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Rugby: Moana Pasifika owners confident they can continue to bankroll team

Moana Pasifika celebrate beating the Blues during the recent Super Rugby season. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/ The owners of the Moana Pasifika Super Rugby side are confident they can continue to bankroll the team, despite the loss of lucrative government contracts. Pasifika Medical Association Group (PMA) - which bought the franchise last year - is next month set to lose contracts with Whānau Ora through its entity Pasifika Futures. PMA has held the contracts for the past 10 years, but a shake-up of government funding has led to the change. The New Zealand Herald reported PMA's contracts for community health services were worth nearly $45 million, making up over half the organisation's revenue. According to the Herald , over the past few years PMA has used the Whānau Ora contract to bolster Moana Pasifika's finances to the tune of $770,000 a year. However PMA chair Dr Kiki Maoate maintained their "financial position is on track to finish the year ahead of forecast". In a statement, he said "every dollar invested into Moana Pasifika is an investment in the future of Pasifika youth and their families".. "From the beginning, Pasifika Medical Association and Pasifika Futures have supported the establishment of Moana Pasifika, including through our Whānau Ora commissioning where contract outcomes and purpose were aligned… and has been delivered with transparency and care for community outcomes." Dr Kiki Maoate Photo: Pasifika Medical Association Group Moana Pasifika joined the Super Rugby competition in 2022, and this year enjoyed the best results of their four-year tenure, finishing seventh . Maoate said the organisation was reviewing "all funding priorities in line with changing circumstances". "Moana Pasifika is more than a Super Rugby club. It's a celebration of who we are and what we can become. Sport has long been a wave that carries Pasifika people forward into education, enterprise, leadership and community service. "As both a team and a movement, Moana Pasifika exists to lift up our people and strengthen our communities."