I think Peter Stringer must have taken his eye-liner.
I know her
Are you sure? 
Seems like a silly bitch with F.I.T.H. syndrome to me. :eek:
FYI Trade Me is NZ’s equivilant of EBay.
Pitch invader to sell bikini on Trade Me
12 June 2006Inspired by the Tana Umaga handbag bidding frenzy, a bikini-clad woman arrested for streaking at the All Blacks-Ireland rugby test is auctioning off the skimpy garment – to pay her legal fees.
Lisa Lewis, 25, was arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour after being crash-tackled by a security guard, in front of 30,000 fans at Waikato Stadium, in the dying moments of Saturday night’s test. She was also carrying a handbag, hoping to secure the All Blacks’ autographs, to auction. “Streaking on a rugby ground was on my list of things to do before I die,” she said.
Ms Lewis, from Mt Maunganui, has promptly posted her “tinsi winsi green and black” bikini on the Trade Me website – and within hours bidding had climbed to $580.
She was influenced by the $22,750 price fetched for the handbag Umaga used to whack fellow Hurricane Chris Masoe.
Ms Lewis said she had no convictions and hoped to be granted diversion – but needed money to pay a lawyer
I heard on the radio there is a fuss because some guy reckoned he bought it for her and wants 1/2 the proceeds from any sale. :rolleyes:
I rest my case
Run of her life: but it was only 3 out of 10
18 June 2006She produced the most celebrated pitch invasion of the season. Lisa Lewis, owner of that bikini talks to STEVE BRAUNIAS about life and lists.
Please, we asked Lisa Lewis in the kitchen of her nice apartment near the beach in Mt Maunganui, would you mind getting your gear off? No, sorry, she said. Lewis, 25, who became an instant celebrity when she stripped down to her bikini and set off on a wild streak at last Saturday night’s test match beween the All Blacks and Ireland in Hamilton, wanted to keep her privacy. She said: “I’ll save my bikini shot for my future partner.”
She was a sweetheart. She poured one, two, three, four spoonfuls of sugar into her cup of instant coffee. She loved her son Jayden, 18 months, to pieces. She was a pretty girl, a right laugh, and she responded to the public exposure of her past - a former stripper, a New Zealand Angel at the Erotica Expo, who apparently ditched a jilted Waikato truckie who claimed he paid $13,500 for her breast augmentation - by coming out with sudden announcements.
The streak was number three on her list of 10 things to do before she died. She has already fulfilled two other aims. One was to cut off her hair: “That was a big deal for me.” And the other one? “I can’t repeat it. Let’s just say it involved someone else and it involved a car wash.”
The apartment included a beautiful plasma TV and a row of bright bar stools. She said she had been accused of being a gold-digger, and this led her to talk about her former husband.
“He was 42 and I was 21 when we met. But he had more energy than me, so I think it’s inappropriate for people to say because he’s older, then I’m a gold-digger. I mean, yeah, he was well-off. And, yeah, he did own the second biggest crane construction company in the US. But if I was the gold-digger… I’d be getting money for all these interviews.”
Her guest made a move on her cup of coffee by mistake. “That’s my coffee,” she said. “Oh, I’m so bossy, aren’t I? That’s my coffee. Next thing you know I’ll be hitting you with my handbag.”
She showed off her handbag, which All Black reserve Scott Hamilton signed at the test match; she was going to auction it off on TradeMe, but put her bikini up for sale - highest bid, $4500. But the profits from her streak have angered the jilted Waikato truckie, who has argued the money belongs to him - he bought the bikini, he bought the breasts.
Lewis: “I don’t care if you’re the Prince of Wales or a jilted Waikato truckie. For someone to say they own somebody’s body is disgusting. It’s almost as though when I achieve number nine on my list, do I have to run to the jilted Waikato truckie and ask for his permission?” What is number nine? “We’re not going into that.”
Then she wiped the smile off her face and said: “It does make me wonder why someone wants to remain anonymous, yet my husband of three years has stated his full name. Now let’s just say that was an extremely unhealthy relationship, but he could straight-up say his name, even though he knew I could say some very horrible things about what he’d done, but… I’m not that kind of person.”
What kind of person was she? She said her parents split when she was one-year-old, and that she went to 14 different schools. “I was a straight-A student. I passed School Cert. But I left home quite early.” Had she led a turbulent life? “Turbulent? What’s that?” The question was put another way. She gave it thought, and answered: “I have done a lot in my life.”
