I will be kamate-d but ... Why is there haka in rugby?

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#120846 15-Jun-2013 19:36

Is it a form of modern warfare or something?

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#837403 15-Jun-2013 21:30

Tradition.
I'm sure the opposition would like to do away with it if they could.

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#837405 15-Jun-2013 21:37

Exactly ... The irb doesn't want to piss off the ABs ... I can't think of any other reason

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#837434 15-Jun-2013 22:32

To scare/intimidate the opposition

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#837456 16-Jun-2013 00:24

It issues a Challenge, shows intent. After 15 years of watching it, it still gives me chills, though I'd like to see it moved to the end. Not so much in recent times, but I have felt the AB's have struggled earlier in games due to not quite having recovered from the Haka pre game.

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#837479 16-Jun-2013 07:49

official "reason":

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/media/features/maori-culture/maori-culture_all-black-haka_feature.cfm

my reason:

cos it's awesome :)

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#837482 16-Jun-2013 08:22

but .. but ... no one's given a reason why it's got anything to do with rugby!

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#837494 16-Jun-2013 08:58

joker97: but .. but ... no one's given a reason why it's got anything to do with rugby!

a challenge before battle, a challenge before the game. It is uniquely pacific and awesome.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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#837505 16-Jun-2013 09:28

joker97: but .. but ... no one's given a reason why it's got anything to do with rugby!

It's to do with Culture and tradition, a national anthem has nothing to do with rugby either.

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#837518 16-Jun-2013 09:57

Just accept it mate, We all love the All Blacks when they perform the haka.
Heck, Im sure alot of foreigners love it more then we do !

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#837596 16-Jun-2013 13:08

joker97: but .. but ... no one's given a reason why it's got anything to do with rugby!

I think you'll find if you go into the revised history of the Rugby Public School there is the following passage:

"...and after completing the haka, the boy, William Webb Ellis, picked up the ball and ran with it. And thus the game of Rugby Football was invented."

Case closed (well maybe in a parallel universe it would be) :P

Edit: Corrected grammar.

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#837604 16-Jun-2013 13:59

joker97: but .. but ... no one's given a reason why it's got anything to do with rugby!

I can tell you ;)

The first overseas tours of NZ rugby teams were made up primarily of Maori players - 1884 in NSW, and 1888/9 in Australia and the UK. The 1888/9 NZ Natives, a predominantly Maori team, were the first colonial rugby team to tour the UK. Being Maori, the guys decided to entertain the crowds and impress upon them the, "hey, fellas, we are here and, watch out, we intend to win" by performing haka (that's the story that's come down from players who were there anyway). So, when the 1905 NZ rugby team went to the UK they continued a tradition that was only 20 years old. By the time they returned to NZ it was part of rugby history and has been continued ever since.

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#837928 17-Jun-2013 09:12

Because rugby is a way we have represented ourselves (our culture) to the world and the haka is represents a part of who we are (a part of our culture), which we are representing to the world.

Now it is tradition but if our earliest cultural exports had been different then maybe the haka wouldn't have the central place it does now. But our earliest cultural export was a contact sport between men, so I guess a 'war dance' fitted in with the imagery.

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#837961 17-Jun-2013 10:24

joutei: Just accept it mate, We all love the All Blacks when they perform the haka.
Heck, Im sure alot of foreigners love it more then we do !

I think thats where you wrong.

Most foreigners and myself included are just amused by the haka. Personally when I use to see the haka before a springboks game I use to find the haka funny. Never scary or intimidating (as most Kiwi's presume it is). It was something worth watching, but always left me amused, entertained, but WTF was that.

Got nothing against the haka, it has its place. But its just become so overdone these days and it just seems that a haka is done for just about anything. Every rugby game, crack a haka, somebody important arriving from overseas, crack a haka. Its become a bore and I think it needs to be toned back.

Its got better since. But my early days of watching rugby remember the Haka like this:

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#837963 17-Jun-2013 10:33

Klipspringer:
joutei: Just accept it mate, We all love the All Blacks when they perform the haka.
Heck, Im sure alot of foreigners love it more then we do !

I think thats where you wrong.

Most foreigners and myself included are just amused by the haka. Personally when I use to see the haka before a springboks game I use to find the haka funny. Never scary or intimidating (as most Kiwi's presume it is). It was something worth watching, but always left me amused, entertained, but WTF was that.

Got nothing against the haka, it has its place. But its just become so overdone these days and it just seems that a haka is done for just about anything. Every rugby game, crack a haka, somebody important arriving from overseas, crack a haka. Its become a bore and I think it needs to be toned back.

Its got better since. But my early days of watching rugby remember the Haka like this:

Accept that to us it is VERY important. Respect costs nothing and needs no energy.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Klipspringer

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#837966 17-Jun-2013 10:37

KiwiNZ:

Accept that to us it is VERY important. Respect costs nothing and needs no energy.

Agreed. Just thought I would comment on the post that not all foreigners enjoy it. In fact its quiet the opposite for most.

Have you ever been to an Aussie/NZ or South Africa/NZ game (outside NZ) when the haka is done?

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