The Haka

[atlas2 4,329]

On Saturday England will line up for its annual drubbing by the "All Blacks"

Fair enough…….But the Kiwis take the initiative and make the psychological first blow with the Haka….. Everyone loves to watch it at Twicks but what should be the permissible response?

 

From today's Telegraph...

 

"All Blacks haka is, for all its vibrancy as a spectacle, scarcely more than a circus display these days
Intimidated? All Blacks' haka has lost it's fear factor and is more of a circus act Photo: REUTERS
By Oliver Brown, Chief Sports Feature Writer11:34AM GMT 05 Nov 2014Follow Comments667 Comments
To grasp the anomalousness of the haka, it helps to transplant it beyond a rugby context. Take the United States basketball team’s recent World Cup match against New Zealand, the wonderfully-named ‘Tall Blacks’. The expression on the faces of Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving et al as the ancient tribal dance unfolded in front of them spoke not of quavering fear, or steely let’s-see-what-you’ve got defiance, but utter befuddlement. They could not have looked any more perplexed than if they had just been treated to an a cappella rendition of ‘Yankee Doodle’ by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
The blank response was not quite what the Kiwis had in mind. For if nothing else the haka is orchestrated to stoke fear in the breast of an opponent, thus eking out a priceless early psychological advantage. It is meant, as the throat-slitting gesture sometimes used as a final flourish makes abundantly clear, to be a declaration of war. But if all it elicits in the uninitiated is blank incredulity, then what is the point? Increasingly, the ritual is drifting from any kind of sporting relevance, becoming instead a theatrically-rendered cultural curiosity. It will trigger the usual paroxysms of excitement at Twickenham on Saturday – and it is, I confess, sterling entertainment – but we are suckers for the choreography rather than the message it sends. One might argue that the acrobats of Cirque du Soleil could induce much the same reaction, just without the contorted faces.

I realise that every Maori curse in the book will be arrayed against me for the cheek of that comparison. For the All Blacks regard their beloved haka with the utmost reverence, as a sacrosanct ancestral performance, rousing the players into a frenzy for the realities of impending conflict. Given it has been included in every New Zealand rugby international since 1888, they reserve their right to stage it with uncommon ferocity. But when 15 savage men in black are threatening to cut your throat – and this is certainly how the ‘Kapa o Pango’ haka appears, regardless of composer Derek Lardelli’s insistence that the offending motion is a Maori symbol of drawing energy into the body – it ought also to come with the right to reply.
The trouble is that whenever the opposing team invokes this, it leads to the most frightful diplomatic mess. At the women’s World Cup in 2010, the Australians dared to advance on the haka by a few half-hearted steps and were promptly fined £1,000 by the International Rugby Board. Granted, Richard Cockerill looked like an idiot when he went nose-to-nose with Norm Hewitt at Old Trafford in 1997, but he resented, understandably, the notion that he should just stand there like a lemon while a presumptuous Kiwi signalled the desire to tear him limb from limb.

Taking a righteous stand never works, though, where the haka is concerned. The Welsh Rugby Union tried it in 2006, demanding that the All Blacks ensured the dance was all over and done with by the time Land of My Fathers was heard. This, after all, is how it is supposed to be: the visitors deferring to the hosts, accepting that the Welsh have the prerogative to put their own anthem on last. Instead New Zealand, with that strange air of entitlement, threw a spectacular fit of pique, refusing to conduct the haka on the field and agreeing only to release a video of them doing so in the dressing room. A sense built that the haka was, when all the earnestness about its symbolism was stripped away, merely a form of arrogant machismo.

For it stands alone in sport as a unilateral statement of intent, to which no challenge is permissible. Again the All Blacks complained loudly when the Welsh decided, in 2008, that the best riposte to the haka was to stand motionless and stare. This, too, was depicted as a grotesque insult to their heritage. All of which begs the question: what exactly is the right way to react to such a provocative call to arms? Brian O’Driscoll ventured this very point when he was made Lions captain in New Zealand in 2005, and was told gravely by Maori elders that his best course of action was to toss a few blades of grass in the air. Well, that did him the power of good. Fifteen minutes later he had his shoulder dislocated in an illegal spear tackle and was ruled out of the entire tour.

The haka, sadly, is hidebound by political correctness, such is the terror at executive level of offending the world’s No 1 side. The IRB are even understood to have protocols decreeing that the All Blacks’ adversaries should not encroach within 10 metres of the venerable act. It all adds to the suspicion that the haka is, for all its vibrancy as a spectacle, scarcely more than a circus display these days. For England’s players on Saturday, the temptation must be to follow the example of Australian great David Campese, who would absent-mindedly kick a ball around in his own 22 while the haka blew itself out.
Its sheer stage-management is of a piece with the creeping commercialisation of the All Blacks – what better way to beguile an American audience, or to satisfy shirt sponsors AIG at the match they mandated in Chicago last weekend, than with a mass war cry? Most would-be converts in the US, however, seem to share their basketball stars’ view. Namely, that the haka is now less a part of the sporting fabric than an exotic sideshow."

 

 

As I've said I enjoy the haka…….but I would like to see a dignified response, (greater than dropping a few blades of grass) that can be accepted without causing deep offense……...

 

The best England can hope for is that the crowd drown it out with a middle-class rendition of an American slave song…..

 

No Morris dancing japes please.

Edited November 6, 2014 by atlas2

[nkped 1,208]

The All Blacks played the U.S. Eagles in Chicago last Saturday in Chicago. The score was 74-6. It wasn't that close. On the other hand, the attendance was 61,000 and it was live on broadcast television (NBC).