Her most famous achievement was due to a blind date - he invited her out to last Saturday’s test match. She turned up in a long black coat, jeans, and boots. “The crowd were focussed on the All Blacks, the All Blacks were focussed on winning, and I was focussed on my game plan of how I’m going to take off my clothes and have my bikini on when I run out.”
Her commentary on the streak was breathless, full of feeling.
“I hurtled the fence and I just ran for my life. I’m sprinting. At the same time, I’m trying to look like a lady with my handbag. And I’m running and I don’t look behind me because I used to run track and the worst thing you can do is look behind you because that slows you down. Next thing I know, the Irish get the ball, and they’re all like weaving in between me, and I’m like, oh wow. And one of the All Blacks ran by me… and he turned around and he was like, he wasn’t angry, he wasn’t laughing, he was looking at me and he was so confused, he was like, `What is going on here?’ That look on his face!”
She laughed and laughed. Her son was taking his lunchtime nap; it was a gloomy afternoon in winter, wet and cold. She looked back on that day with pleasure: “It’s something I’ll remember forever.”
FYI last nights result
AB’s 27- Ireland 17 
Italians drive ahead with Car Mate haka
Tuesday July 4, 2006
A television commercial using a haka to advertise a new Fiat car has gone to air in Italy, despite New Zealand diplomats warning its producers it is culturally insensitive.
The ad - created by the Turin office of international advertising agency Leo Burnett - features a group of black-clad women performing Ka Mate, the haka written by Ngati Toa chief Te Rauparaha and made world-famous by the All Blacks.
The women are filmed in a city street beside a black Fiat Idea, mimicking Ka Mate’s words and actions.
Crowd noise is played in the background - replicating the atmosphere of a New Zealand rugby test match.
Then, as one of the women drives off in the car, the ad ends with a boy sitting in the back poking out his tongue.
>> Watch the ad (click on small picture of the car)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman Brad Tattersfield said the ministry became aware in April that an advertising company was planning to use the haka.
“At the time we advised the advertising company that the use of Ka Mate in this way was culturally insensitive and inappropriate,” he said yesterday.
The Ministry of Culture and Heritage and Te Toi Aotearoa, which promotes and protects Maori art and culture, were also consulted.
Mr Tattersfield said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade advised the advertisers to use a Maori group or a haka composed for women.
“However, the advertising company indicated they were proceeding despite this advice.”
Te Toi Aotearoa recommended that New Zealand officials in Italy help address concerns about the ad by consulting Gisborne-based artist Derek Lardelli, who penned the All Blacks’ new haka Kapa O Pango and has Italian ancestry.
In response to written questions, Lardelli and Rose Gould-Lardelli of Lardelli Arts said they did not support the “adulterated version of Ka Mate” in the Fiat commercial.
“We feel it is completely inappropriate to misuse cultural icons or symbolism in the manner that Fiat have. They had the opportunity to engage on a culturally appropriate level but chose to ignore this,” they said.
They had explained to the ad’s producer, Stefano Tucciarelli, that there were aspects of haka which were not to be performed by women and “discussed the need to write something appropriate to the kaupapa and context. This advice was not followed.”
In email correspondence the Lardellis had agreed to a suggestion from Mr Tucciarelli that Mr Lardelli compose a haka for the commercial. But they never heard again from him after commending him for seeking cultural advice, and also asking him the commercial’s budget and projected sales figures for the new Fiat car.
Te Toi Aotearoa general manager Garry Nicholas said it had hoped Mr Lardelli would have found a “way through so the ad was not offensive”.
After viewing a video clip of the ad on Fiat’s website yesterday, Mr Nicholas said he had mixed feelings about it.
“This isn’t a haka in my view but is certainly based on haka,” he said.
"It’s meant to be in fun and the little boy poking his tongue at the end of the clip makes that very clear.
“I don’t have any real problem with that. We are now on the world stage and the All Blacks have taken us there.”
But Mr Nicholas said the Italians were taking an “imperialist attitude” that they did not have to answer to anyone in the world of fashion.
“It’s an Old World attitude and we’re just seen as tribal people.”
Mr Nicholas said his main concern initially had been that the advertisers were planning to use “scantily clad” women to do the haka.
Fiat is the latest international corporation to commercially exploit Maori images or culture.
But the Fiat ad appears to be in better taste than a short-lived whisky ad made for Belgian television, featuring a rugby team doing a haka in front of a line of bare-chested Scotsmen lifting their kilts in response.
New Zealand’s Ambassador to Brussels lodged an official complaint against that ad.
Rugby rep threatens police complaint over new haka
Tuesday July 11, 2006
A grass-roots rugby representative is so upset about the ‘throat-cutting’ gesture in the All Blacks’ new haka that he says he will lay a “threatening to kill” complaint with police if he sees the haka again.
