Haka in sports

In 1905 New Zealand made their first tour of Britain. This was the first time the team were referred to as the All Blacks and this particular team also became known as the 'Originals'. It is uncertain whether they performed a haka before every match, but they at least performed "Ka Mate" before their first test, against Scotland, and before the match against Wales. The Welsh crowd, led by the Welsh team, responded by singing the Welsh national anthem.

When a New Zealand Army team played Wales in 1916, the words of "Ka Mate" were included in the printed programme, indicating that the haka was established as an accompaniment to New Zealand rugby teams playing overseas.

The 1924–25 New Zealand rugby team which toured the United Kingdom, Irish Free State, France and Canada and which was nicknamed the Invincibles, performed a haka that was written for them during the voyage to England by two supporters, Judge Frank Acheson of the Native Land Court and Wiremu Rangi of Gisborne.[3] The haka was led by star player George Nēpia. It was performed before all but two of the tour matches. Reporters criticised the team for disappointing the crowd on the two occasions it was not performed.

A pre-match haka was not always performed on All Blacks tours. The team that toured Britain in 1935–36 did not perform one before matches, although they did some impromptu performances at social functions. In the early decades, haka were only rarely performed at home matches, such as the third test of the 1921 Springboks tour, played in Wellington.

In 2015 in a world cup game against Argentina the pyramid formation was first used and has been the regular way the players perform it since.[4]

By the 1980s the quality of the haka performances had deteriorated to what some considered to be embarrassing levels as it was performed by mainly non-Māori players who were showed little understanding of the meaning and significance of the haka movements. On the 1986 All Blacks tour to Argentina Buck Shelford after consulting with hooker Hika Reid decided that it was about time that something had to be done. He later commented "I grew up watching the All Blacks do the haka and it was quite comical really the way they did it because they weren't very well trained. I don't think they ever practised it, and they were all out of sync at times and sometimes their actions weren't the same."[5] When a member of the touring party inquired as to whether to perform the haka on the tour Shelford told the team members “If we're going to do it, we're going to do it right. Either perform the haka properly or not at all. Vote on it and decide which way you want to go.”[6] The team was adamant they wanted to perform the haka. As a result Reid and Shelford who had 10 years of kapa haka experience trained them on how to correctly perform the haka, stressing the importance of correctly learning the tikanga, correct pronunciation of the words and actions. To further help the team in their understanding Shelford upon his appointment as captain in 1987 brought the team to Te Aute College, a Māori school, to see the students perform a traditional haka. Up until that time the haka was traditionally only performed at overseas matches.[7] Now that the team were capable of performing it to a high standard Shelford was instrumental in the All Blacks performing the haka for the first time in New Zealand at the 1987 Rugby World Cup.[5]

The Māori All Blacks traditionally used the same haka as the All Blacks until Te Whetu Werohia Tipiwai who was a member of the New Zealand Māori Rugby Board for 15 years and the kaumātua of the Māori All Blacks from 2001 to 2010, composed a new haka, “Timatanga”, for the team.[8] This was first performed in 2001.[9]

The Black Ferns Sevens team performing the haka at the end of the Clermont Sevens tournament in 2017

The first overseas appearance of the haka at a women’s game was on 6 April, 1991 in Glamorgan when the New Zealand women’s rugby team performed “Ka Mate” before their first pool game, which was against Canada, at the first women's Rugby World Cup in Wales in 1991.[10][11] The performance of “Ka Mate” was a source of some controversy as a number of Māori elders and cultural experts were of the opinion that Debbie Chase who led the performance should not have done so using a wide-leg stance, as this was not appropriate for a woman.[12][10]

The concerns about the use of “Ka mate” led captain Lenadeen Simpson-Brown (who was of Ngāti Porou descent) to obtain permission from the elders of Ngāti Porou to use verses from the iwi’s “Ka Panapana” haka.[13][10] The team first performed it on the Canada Cup tour in 1996.[13][12]

After seven games as captain Simpson-Brown was replaced by a captain who had no connection to Ngāti Porou, which lead to concerns about continued use of a haka associated with a specific iwi, whereas the team represented all of the country. The Black Ferns however continued to perform “Ka Panapana” until 2002,[13] by which time it was becoming apparent that it would be better to create a haka that was unique to the Black Ferns.[14] Te Whetu Werohia Tipiwai, took up the challenge of composing one.[8][9] A discussion followed with former Black Ferns captain Farah Palmer about the team’s values. He then used a waiata (song) composed by Pania Papa as inspiration, though the words didn’t come to him until he was driving over the Tararua ranges. In August 2006 he donated his creation “Ko Ūhia Mai” to the Black Ferns, to which former Black Fern Exia Shelford and Mania Parihi created the rhythm, before in association with a group of players they created suitable actions for the haka.[8] This haka has been used by the Blacks Ferns since then.

