The emergence of the Mate Ma'a Tonga rugby league fanbase is the greatest New Zealand sports phenomenon of my lifetime.

It's unique to that one sport, as New Zealand Rugby found to its cost when it attempted to jump on the bandwagon some years ago.

They scheduled a test between the All Blacks and Tonga that drew a crowd more easily counted in dozens, rather than thousands.

I was overjoyed when Tonga beat the Kiwis in Auckland recently. For players, such as Jason Taumalolo who've been at the forefront of this international rugby league revolution, but more for their fans.

These are among the forgotten folk of our country, as race-grifters seek to divide us into just Maori and Pakeha. And why not? The grievance industry does pay very well.

If it weren't for the Tongan rugby league team, you might wonder if there were any people of that heritage in New Zealand. Thankfully, they emerge loud and proud every time their beloved team takes the field.

Not just here, either. The Pacific Championships final in Sydney was another joyous occasion for Tongan rugby league, providing further education for Australians about the patriotic people in their midst.

If former England prop James Graham has talked about the 2017 Rugby League World Cup semifinal between his team and Tonga in Auckland once, he's talked about it a thousand times.

Graham feared a riot when England snatched victory in that match. He thought the Tongan supporters would storm the field and that English fans and players might be in danger.

Instead, to Graham's amazement, they continued to wave their flags, sing their Methodist hymns and applaud a team that provided a sense of unity and pride they'd probably never experienced while living in New Zealand before.

The response of Tongan fans at CommBank Stadium wasn't dissimilar when their team lost to the Kangaroos on November 10.

Sport in New Zealand is so much richer for the mobilisation of that fanbase, as it will hopefully become in Australia too.

You can't appreciate or even begin to understand what you don't see and Mate Ma'a Tonga has given Kiwis of all stripes a window into a world many didn't know.

Rugby was once revered as โ€˜The Game for all New Zealand'. A sport that not only touched, but included, people of all shapes and sizes from every demographic across the country.

In truth, there's more elitism in rugby than there's ever been. The Tongan rugby league movement in New Zealand is grassroots. It doesn't owe its success and authenticity to marketing campaigns or targeted development programmes. It's inspired by men such as Taumalolo, Andrew Fifita and Will Hopoate, along with a coach - Kristian Woolf - who respected their culture in a way that few others have done before him.
Tongan and Samoan families move to New Zealand and Australia in search of a better life.

Rugby league has given many of them that and, in some ways, there's no greater success story than the next generation going on to become test or State of Origin representatives in that adopted country.

But when Taumalolo, Fifita and Hopoate opted to instead play for their nation of heritage in 2017, they gave permission to Tongans on both sides of the Tasman to be proud of who they are and where they're from.

It's the overwhelming sense of joy that sets all this apart, at a time when some in New Zealand want to stoke the fires of racial division.

Mate Ma'a Tonga isn't built on hatred, but harmony. Those Kiwis supporters at Go Media Stadium a few weeks ago didn't leave disconsolate that their team had lost, but happy they'd been part of such a wonderful occasion.

To me, the scenes that night reminded me of what a beautiful, tolerant country New Zealand really is.

For now, that celebration of Tongan New Zealanders remains unique to rugby league. In time, hopefully more people will realise we're stronger together than apart.

It's really not that hard to honour your own heritage without denigrating anyone else's.