Haka, traditional dances of the Māori people, have been used in sports in New Zealand and overseas. Haka are performed to challenge opponents before matches. The dance form has been adopted by the New Zealand national rugby union team, the "All Blacks", the Māori All Blacks, New Zealand women's national rugby union team, the "Black Ferns" and a number of other New Zealand national teams perform before their international matches; some non-New Zealand sports teams have also adopted haka."Taking the haka to American football games", Jon Stokes, 17 Sep 2005, The New Zealand Herald
History
In 1884 the first New Zealand rugby union team to visit Sydney performed a war cry described by The New Zealand Herald as "the New Zealand football cry, 'Ake, ake, ake, ake, kia kaha' (for ever, for ever keep up your courage; go on with vigour.)"
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. The All Blacks would go on to win their first world championship at that World Cup.
Māori All Blacks 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. This was first performed in 2001.
Black Ferns
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. 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.
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. The team first performed it on the Canada Cup tour in 1996.
After seven games as captain Simpson-Brown was replaced by a captain who had no connection to Ngāti Porou, which led 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, by which time it was becoming apparent that it would be better to create a haka that was unique to the Black Ferns. 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 "Ka Mate"
The All Blacks are believed to have first performed a choreographed and synchronized version of the "Ka Mate" haka in 1905.
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.Ko Nga Moteatea, 1853 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.
Performance The "Ka Mate" rugby haka generally opens with a set of five preparatory instructions shouted by the leader, before the whole team joins in:
+"Ka Mate"Leader:Taringa whakarongo!Pay attention, listen!Kia rite! Kia rite! Kia mau! Get ready...! Line up...! Stand fast!Team:Hī!Yes, sir!Leader:Ringa ringa pakia! Slap the hands against the thighs!Waewae takahia kia kino nei hoki!Stomp the feet as hard as you can!Team:Kia kino nei hoki!As hard as we can!Leader:Ka mate, ka mate!It is death, it is death!Team:Ka ora, Ka ora! It is life, it is life!Leader:Ka mate, ka mate!It is death, it is death!Team:Ka ora, Ka ora! It is life, it is life!All:Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuruThis is the Hairy Man... Nāna ne i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā...who fetched the sun and caused it to shine againA upane, Ka upane!One upward step, another upward step!A upane, kaupaneAn upward step, another!Whiti te rā!The sun shines!Hī!Rise!
"Tena Koe Kangarū" 1903 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":
Tena koe, Kangarū?How do you do, Kangaroo?Tupato koe, Kangarū!You look out, Kangaroo!Niu Tireni tenei haere neiNew Zealand is invading youAu, Au, Aue a!Woe, woe, woe to you!
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 HeraldWelcome to the New Zealand Team The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 July 1903, p.7 and in the Sunday Times on 19 July 1903, after the first match against NSW."New Zealand's Much Discussed War Cry" Sunday Times, 19 July 1903, at Trove
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".Football: New Zealanders in New South Wales. Taranaki Herald, (30 July 1903)
"Ko Niu Tireni" 1924
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. 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.
First verse of Ko Niu Tireni, with a 1925 translation