The All Blacks are believed to have first performed a choreographed and synchronized version[15] of the "Ka Mate" haka in 1905.

It is said that this Haka was composed by Te Rauparaha of Ngāti Toa to commemorate his escape from death during an incident in 1810. Chased by his enemies, he hid in a food-storage pit under the skirt of a woman. He climbed out to find someone standing over him, who, instead of killing Te Rauparaha, turned out to be another chief friendly to him. In relief, Te Rauparaha performed this ancient haka, which had been performed all through New Zealand for centuries.[16] The story of Te Rauparaha was merely woven into several older stories about this haka, from a rope-hauling chant to beach a 14th-century voyaging waka, a call for unity under one strong leader, and at the end of an erotic wedding-night chant, 'Kikiki Kakaka.' Ka Mate is still used today together with 'Toia Mai' to "haul the waka" of visitors onto a marae.

The "Ka Mate" rugby haka generally opens with a set of five preparatory instructions shouted by the leader, before the whole team joins in:[17][18]

Early in July 1903, when the New Zealand players were assembling in Wellington for their Australian tour, The Evening Post reported that "A unique souvenir has been prepared for the New Zealand team by Mr C. Parata. It contains the following warcry":

The Post's rugby correspondent later reported that the war-cry was first practised by the New Zealand team in mid-Tasman on Monday 13 July, and first performed "in response to several calls" at their official reception at Sydney on Thursday 16 July. The reported wording and translation were published next day in the Sydney Morning Herald[19] and in the Sunday Times on 19 July 1903, after the first match against NSW.[20]

The New Zealanders played ten matches on the tour (won 10, lost 0, points for 276, points against 13). Presumably the warcry was performed before all their matches although a search in PapersPast only located mention of its use before "the first test match".[21]

The Invincibles performed this haka during their unbeaten 1924–1925 tour. It was purpose-written on their voyage to Europe by Wiremu Rangi of Gisborne, and revised by Judge Acheson of New Zealand's Native Land Court.[22] It had two verses, but the second verse (Put a few of your famous teams on display, and let's play each other in friendship) was omitted in later matches.

Newspaper reports of early games spoke of the "weird war cry of the visitors" in response to the crowds' singing. Thus the fifth game at Swansea began with 40,000 waiting Welshmen singing Cwm Rhondda, Sospan Fach, Land of My Fathers and then God Save the King, to which the All Blacks responded with a "weird chant led by Nēpia".

But as fame of their unbeaten status spread, so did the status of their haka. At the beginning of their 22nd game in Wales at Llanelli, we read

On the appearance of the men in red, 'Sosban Fach' was sung with great enthusiasm. Nēpia then led the All Blacks in their famous war dance, which was very impressive. One could almost hear a pin drop while it was rendered. The crowd again sang 'Sosban Fach' in reply.[23]

Irish writer James Joyce heard the "Ko Niu Tireni" haka performed at the Invincibles' match at Paris in January 1925. He modified some of the words and used them in his word-play novel Finnegans Wake.[22]

Let us propel us for the frey of the fray! Us, us, beraddy!
Ko Niutirenis hauru leish! A lala!
Ko Niutirenis haururu laleish! Ala lala!
The Wullingthund sturm is breaking.
The sound of maormaoring
The Wellingthund sturm waxes fuercilier.
Finnegans Wake, 2nd ed. 1950, Book II chap iii, page 335.

Before a Tri Nations match against South Africa on 27 August 2005 at Carisbrook in Dunedin, the All Blacks unexpectedly introduced a new haka, "Kapa o Pango". It featured an extended and aggressive introduction by team captain Tana Umaga highlighted by a drawing of the thumb down the throat.[24] This was interpreted by many as a "throat-slitting" action directed at the opposing team. The All Blacks went on to win the match 31 to 27.

The words to "Kapa o Pango" are more specific to the rugby team than "Ka Mate", referring to the warriors in black and the silver fern.[25]

The new haka was developed by Derek Lardelli of Ngāti Porou by modifying the first verse of "Ko Niu Tirini," the haka used by the 1924 All Blacks. An NZRU press release stated that

Kapa o Pango has been over a year in the making, and was created in consultation with many experts in Māori culture. It will serve as a complement to "Ka Mate" rather than a replacement, to be used for 'special occasions'.

The words of both "Kapa o Pango" and "Ko Niu Tireni" are taken from the haka of the earthquake god Ruaumoko, Ko Ruaumoko e ngunguru nei. The lines beginning Ka tū te ihi-ihi... are found in many old haka. Ponga ra, ponga ra is the opening line of 'Te Kiri Ngutu,' an 1880s lament for stolen territory.[26]

This haka whose literal name is "Let It Be Known" is used both by the fifteen-a-side and the sevens Black Ferns teams.