Haka

I saw this on fark, where some of the USA Americans were very keen to call the Haka faggoty and gay....from several thousand miles away and in complete anonymity.

Not a bloody one of them would have said word ONE to any Maori, Fijian or other Pacific Islanders.

Hardest basstards on the planet in my book.

Ha! From what I've seen, rugby players are the toughest guys on earth.

Here's my favorite haka video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUkGXULz54c

Several years ago my roommate and I would watch Rugby on Directv and I was able to witness this before one of their games...fan-freakin-tastic.

I've seen this tribal dance in the past and it's VERY intimidating.

Thanks for posting this; I've linked to it as well on my site.

Awesome!

As a Californian All Blacks fan, I must say that American football pales in comparison to rugby. Very few American footballers could compete in a fulltime rugby match.

Actually the University of Hawaii team recently got into trouble for doing the haka during one of their recent games.

http://starbulletin.com/2007/09/11/sports/story01.html

This is an excellent example of how traditional Polynesian culture continues to live on in one of many forms in contemporary society.

Coming from a Hawaiian background, I have a great appreciation for the heart and the mana the All Blacks put into their haka.

If you have ever wondered what Polynesian warfare looked like, just watch the team square off against their hapless opponents. It's truly awe-inspiring.

I went to New Zealand a few years ago and saw some enthusiastic rugby fans do it in a bar. Very, very cool. New Zealand as a whole was an amazing, beautiful country, and Maori culture is just fantastic.....

what I dislike about teh modern Haka, is how its been marketed as part of the All Blacks and the original meaning of the challange is never spoken.

What you see now, and on those videos is the sanitised explanation of Te Rauparaha's 'Ka Mate Ka Mate. Only real kiwis seem to know the meaning of it.

click on the link for what it really means.
http://xmb.stuffucanuse.com/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=640

I really hope they dont ban this, as has been rumored.

'Ya, the better part of polynesia will be gone in 40 years due to water levels, lets ban the one thing that anyone even remotly knows about the culture (mrricans seen it on da teevees) =D.'

And I am a former football playing mrrrrican and yes Rugby is 100x more hardcore! I have no problem saying it. Lived in Hawaii for a time and simply put 'dont screw 'round haole'...because they will stomp a hole in you. =D

The NZL All Blacks are not the only sporting team to use the Haka before a match, in this current world cup so to do the Tongan team. A number of other Pacific Island nations also use a Haka to begin a game.

Any detractors from the US should also note that in a game of rugby you wont see helmets and pads such as is used in NFL. This is because wimps dont play real football.

That U of H story of them being penalised is disgraceful.

So every trace of indigenous culture must be ground down for Big Mac homogeneous USA?

Makes a little bit more of our souls die back.

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On another point I would say that when it comes to hard ball sports it is a dead heat between Rugby (League and Union), but Aussie Rules Football beats em by a short nose.

Footie, as it's known in Oz, is the game with the longest match length, the largest pitch, the highest jumping the hardest tackling game on the Planet.

They only introduced rules about bleeding during the late 80's, and then only as a silly safe guard against AIDS.

The Dipper, Robert DiPierdomenico, played the last 2 quarters of the Grand Final in 1989 against Geelong, with several broken ribs and a PUNCTURED LUNG!

They are, with the exception of Tony Liberatore, very tall, run the equivalent of a marathon each game and move a mountain with every tackle.

Oh did I mention no armour?

Anyway, check it out.

Best haka ever was a while ago, NZ vs Tonga.
NZ started off their haka as normal, then the Tongans answered witht their sipi tau. Epic.