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Major League Rugby has confirmed that a team from Hawai’i is being considered as a potential 14th team for the 2021 season. Kanaloa Hawai’i has reached the first stage of admission to full membership, and has now been granted a 90-day negotiating period to reach expansion targets and secure board approval.
Kanaloa is the Hawaiian god of the sea, typically represented by a squid or octopus. There is no logo as of yet and the current banner features a traditional Polynesian statue rather than a cephalopod.
The leadership team driving the project is headed up by CEO Tracy Atiga, formerly chief exec of Auckland Basketball. A New Zealand Māori representative in sevens and full international for Samoa, she has previously been part of development programs in Auckland and for New Zealand Rugby and managed the Cook Islands Women’s Sevens side.
Tracy’s husband Matt Atiga is the Director of High Performance who will be tasked with developing local talent and building an academy system. He is the older brother of one-time All Black Ben Atiga and was himself a promising player before being forced into retirement early due to injury.
Cam Kilgour is the Team Manager and has been busy making the rounds in the media of late. Recently attached to the Los Angeles franchise before switching to Kanaloa, his previous managerial experience includes New Zealand provincial outfit South Canterbury and the Cook Islands Men’s national team.
According to Kilgour, the team has approached former All Blacks assistant coach and Austin Director of Rugby Mick Byrne to head up the professional coaching staff. New Zealand international and Super Rugby veteran Tamati Ellison is in line to be Byrne’s right-hand man.
The bid was initially intended to be aiming for the 2022 or 2023 seasons, but Colorado’s sudden withdrawal created an immediate opening that Kilgour told TJ Olsen of The Bonus Point podcast was too big an opportunity to pass up. Keeping in mind, of course, that he is attempting something that the other major North American sports leagues have not.
“Hawai’i has got huge talent, huge potential. It’s a massive island for growth and has no professional sports team. So we thought, look, let’s try to see if we can connect with other Hawaiians on the island and see if we can move this a lot quicker.”
To that end Kanaloa has made connections – with the Hawaiian government, the tourism board, and the University of Hawai’i where the team will base their operations for the time being. A pop-up small capacity stadium is planned for the short term.
In the long term the team is eyeing Aloha Stadium, the home of Rainbow Warriors football. It has been earmarked to be completely redeveloped as a state-of-the-art venue with a 35,000 capacity though the project has just today hit a snag in the state legislature.
While the complete ownership group remains a mystery, Kilgour alluded to more New Zealand links in his recent appearance on the newest edition of the MLR Rant.
“We’ve got to make sure that we have the right ownership group to take us where we want to go, and they’ve got to believe in us as well. We got down to about five organizations [in consideration], and we’ve got a joint ownership group between two of them. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. It does have a All Black or international rugby feel to it.”
[EDIT: A letter from Tracy Atiga, posted by DJ Coil Rugby, has identified five former All Blacks as investors, calling themselves the ‘Mercury Group’. They are John Afoa, Ben Atiga, Jerome Kaino, Joe Rokocoko, and Anthony Tuitavake.]
On that same show Kilgour addressed the glaring issue of logistics. Travel to Honolulu from Toronto is a minimum 12 hour voyage not including time spent in airports, while the time zones difference is a daunting 6 hours. Above all the costs are significant, and in the middle of a pandemic this seems a monumental challenge.
“That was the key issue that we had to overcome; making sure there was no additional cost to any of the other MLR franchises. We’ve had great support from hotels and a local Hawaiian airline. We have said to MLR that we would cover all that.”
There is no denying the project’s ambition. In a conversion with Please Blow My Mind host Will Fleming, Kilgour says that the East Conference teams have given them their blessing and there is support from Hawaiian Airlines. To what extent is yet to be seen, but it will have to be considerable.
Finding players in time for a February kickoff is another issue. The goal according to Kilgour is to have 25% Hawaiian representation on the roster though that may not be feasible in the short term. Keep in mind Kanaloa is well behind even the two confirmed expansion sides Dallas and LA in recruitment. The established teams have largely secured their returning players by now.
There are players with Hawaiian connections already in the league. Psalm Wooching would undoubtedly be the biggest name but San Diego will not be keen to release him. Vili Toluta’u is similarly prized by Seattle. Colorado flanker Connor Cook is currently a free agent and would be an obvious target while Austin back row Lino Saunitoga and Old Glory wing Vetekina Malafu could perhaps be pried away.
Finding 10 or so imports to strengthen the side shouldn’t be too difficult given the location. New Zealand-based players with American Samoan ancestry could also be sounded out to help fill the 25-odd roster spots that will have to be taken by USA or Canada-qualified players.
The league itself would be balanced with 14 teams though there would have to be a slight reshuffle of the conference makeup. Houston would likely make a temporary move to the East Conference, reverting to the West in 2022 pending the addition of two eastward expansion sides.
Without question the sight of the Kanaloa team performing the Ha’a (war dance) prior to kickoff under the Hawaiian skies would be a spectacular triumph. Turning those dreams into reality is the task of Kilgour & Co. and they will feel the weight of expectation beaming down on their shoulders now to achieve what many have considered impossible.
