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jenackie's Blog
jenackie's Blog


New Haka, Old Tradition
Related to country: New Zealand


Though the All Blacks have one main haka, called "Ka Mate", the team has performed other Haka in prior matches, some of which are created for specific tours. One such Haka is "Kapa o Pango", which the team has been performing occasionally since 2005. The first Haka ever performed was in a match against Surrey on October 3, 1888. The words "Ake ake kia kaha" in the Haka suggest that it was not the "Ka Mate" which is commonly presented today. The first time the Haka was presented and for a while after, it was performed in elaborate costumes. However the costumes were soon discarded as they proved to be to much of an interference. The first official match that New Zealand played was against Australia in 1903. The Haka perfomed at this particular match was supposedly created for the specific match, as it referenced the "kangaroos", which are native to Australia. Whether or not the team performed a Haka before every match early on in the games creation is unknown. However, in their first game against Wales, the All Blacks performed their Haka and the Welsh responded with their national anthem, hardly competition to the fierce battle crys of the All Blacks. In the earlier decades of the team, the Haka was performed only at home matches and was occasionally performed at social events outside of the matches. The Haka is now such an important part of the match that the All Blacks will not play the match without performing, even if they must perform inside their dressing room. on November 25, 2006 the All Blacks could not perform their Haka due to a miscommunication between the team and their hosts. Instead of performing for the crowd, they did their Haka inside the dressing room and it was then broadcasted to the rest of the stadium via live video. Though most teams do not have a response to the rousing cheer of the All Blacks, some are trying to find rival cheers and dances to dull the Haka's affect on the All Black players. However, the tradition has stood through time and will continue to be performed by the All Black team as a way of pysching out the opposing team and exciting their own for the match.

Most of this information has been rephrased from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka_of_the_All_Blacks

March 26, 2007 | 12:02 PM Comments  0 comments

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