Haka in sports

in Paris, January 1925 During 1888–89, the New Zealand Native team toured the Home Nations of the United Kingdom, the first team from a colony to do so. It was originally intended that only Māori players would be selected, but four non-Māori were finally included. As the non-Māori were born in New Zealand, the name "Native" was considered justified. The team performed a haka before the start of their first match on 3 October 1888 against Surrey. They were described as using the words "Ake ake kia kaha" which suggests that the haka was not "Ka Mate". The "Ka Mate" haka was not well known at this time. In 1900, a newspaper reported New Zealand soldiers in the Boer War chanting "Ka Mate! Ka Mate! Ka ora! Ka ora! Hae-haea! Ha!" The soldiers thought it meant "Kill him! Chop him up! Baste him!" But during the 1901 Royal Tour, Ngāti Kahungunu warriors Ngāti Kahungunu revived "Ka Mate" when they performed it to welcome the Duke of Cornwall at Rotorua. Newspapers described the full actions of this "ancient ngeri", printing its complete Māori words and an accurate translation. A movie cameraman recorded the performance. "Ka Mate" became famous, and was widely performed throughout New Zealand. Nevertheless, when New Zealand played its first full international test match against Australia in Sydney in August 1903, the New Zealanders' war cry was "Tena Koe Kangarū." (full details below) All Blacks 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. 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. The All Blacks did not perform a haka at any match on their 1949 tour of South Africa and Rhodesia as a protest against South Africa's apartheid laws banning them from bringing any Māori players. In the All Blacks' opening 2015 Rugby World Cup game against Argentina the pyramid formation was first used and had been the regular way the players performed it until 2023. Shelford reforms 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 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 reform was needed. 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." 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.” 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. 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. This was first performed in 2001. 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. Te Whetu Werohia Tipiwai, took up the challenge of composing one. 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 did not 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. This haka has been used by the Black Ferns since then. ==Specific haka==