This is what some hapless teams have got to look forward to during the upcoming Rugby World Cup. No Tama leading the way of course, but an equally intimidating collection of All Blacks readying for a spoil. I’d do my running now. It may be a whole lot safer. This is the Kapa O Pango New Haka. Is there a more fearsome and awesome sight in world sport?
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Temba said | June 22nd 2007 @ 11:11am | Report comment
Wow! Tama… did it the best.
Lets hope for SA and Aus sake the Kapa does not intimidate the us Saffa’s.(don’t think it will)
I wonder what they will do tomorrow, Kapa or Haka?
I know South Africa was the first team to face the Kapa, I was in a pub in London and got chills allover… Loved it.
spiro zavos said | June 22nd 2007 @ 1:12pm | Report comment
That Kapa O Ponga haka was specially written for this group of players in the lead-up to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. i’ve noticed that they tend to use it for really important games. They did it in this instance for the Springboks in New Zealand, for the first test against the British Lions in 2005, and for the first test in NZ last year against the Wallabies.
My guess is that the new haka will be brought out on Saturday night. As Zolton says the haka is one of the great sights of world sport.
Matt Rowley said | June 22nd 2007 @ 5:54pm | Report comment
You’re right, it’s a unique sight and rugby would be poorer without the haka.
It’s also unique because I can’t think of many other occasions in world sport where one team gets to do an en masse psych out just before kick off which the recipients are forced to stand and cop – unless they want to be accused of being ‘disrespectful’ (like Campo was). We’ve now also got the situation where all other nations are trying to get the last psych-up by singing some song after it. So what are the national anthems now for?
Is it my imagination or is it getting longer? The version vs the French in NZ this year seemed to go on and on. The original version, like the one that used to be done pretty shambolically until about the 90′s, seemed about the right length.
If I was a Kiwi I’d think it was fantastic and unquestionable. I’d also be dreaming up new versions with throat slitting and disembowlment. As an Aussie with only ‘Waltzing Matilda’ as a comeback, I’m not quite so fussed.
jonnyboy71 said | June 22nd 2007 @ 8:04pm | Report comment
I like the haka but not the precious attitude of Kiwis towards other peoples’ reactions to it. If someone tells you that you “have” to “respect” something, you’re naturally going to take the pi$$ out of it. The haka’s OK, but I prefer rugby.
sheek said | June 22nd 2007 @ 11:03pm | Report comment
Ah gee, it’s only a game…..right?
The haka has been one of the great spectacles of sport. But is in danger of being over-commercialised. Like any good idea, the spin-makers can’t resist bleeding to death the goose that laid the golden egg.
Everyone has a different interpretation of the meaning of the haka. The one I’ve heard which makes sense to me is this:
The haka is a challenge for all combatants to engage in the mightiest battle they’re capable of waging.
Thus, glory will come to all, both the victors & the vanquished.
Afterall, the greater the quality of the opponent, the greater the glory in overcoming.
sheek said | June 22nd 2007 @ 11:08pm | Report comment
Zolton,
I haven’t mastered the art of cutting & pasting, but I think a reply with the ‘aussie haka’ is in order. It was done around the time of the 2003 WC, & I’ve received it several times via email.
It can be found on YouTube, by typing in “aussie haka”.
It shows a group of Aussies on the beach. The opening line is, “take your thong off your foot”.
spiro zavos said | June 23rd 2007 @ 10:24am | Report comment
When I was researching the haka for one of my rugby books I came across a reference in The Sydney Mail 1884 to a Maori war cry performed by a visiting NZ rugby team before a match against NSW. The war cry was described in this way: ‘The sound … given in good time and unison by 18 pairs of powerful lungs, was sometimes tremendous. The NSW men declared it was hardly fair of the visitors to frighten them out of their wits before the game began.’ The haka ended with a ringing shout of ‘Kia Kaha!’ (Be Strong).
The remarkable thing about this war cry, which must have been a haka of some type, is that a NZ team, mainly of Pakeha (European-origin NZers, literally ‘foreigners’ in Maori), would identify themselves so totally with a Maori artefact. The ferocious land wars, NZ’s civil war, the battles NZ historians now call ‘The NZ Wars,’ were being fought between Maori and Pakeha less than 20 years earlier.
That generation of NZers liked to be called ‘Maorilanders.’ And the adoption of the Maori war cry for rugby teams was a way of getting this message across to people in other countries.
After the 1905 All Blacks performed their Te Rauparaha haka (the traditonal All Blacks haka since then) at Cardiff before the test against Wales there was a stunned silence from the massive crowd. Then one of the Welsh players started singing the anthem of Wales, ‘Land of my Fathers.’ The other players joined in, and then the crowd. Accounts of the test (‘the test of Deans’ try’) reveal how eerie it was when the crowd raised its voice in song. The effect was so powerful that singing the anthem before tests at Cardiff, and during the game, has become part of the ritual for Welsh crowds.
The All Blacks haka is one of the great sights in rugby. A crowd at Cardiff singing ‘Land of my Fathers’ before a test is one of the great sounds of rugby.
Roger said | June 23rd 2007 @ 1:02pm | Report comment
I love the haka. I love what it represents. And I love beating them.
Not by very much mind you, I’m not too greedy,.A point will do.
Regardless of the cultural differences between Maori and ‘whites’
the Maori influence of warrior integrity and total commitment is
highly respected by non Maoris all over the world.
I cringe at Walting Matilda. surely we can better than that The
English sing Swing Low Sweet Chariot , and that’s an old Negro spritual.
sheek said | June 23rd 2007 @ 2:39pm | Report comment
Roger,
Khe Sanh, Working Class Man & Down Under are 3 that immediately come to mind to replace Waltzing Matilda.
WM is folksy, works well as a campfire ditty, but is damp as a squid when it comes to motivational grunt.
Alternately, Aussies are known as great sledgers. Perhaps the Wallabies can let out a stream of well chosen, humorous, ironic expletives, with the microphones turned down, of course.
Searly said | June 25th 2007 @ 12:27pm | Report comment
The haka is gold but I must admit to preferring the original (ka mate ka mate, kia ora kia ora), what’s it called Spiro – the Te Rauparaha? I don’t really know why they decided to meddle with the original and if certain hakas are now considered ‘more important’ or ‘more intimidating’ don’t the Kiwis then themselves run the risk of ‘disrespecting’ the opposition by only going with one of the meeker (if you can say that about the haka) versions?
The above is of course offered with zero knowledge of Maori culture. Are different versions common, meaning that there was no reason why the ‘original’ became the only haka attached to All Blacks tests in the first place?