But the Rugby Union (NZRU) says the gesture was misinterpreted.
The All Blacks performed the haka - Kapa o Pango - on Saturday before their game against Australia.
Errol Anderson, vice-president and treasurer of the Featherston Rugby Club, said yesterday the finger across the throat gesture could only be seen as a threat.
“There’s only one interpretation of a throat-slitting gesture and that is a threat to kill,” Mr Anderson said.
If he saw the gesture again he would resign from his position at the Featherston rugby club and make a complaint to the police.
He said he felt the gesture should be tested by the law.
“Can we all walk up to someone and run our thumb across our throat? Because in Roman days that meant stick the sword in their throat.”
“All they need to do is take that little bit out, otherwise it’s an awesome haka,” Mr Anderson said.
Rugby Union chief executive Chris Moller said the public needed to be educated about the meaning behind the gesture.
While the haka’s final movement had been described as a cut-throat gesture, its meaning within Maori culture and the tradition of haka was very different, he said.
Composer Derek Lardelli said Kapa o Pango ended with the word “Ha” which meant the breath of life.
“The words and motions represent drawing vital energy into the heart and lungs.”
The right arm searched for the “Ha” on the left side of the body, Mr Lardelli said, while the head turned to the right also symbolically seeking vital energy.
The right hand hauled that energy into the pou-whakaora (the heart, lungs and air passages), then the eyes and tongue signalled that the energy had been harnessed before it was expelled with the final “Ha”.
A Colmar Brunton poll of over 500 New Zealanders showed that 60 per cent favoured the use of Kapa o Pango alongside the traditional haka.
But while the majority believed Kapa o Pango was appropriate, 37 per cent also thought the final gesture should be removed.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=4&ObjectID=10390679
it is clearly a “slash the throat” gesture but so what…i saw it replayed on a tv sports show and i thought it was dramatic and theatrical. I think it should not be taken in such a literal way by anyone… i hope, gulp :eek: …
Why ABs wanted to keep haka for themselves
16 July 2006
By NEIL REID and JOHN MATHESONEXCLUSIVE
All Blacks star Ali Williams has revealed a spiritual bond players have with the haka led the team to threaten to stop on-field performances of the Maori challenge.“It just got too commercialised,” he said.
"Obviously a lot of people know the reasons behind the haka. It is not for show or anything like that. It is for us and us as a team. We feel a lot more connected to it, even us white guys.
“We thought: `We don’t want to do it’. It got pretty close to flagging the whole thing. We would just do it in our changing rooms and before our captain’s run.”
Sunday News has learned NZRU bosses talked the team out of a public haka ban before last month’s test series against Ireland.
All Blacks manager Darren Shand last night confirmed the idea to ditch the haka was floated by the team’s leadership group which includes captain Richie McCaw, Anton Oliver, Jerry Collins, Aerodyne So’oialo, Byron Kelleher, Greg Somerville, Chris Jack, Aaron Mauger, Keven Mealamu, Carl Hayman and Mils Muliaina.
Players were furious with the commercialism of the world-famous Ka Mate and stung by criticism of their throat-slitting new haka, Kapa o Pango.
"This group of players have a far greater understanding - a spiritual understanding of the haka -than some other All Blacks.
“As they learned and grew to understand it more, they saw a lot of people using Ka Mate and asked: `Do they really understand it like we do?” Shand said
The All Blacks were talked out of their public haka ban threat by the team’s management group of coaches Graham Henry, Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen, selector Sir Brian Lochore and Shand.
“When we talked about what we can do to make (the haka) about us, that idea not to perform it on the field was certainly floated,” Shand said. "But at the end of the day commonsense prevailed.
“We do it for ourselves, but the fans enjoy it. You can still do it for yourself but give others pleasure as well.”
Sunday News can also reveal the All Blacks players forced the NZRU to warn sponsors they would not do any more hakas for print or TV advertisements. Ford and adidas have used the haka in ads over the last few years.
Advertisement
AdvertisementShand confirmed he spoke to the team’s commercial, media and broadcast partners about the deep bond players had with the haka and what was “appropriate use”.
"Because the players have a spiritual connection, the players find it difficult to do it other than in a match.
“To
actit is quite difficult because of that connection.”Sunday News believes former skipper Tana Umaga was the driving force in the All Blacks `claim’ for the haka. He was upset at the number of haka they had to perform to promote last year’s Lions tour.
Williams made his revelations about the haka-ban threat on Maori TV’s sport show Code.
