The King’s Hawaiian Football Festival underway at UH Hilo, a week of games and cultural exchange
“The Festival’s offerings of competitive international football coupled with intercultural education and exchange aligns perfectly with our university’s goal of becoming a leader in Native Hawaiian education.” — Pelehonuamea Harman, UH Hilo Director of Native Hawaiian Engagement.
By Susan Enright.
The inaugural King’s Hawaiian Football Festival is underway this week in Hilo. The event features U20 Hawaiian National Teams, Nā Kāne and Nā Wāhine, competing against Māori Football Aotearoa.
The festival is co-hosted by the Hui Kanaka Pōwāwae (Hawaiian Football Federation) and the Ke Kulanui o Hawaiʻi ma Hilo (University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo) and features Nā ʻĀlapa Hawaiʻi 20 Nā Kāne and Nā Wāhine (U20 Hawaiian National Teams) competing against the Indigenous men’s and women’s teams of Māori Football Aotearoa. The games are being played at UH Hilo’s Vulcan soccer field.
- See photos and video highlights on Instagram: Hawaiian Football Federation and Māori Football Aotearoa.
Cultural exchange
Hui Kanaka Pōwāwae fosters the well-being of Native Hawaiians through football, promoting national identity and pride. Along with the games, the organization engages with the international community sharing cultural values — aloha ʻāina (love of country, love for Hawaiʻi) and aloha kānaka (love for humanity, love for Hawaiians). This aligns perfectly with the goal of Ke Kulanui o Hawaiʻi ma Hilo to lead in Native Hawaiian education.
In addition to this week’s international matches, the festival also includes intercultural education and exchange events at Haleʻōlelo, the home of Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at UH Hilo.

Pele Harman, UH Hilo’s director of Native Hawaiian engagement, and her husband Kekoa Harman, an associate professor of Hawaiian studies and Hawaiian language at the college, are contributing to the language and cultural classes for the athletes of Kanaka Pōwāwawae along with the cultural exchange with the Māori football team.
- Video: “Day VIII Highlights” features the festival’s Cultural Exchange Day at UH Hilo, see on Instagram.
“It is very befitting that Ke Kulanui o Hawaiʻi ma Hilo is the hosting campus of the inaugural King’s Hawaiian Football Festival,” says Pele Harman. “The Festival’s offerings of competitive international football coupled with intercultural education and exchange aligns perfectly with our university’s goal of becoming a leader in Native Hawaiian education.”
Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.