 

The observation as to the reaction of the NBA players was interesting. Any American who wasn't a rugby fan (and some who are) would look at the Haka and say it is choreographed, whole team trash talking. At the pro level in North America, trash talking is tolerated, highly inventive and thoroughly obscene. However, if it was choreographed,staged by an entire team at the beginning of a game and in English, it would probably result in a game cancelling brawl. I have my own thoughts about what the tone, volume and gestures of the Haka seem to suggest as the correct translation. I may share my theory later. For now, I will just say that I would not repeat it in a pub in Wellington.

[Gonzo 419]

[atlas2 4,329]

Yes that shook things up. Well done the Aussies

[Dr Mick 111]

Come no issue with it ,its tradition and we must keep traditions with Ruby ,the no1 sport for me .I will be back in uk next year for all the world cup ,i have tickets for 7 games ,so looking forward to it.

[atlas2 4,329]

Here's the thin red line response that got the Welsh in trouble………Double trouble lost and fined!!

 

[Dr Mick 111]

I think England like it as it also get them fired up haha

[teelack 9,645]

As a New Zealander I can tell you that I and many that I talk with are just about haka'ed out! It is trotted out all the time here and has IMHO lost its currency in NZ and I see it as a tourist attraction on par with Hobbiton and Middle Earth. These guys are not warriors, simply highly paid performers and this is all part of the window dressing. In other words, take this seriously at your own risk.

[rightsaid 44]

[Bushcraft 2,591]

Aw, it's just showmanship but very entertaining if not overdone and trotted out on every occasion, as Teelack suggests.

They're always a formidable bunch of beef on the hoof anyway - I remember paying a business visit to New Zealand House in London as a young man, and sharing a lift with half the All Blacks team. Huge buggers to a man, I thought there was a total eclipse!

[jacko 8,822]

It's like that thing they do at the Indian/Pakistani border without the bombs.

Edited November 6, 2014 by jacko

[Obsession 571]

the crowd drown it out with a middle-class rendition of an American slave song…..

 

Working class areas see rugby as elitist, as it's only practiced in private schools in Scotland. Although that could be said about having a job, being sober, or eating vegetables! I have crossed paths with some rugby groups, and they were jolly nice chaps! Maybe a little bit too much into male bonding though. They would gather in a room at parties and sing, instead of chasing nubliles.

[Dungheap 243]

The haka's been done to death.

 

Nothing "cultural" about it really, a one-sided act on intimidation with the opposition denied the chance to respond.

 

Totally unfair.

 

 

 

England should moon em tonight to express their culture!

Edited November 8, 2014 by Dungheap

[TheFiend 1,181]

 

Working class areas see rugby as elitist, as it's only practiced in private schools in Scotland. Although that could be said about having a job, being sober, or eating vegetables! I have crossed paths with some rugby groups, and they were jolly nice chaps! Maybe a little bit too much into male bonding though. They would gather in a room at parties and sing, instead of chasing nubliles.

 

Hmmmmm... the union players do seem to take the "male bonding" bit a bit too far. I once drove a coach load of RU players down to Twickenham for an International, it also turned to be a stag weekend. On the way back they all insisted on stripping off for the last 50 miles on the way back home.

[Dr Mick 111]

I can tell you lots but ,what happens on tour stops on tour

[TheFiend 1,181]

Having been a team coach driver for both Union and League teams i can tell you Rugby League players are a lot better behaved!!!

[Chang_paarp 253]

In response to the OP, the best way to respond to the hakka is to turn your back as a team and go into a huddle and ignore them. The concept of the intimidation of the "cultural" dance is best ignored, the sooner that more teams get this the sooner it will go the way of the dodo.

[wacmedia 277]

Hi,

 

The All Blacks play great rugby. I wouldn't be intimidated and I'm sure the English guys wont be either. It's just that they play great rugby. Hard to beat that.

[TheFiend 1,181]

Watched the Kiwis v England thi morning and have to say England were unlucky to lose again for the second weekend in a row. Not much chance of Samoa beating the Kangaroos tomorrow so it looks like it will be a Kangaroos v Kiwis Four Nations final

[Gonzo 419]

Watched the Kiwis v England thi morning and have to say England were unlucky to lose again for the second weekend in a row. Not much chance of Samoa beating the Kangaroos tomorrow so it looks like it will be a Kangaroos v Kiwis Four Nations final

It was close and could have gone England's way. Gareth Widdop hit the goal posts twice when trying to convert. England has a young and very talented side and will only get better.

[TheFiend 1,181]

It was close and could have gone England's way. Gareth Widdop hit the goal posts twice when trying to convert. England has a young and very talented side and will only get better.

 

So close and yet so far!!!

 

Last week England were robbed of victory by the video ref, Ryan Halls finger was on the ball before it bounced back up.

 

Suffering withdrawal systems now the season is over, but did manage to get to the recent Scotland v Wales international which was played at my home-town ground, where I've also seen the Kangaroos and Kumuls play.

Edited November 8, 2014 by TheFiend

[nkped 1,208]

Watched the Kiwis v England thi morning and have to say England were unlucky to lose again for the second weekend in a row. Not much chance of Samoa beating the Kangaroos tomorrow so it looks like it will be a Kangaroos v Kiwis Four Nations final

Do the Samoans do their own Haka?

[Gonzo 419]

http://youtu.be/ZDjy4Js-cTk

[Gonzo 419]

The Haka is of historical and cultural significance in quite a few Southern Pacific nations and not only performed before Rugby Union games.

 

[TheFiend 1,181]

How about 2 for the price of one - Tonga V Samoa!!!