The marae which will farewell the promising young rugby player whose life was cut short after playing the game he loved, says there'll be grieving and korero over the coming days to remember what it says is a taonga.
The remote Otamatea Marae in Maungaturoto will host the tangi for Jordan Kemp on Thursday and dozens of people are already there.
Jordan, who was 17, died on Sunday a day after receiving what doctors said was a severe knock to his head. The teenager was from a well known and highly regarded rugby family and he never recovered from the bleeding on his brain.
Jordan Kemp had played four or five games since being given the all-clear. Photo: FACEBOOK
The marae chairman, Kim Phillips, said a young life has been cut short. He was asked what the next few days will be like at the marae.
"The process of grieving for the family, and the kaupapa of the marae. We just want to farewell Jordan in the appropriate manner, as we do here."
Jordan Kemp's body was due to arrive at the marae late on Monday night after being taken there from Auckland.
He was playing with his Otamatea Hawks team mates when he was hurt and they came together on Monday night to decide what to do next.
The club president, Kevin Robinson, said they have chosen to play against Hora Hora as planned this weekend.
"All the boys in the end started mingling together and started talking about it. There was a bit of emotion, but it was very positive. All the boys are looking forward to this weekend."
Mr Robinson about 60 players and parents turned up to the meeting in Maungaturoto and they knew Jordan's family wanted the team to play.
"We brought the team together so they could talk to someone about what happened at the weekend, some of them haven't had that chance so it was great to see them really mingling and talking to each other, and the older players mixing with the younger boys. They're a good group of guys anyway and they're really pleased we called the meeting."
Jordan's sister, Crishla Kemp, has posted details about her brother's tangi on social media. She wrote it will be on Thursday at 11am.
Doctors who tried to save his life have not been able to tell Jordan's family if the death is linked to an earlier concussion. He was sidelined for weeks earlier in the season but had played four or five games after being cleared to take to the field again.
His grandfather said relatives were not looking to lay blame. Russell Kemp told Radio New Zealand's Checkpoint programme how he watched his grandson collapse and not get up again.
"He'd taken professional medical advice so we were comfortable with that. We're not going to blame anyone, I think everyone did their best. We tried to follow the process."
