New Zealand ‘Tarara’ arrive in Croatia to reconnect with roots through rugby
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
Northland Tarara Croatian rugby team in Doha – last stop before Zagreb (Photo: Northland Tarara Croatian rugby team/Facebook)
The northernmost region of New Zealand, known as Northland, is where many early Croatian families settled over a century ago in pursuit of a better life.
Now, descendants of some of these earliest Croatian settlers to New Zealand are connecting with family back in the homeland through the sport of rugby.
“Homeland, here we are!” exclaimed the descendants as they touched down in Croatia, most for the first time.
They arrived in Zagreb on Monday, excited to reconnect with Croatia.
The team, known as the Northland Tarara Croatian rugby team, decided to renew their ties with their ancestral homeland and organised a two-and-a-half-week tour, partly funded by a campaign.
They will play three matches: against the Zagreb Rugby Union selection on Thursday at 4 pm in Rudeš, against the Dalmatia selection on Sunday in Sinj (2 pm), and on 2 November in Makarska against the Croatian national team, the Croatian Rugby Federation said.
Thousands of people from Dalmatia emigrated to New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in search of a better life. Many of them started working as gum diggers, collecting resin from the kauri trees.
Nada and Dave Jurlina organised the tour and raised 150,000 dollars, proudly noting that this is the first visit of a New Zealand Croatian rugby team since the Homeland War.
Four such tours took place in the 1970s and 1980s, and Dave Jurlina played in two of them.
Enjoying some refreshments in Zagreb (Photo: Northland Tarara Croatian rugby team/Facebook)
Although the club season in New Zealand has ended, the team met once a week to train and stay in shape for their trip to Croatia.
A lot of help came from Milan Jelavić, a former long-serving Croatian national team coach, who is from Auckland.
The team, as well as the travelling supporters, plan to visit the places their ancestors came from and reconnect with relatives. .
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For many of the players, this is a unique opportunity to learn how their grandfathers or great-grandfathers lived, said Dave Jurlina, who is also the team’s coach. His three sons also play rugby, including Hayden who played for the Croatian national team.
So where does the term “Tarara” come from?
The local Māori gave the Croatian immigrants that name because that’s how they sounded to them when they spoke to each other. To them, the language sounded like ta-ra-ra.
