By Zolton
June 22nd 2007 @ 9:58am
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The war dance to end all war dances
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?
spiro zavos said | June 25th 2007 @ 1:29pm | Report comment
The reason why the All Blacks commissioned the special haka is that it is special for this group of players. It may be that after the 2007 World Cup the All Blacks will go back to their original haka. Graham Henry identified from the losses in 1999 and 2003 that the All Blacks, surprisingly, were not resilient under intense pressure. He put in place a philosophy whereby the players OWNED the team. It was their team, they had to be responsible for what the tram did, on and off the field. Every player was encouraged to be a captain, in that when they had the ball THEY had to make the correct decision what to do with it. This is unlike, say, Eddie Jones who drills patterns of play and forces the players to use them, even if the pattern calls for a pass etc that is not needed.
Part of creating the special bonding the All Blacks wanted to take into the Rugby World Cup was that they would have their own haka. It’s interesting how they use this haka. It is only for special occasions. In 2005 it was used against the British Lions, for the first two tests only. Last year it was used for the first test against the Wallabies. And this year it was used against the Springboks in the first test.
Searly said | June 25th 2007 @ 1:48pm | Report comment
Thanks Spiro. I like Henry’s approach. It certainly makes for better rugby than the soul-less, robot-like Eddie Jones coached Wallabies ever produced.
PB said | June 26th 2007 @ 2:11pm | Report comment
I reckon the new haka craps on the old one….and all teams who confront the All Blacks should show due cultural respect. These small things are of great significance to Maori people and should be treated as such.
Australia is the last place on earth that should be showing any disrespect to ANY indigenous people or their cultural traditions. At least NZ had the decency to sign a treaty with their native people. What did we do? Stole their land, their children, hunt them to the edge of extinction, take their way of life, force them to live on welfare then blame them because they do.
Temba said | June 26th 2007 @ 2:27pm | Report comment
So angry… They respect it because they want to. You are making a serious mistake if you think people have to. The rest of the world owes the Maori people didily squat. Last time I checked this was not a Racial complaint page. New eara, new generation… let the anger go. Woosaaba Woossaaaa
PB said | June 26th 2007 @ 2:35pm | Report comment
I won’t dignify ignorance like that with any further comment.
Temba said | June 26th 2007 @ 2:39pm | Report comment
Thank you.
Temba said | June 26th 2007 @ 3:14pm | Report comment
I love the tradition of seeing the AB doing the Haka/paka. It does not state in any international rugby rule book that the opposition have to watch it or even that the AB are allowed to do it. Yes we do because we respect the rugby tradition of it and its hair-raising to see the AB passion for the sport. In all fairness they don’t have the right to do anything, its thanks to the other teams and the rugby viewing world that the AB are aloud to do this. If people and players from other countries didn’t like it, it would have been stopped by the international community many years ago.
In theory, the Aussies can do what ever they want before the game, what gives the mauri people the right to be the only people that have a little pre-game rant? Why they could go on field and pop a shrimp on the BBQ… who knows and who cares. Watch it if you love it… if you’re not in the mood turn you’re back you owe the Mauri people nothing.
spiro zavos said | June 26th 2007 @ 9:17pm | Report comment
I can’t work out where Temba is coming from. The traditional haka the All Blacks use, the ‘Ka Mate! Ka Mate!’ haka was first performed on the tour of the united Kingdom of the 1905 All Blacks. This team was one of the great rugby sides in the history of the game. In over 30 matches, with biased home referees, it won all but one match, the famous loss to Wales at Cardiif Arms Park. The 1905 All Blacks invented modern rugby. They had lineout calls, a specific position for each forward (in the UK the first forward to the scrum or lineout went to the front), cut-out passes for the backs and so on. They electrified UK supporters to such an extent that the game against England, won 15-0 by the All Blacks, drew a crowd of 50,000 people, the biggest crowd to any sports event in the UK up to that time. And probably one of the biggest sports crowd ever, up to that time. The World Series of baseball in 1905 in the USA drew crowds of about 25,000.
The point about this history is one of the reasons for the popularity of the All Blacks (or the All Backs as some reporters described them) was the haka.
When the South Africans made their first tour of the UK in 1906 they were required to get a nickname, like the All Blacks, so they called themselves ‘Springboks.’ And they had to do a Zulu war dance, as their equivalent of the haka, for the enjoyment of the spectators who expected something colorful like this from colonial sides. The Springboks did their Zulu dance up to the 1920s.
In 1908 the Australian rugby tourists to the UK called themselves ‘Wallabies.’ They did an Aboriginal dance as their pre-match performance. But the captain of the side, Dr Herbert Moran, was so unhappy about the treatment of Aborigines by the colonists that he insisted on his return that the Wallabies never again do their Aboriginal dance.
DF6 said | June 26th 2007 @ 9:46pm | Report comment
Temba I believe the last team to not front up to the haka was the possibly the 1996 wallabies at a cold and unbelievably wet Athletic Park in Wellington, Bad move… if you have a chance to watch the game again do so. Im sure if you had done a bit of research into not only the haka and rugby but also what a haka means to all kiwis (or mauri as you put it) you may have a different opinion as to why it is performed unlike your theory of “They do it because the opposition lets them” you should ask guys like Tana Umaga and Richie McCaw (Both have no Maori in them at all) and ask them what it means to perform the haka, has nothing to do with Maori so not sure where you are coming from when you “owe the mauri people nothing”
Temba said | June 27th 2007 @ 10:08am | Report comment
Ha, I sometimes don’t know where I am coming from myself…
I love seeing the Hakka and I want my team to confront it and show that they are not afraid of the challenge. That being said this is a choice you make as a individual or a team. I just get slightly revved up when people start demanding things like “you have to watch the haka because it a Maori tradition” I don’t have to do anything. I am not Maori so it is of no cultural or religious value to me. It is a rugby thing to me and I suppose it is that way to most rugby playing nations that are not with in a 9 iron shot from NZ.
I have no “beef” with it but don’t assume that the world has to care because they don’t, it’s a choice. I watched the Hakka on youtube again and I think its lost some passion since Tama stopped leading it.