Seems the issue of the Haka continues to pop up in the press!
Website with more info regarding the history and meaning of Haka http://www.haka.co.nz/haka.php
All blacks bury haka controversy
John Matheson
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw sparked the return of the controversial Kapa o Pango haka at Jade Stadium on Saturday night - a move which helped inspire his team to a 32-12 hammering of the Aussies.
Last month, NZRU bosses asked the All Blacks to put the throat-slitting routine on ice after numerous complaints from the public and overseas.
McCaw came under fire for giving in to the union - something critics said former skipper Tana Umaga would never have done. But in a show of player-power, McCaw helped to force NZRU bosses to bring back the haka.
"The boys felt like doing it and I thought we did it well tonight," McCaw told Sunday News after the thrashing of Australia. "They enjoyed doing it."
McCaw, under pressure after the All Blacks' less than convincing start to the international season, stood side-by-side with his teammates as Rico Gear led a ferocious version of Kapa o Pango before the Bledisloe Cup Test against the Australia at Jade Stadium.
Sunday News learnt of the All Blacks plans to perform Kapa o Pango (Team in Black) on Friday night.
An All Blacks source told Sunday News that Derek Lardelli - author of the new, specially-dedicated All Blacks haka - had spent last week in camp with the team.
"He did a lot of work with the guys," the source said.
"It was intriguing considering debate over the ownership of the haka and also what the NZRU management had said recently about its usage."
Ahead of the match, the NZRU rushed out a press release to off-set any negative publicity.
The release said an NZRU review of Kapa o Pango had revealed 62 percent of New Zealanders have a positive view of Kapa o Pango.
In the release, NZRU chief executive Chris Moller said the review highlighted a need for education.
"We need to promote understanding of haka," Moller said.
"The concern about Kapa o Pango's final gesture makes that clear. While the haka's final movement has regularly been described as a cut-throat gesture, the review emphasised that its meaning within Maori culture and the tradition of haka is very different."
Lardelli said that Kapa o Pango ends with the word Ha which translates as the "breath of life", the release said.
The words and motions represent drawing vital energy into the heart and lungs. The right arm searches for the Ha on the left side of the body, Lardelli explained, while the head turns to the right also symbolically seeking vital energy. The right hand hauls that energy into the pou-whakaora (the heart, lungs and air passages), then the eyes and tongue signal that the energy has been harnessed before it is expelled with the final Ha.
Meanwhile, there was no complaints from the Wallabies about facing the new haka.
Wallabies hooker Jeremy Paul, born in Waikato and with Maori ancestry, was adamant the new haka should stay.
"It's great. . . it's unique and something that's good for the game," Paul told reporters.
Paul admitted there was far more to worry about than the final gesture in the haka.
"I'm more scared of (All Blacks flanker) Jerry Collins' forearm than I am of that."
Paul said he discussed the haka with All Blacks captain Richie McCaw after the match on Saturday.
"You could see how pumped up they were after it and Richie said to me: 'You boys were a long time taking your tracksuits off after it'.
"I said: 'Yeah funny that, you boys were a little bit too pumped for us'."
Sunday News and NZPA
