice or bad intent in the flying of that flag. To us it was just our Rotorua Stockcar club flag, full stop.
The Rotorua Rebels Team, crews, families and supporters celebrate their first title win at the ENZED Superstock Teams Championships in 35 years. Photo / Supplied
However, during the Black Lives Matters movement, the RSC became aware of other meanings to that flag and the members decided it was time for a change. The new flag is stunning and the meaning behind it even more so.
It not only represents all that the Rotorua Stockcar club stands for, but it is our equivalent of the All Blacks jersey for anyone who represents us at any time.
For a start the new RSC flag has te reo Maori on it representing our commitment to te reo Māori and our Māori community.
"He nekehanga hohoro me te tika" means to have swift and direct movement and not only refers to the skills required by any driver in any speedway racing class, but also refers to the way that RSC endeavours to move and make decisions at all levels of our organisation, both on and off the track.
The new flag has many prominent Māori designs including Mangopare, the hammerhead shark which is an acknowledgement of the Te Arawa people who are named after a shark.
The Mangopare pattern also means strength, agility, purpose, courage, persistence, tenacity and leadership, qualities highly valued by the RSC.
Other Māori patterns on the RSC flag represent paths that intertwine indicating the combining of skills and mahi made by everyone at all levels of RSC to ensure efficiency, safety and collaborative success.
Rotorua Stockcar Club supporters with the old Confederate flag in 2014. Photo / File
Our club is mostly made up of volunteers. The dominant pathway pattern in the bottom right of our flag resembles a singular path acknowledging the many individuals, whānau and iwi that take a path on their life journey that leads to our track from various parts of the country and in pre-Covid days, the world.
This includes the spectators and drivers who we are honoured and pleased to host. Nau mai haere mai.
The four stars on the flag not only represent the Southern Cross but also remind us that no one person is the star of our show. We are a team and there is no I in team, only me mate.
We like our new flag, and as it turns out, so do a lot of other people as well.
So when our new flag was flown for the first time at the biggest show on dirt, the NZ Superstock Teams champs, one of the requests made of our "All Black" Superstock team of 9R Brent Stewart, 10R Alan McRobbie, 14R AJ Axtens, 77R Lance Elseworth, 94 R Dale Stewart and 93R Gary Hunter by their rugby legend manager Steve Axtens was to "leave the new flag in a better place".
The guys certainly took onboard those words and all that the new flag stood for and brought home the winners trophy which last sat in our RSC trophy cabinet in 1985, 36 years ago.
The new flag could not have been left in a better place. Congratulations and thanks guys.
All those drivers who went before you will be proud of you and those to follow will be challenged by you.
The new flag has started in the best place possible, pole position. Nice.
Ngahi Bidois is cultural ambassador to the Rotorua Stockcar Club committee.
