Speaking of rugby, which it seems most of the country has been over the past week, is it time for the All Blacks to drop the haka?
It was a quaint, quirky point of difference in the early days and it’s understandable that it became iconic with live TV coverage. Indeed, it could be argued that in most parts of the world, people who have never taken the slightest interest in rugby or the All Blacks, are well aware that the All Blacks and haka go together. In many parts of Europe, mention you’re from New Zealand and you’re almost guaranteed to hear back “Ahhhh All Blacks – haka” and get a big smile.
Of course, if you get to dig a little deeper, many of those same people think we’re all natives living in grass huts and running around in grass skirts sticking our tongues out at each other!
But joking aside: Has the haka reached its use by date? Has it become “oh no – not the haka again”.
Apart from the fact that it is an absolute cultural appropriation of the highest order, couch it in whatever affectionate terms you like, it is a Maori war dance. It is aggressive. It is threatening. It is abusive. That is exactly what it is intended to be and let’s not mince words: It’s about beating the daylights out of the other side and actually… slitting their throats. A matter that was brought vividly to our attention when the All Blacks first performed Kapa o Pango and the final gesture was that throat-slitting gesture which was dropped after a few performances. Dropped because the public reacted to it and didn’t like it.
How ironic, that one gesture was dropped because it was perceived as too violent and the public didn’t like it, yet the entire message of the entire haka is one of complete devastation of the opposition.
It doesn’t matter that the actual words are less of a violent challenge than the actions. People don’t know the words. But they sure do get the gestures and we really do need to question if such violent gestures fit into the world we live in today.
If it’s good enough to get rid of inanimate historic statues because they represent a time in the past that some find distasteful, or to demand name changes to streets or towns or buildings because they relate to people involved with slavery or – horror of horrors – colonisation, how can it possibly be OK for our national team, in our national sport, to present this as normal and acceptable at a sporting event?
Then on top of all of this comes the expectation that other teams must stand respectfully and politely and at an appropriate distance while a mass of All Blacks shout abuse and poke out their tongues at them – hissing and spitting.
Geez – if you behaved like that towards somebody on the street you’d be arrested. Surely it’s gilding the lily to suggest it is in any way acceptable or appropriate.