The haka is in danger of losing respect because it is performed too often, Springboks coach Peter de Villiers says.
Amid torrential rain, the outspoken rugby coach was welcomed to Opotaka, said to be the birthplace of Ka Mate, yesterday by Lake Taupo iwi Ngati Tuwharetoa.
De Villiers and the 70-strong Springbok touring party were given a rousing welcome in pouring rain by 50 Tuwharetoa warriors performing the famous haka, said to be composed by Te Rauparaha 200 years ago as he sought shelter from a war party.
“It has new meaning to me now,” de Villiers said afterwards.
“We understand where it originated from and we understand it brings something deep down out of people who know what it is all about.
“For me, about the World Cup especially, there is too many haka around. It is unique to me, and it is losing its intensity – but that is only me.
“People are becoming so used to it, it is not a novelty anymore and they don’t respect it.”
When performed as it was when the defending world champs were welcomed to Opotaka, it had immense value – but that was cheapened by overuse in sports scenarios.
“Today, it was really deep down and you could feel everybody was part of it, you could understand why they do it.”
Flash mob haka have been a feature of the Rugby World Cup so far, including one at Sylvia Park in Auckland that has scored hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, and performances in Wellington’s Lambton Quay and outside Te Papa.
In Australia, senior constable Rangi Joseph – a New Zealander – was disciplined after he joined a flash mob haka at a Surfer’s Paradise shopping mall while on duty.
Ngati Toa has staged an interactive haka exhibition at Te Papa explaining the inception of Ka Mate, and this year signed a confidential agreement with the New Zealand Rugby Union allowing the All Blacks to continue performing its haka.
Ngati Toa spokeswoman Jennie Smeaton told The Dominion Post she thought the increase in the haka being performed, both locally and internationally, was brilliant and “awesome” because it was identified as uniquely Kiwi.
She did not agree the haka was suffering from over-exposure.
“He [De Villiers] likes to make controversial statements, we all know that.
“I think a comment like that is someone who has a lack of understanding or just doesn’t know.
“Maybe he doesn’t want it done because it’s intimidating.
“Perhaps that’s something the South Africans might like to embrace on their own, use some of their African culture.”
Springboks winger Bryan Habana said he had a lot more respect for the haka after yesterday.
“It’s great to see what the real meaning of the haka is to the community.”
– The Dominion Post
Link to that Flash mob haka. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puXad30DSfg
viewed 1,048,938 times, i would not post it here because in all honesty i am fed up with it, like Div said too many times down our throats. My personal feeling though. Imagine how they hated our Vuvuzelas, and they had every right to hate it i respect them for it.
Oh my word. I am agreeing with Snor. I have really had enough of these silly little dances.
Do agree, there may have been place for it in the amateur era but certainly not now in the professional, why should one team stand around and watch another team get to perform a ritual that is very important to them, does this not create more of an advantage to them, they already have home ground advantage. Just out of curiosity wonder if this agreement to let the All Blacks perform the Haka includes some monetary compensation?
@ Bullscot:
You are damm right, why must one team have this and the other stand around. What would they say if we have a group Volkspele(do you guys know what it is? a sort of Sarie Marias ring a ringa rosies) or a Zulu reed dance. Imagine a 5 minute culture show. Not even a to mention the calling of the spirits by a sangoma etc. No it was great with the WC opening but this is Pro rugby , we can do without it.
And might I add that it is not only the AB’s doing the haka, Tonga Fiji and Samoa also do their own version…….sigh, boring
I like the spice of the different haka’s.
Interesting though, our own Sammajoor 4man sent me a clip of the All Black Haka peformed in the 70’s, saw amongst others Sid Going & Grant Batty and cohorts there… it was a riff-raff haka… very off-colour and slap-dash compared to the haka we see these days.
Not even facing the Baa-Baas, but rather facing the crowd.
I like the haka when it is done with the correct respect and feeling….the smaller sides don’t give it as much as oomph as the Kiwi’s do and that demeans it. it is a Metaphysical thing and calls upon the spirits of the ancestors to rise out of the ground and help the living in their endeavours on this particular day. It can be likened to a mantra or affirmations. The most common way of employing a mantra or affirmation is through prayer….it is a mind conditioning exercise. The Buddhists use tantric chanting to bring on the right state of mind, exponents of martial arts use their Kata’s to bring about the right state of mind. If they want to do it on the field and make a spectacle of it I don’t have a problem with that. The Boks would be getting their motivation in the dressing room and long before….we all know that mental preparation is 90% of achieving anything. I personally do affirmations every day to maintain the right state of mind. I also detach myself when reading news because newspapers are geared toward the negative and my mantra for that is “this is for information only my state of mind is my own doing and I choose etc.
Let them do it…and long may it last. The world would be a lesser place without an All Black Haka, especially when we carrot them straight afterwards!
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