Ka Mate is the best known haka. It was composed by Ngati Toa chief Te Rauparaha in the 1820s.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaynews/0,2106,3733425a15596,00.html
As much as I believe the haka is performed too often by people in the wrong situations (there was a HUGE fuss over it being performed at CWG as a recognition of effort) they would have faced a HUGE public backlash if they had stopped performing it.
The below is taken from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=4&ObjectID=10393343
Haka cut a danger to society, Connolly says
Friday July 28, 2006
By Wynne Gray
BRISBANE - The All Blacks have been forced to defend the final throat-slitting gesture in their new haka once more after caustic criticism from Wallaby coach John Connolly.
In an attempt to ruffle the All Blacks on the eve of the return Bledisloe Cup test, Connolly pondered whether the final act of Kapa O Pango might lead to a copycat tragedy.
For decades, the Australians have worked themselves in various states of stress about the Ka Mate haka and yesterday Connolly stoked further controversy with his views about the new one.
He claimed it needed to be re-evaluated by the New Zealand Rugby Union because it was not an appropriate look for the sport.
“As custodians of the game, we are continually talking about setting an example to young players and throat-slitting probably doesn’t send a good message,” he said.
"Young sportsmen these days copy the Wallabies, they copy the All Blacks and I’d hate to think it led to a tragic consequence down the road.
“As a message that it sends, it’s that you’re murdering someone. I’m not sure if that’s a great message.”
Assistant All Black coach Wayne Smith said the haka was significant for his team and they were comfortable with all the actions.
“It is not actually a throat-cutting gesture,” Smith said, although he also acknowledged that perception existed.
It was an overreaction to suggest the final motion could provoke trouble in society or during a game.
“It is a sporting contest. Can someone being rucked on the field, legitimately on the field, incite violence outside of the game? Can a strong tackle incite violence outside of the game? It is a sporting contest and I think you need to put that into context.”
“It is not actually a throat-cutting gesture,” Smith said, although he also acknowledged that perception existed. :rolleyes: …said in the same way as Bill Clinton can claim I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky.
French weigh in to haka debate :rolleyes:
06 August 2006
By JOHN MATHESON
EXCLUSIVE
The French have kicked off a war of words that could come to a head in next year’s World Cup final labelling the All Blacks arrogant over the contuinued use of their controversial throat- sliting haka.
French coach Bernard Laporte has watched the All Blacks perform the bloody thirsty Kapa o Pango against the Springboks, England and Wallabies.
But he said the haka wouldn’t be welcome when the All Blacks arrive for a two test series in November or at next year’s World Cup in France.
“It’s no good for the promotion of our sport,” said Laporte, worried about how the throat cutting gesture would be interpreted by a world wide television auidence unfamiliar with Maori protocal.
“You cannot justify doing whatever you want.”
After similar complaints from Wallaby coach John Connolly two weeks ago NZRU bosses said Australians needed to educate themselves about the haka.
And the All Blacks camp weren’t backing down last night.
“Our opposition will always use ploys to deflect us from our purpose,” manager Darren Shand said.
"It’s a highly compeitive enviornment and teams are looking for any edge they can get.
“But Kapa o Pango will continue- the players are pretty signle minded about that.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaynews/0,2106,3755968a15599,00.html
Haka - New dressing room drama
Saturday November 25 2006
All Blacks act to ‘protect’ tradition
The All Blacks’ pre-match war dance, the Haka, was again at the centre of a storm before their test against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday.
The All Blacks ended up performed their pre-match ritual, the Ka Mate version of the Haka, in the dressing rooms before the test in protest to Welsh Ruby Union (WRU) plans to change the tradition of the pre-match ritual.
The WRU wanted to change the long-standing custom whereby the Haka is performed just before kick-off. The All Blacks chose a private performance of Ka Mate instead.
“There’s a tradition that has built up over 100 years,” said All Blacks manager Darren Shand. “It is respected around the world and we asked the Welsh Rugby Union to do the same.”
The WRU, however, had insisted that the Haka be performed between the anthems. In 2005, the All Blacks agreed to the same request to mark the centenary of rugby between the two nations and received a promise from the WRU that the request was strictly a one-off.
“The Haka is a special part of world rugby,” noted Shand. “It’ll be a sad day for fans everywhere if we start to erode the tradition. We had concerns about last year’s change that, unfortunately, seem to be justified.”
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw said the team acted to protect the tradition of Haka that is integral to New Zealand culture and the All Blacks’ heritage.
“The tradition needs to be honoured properly if we’re going to do it,” said McCaw.
“If the other team wants to mess around, we’ll just do the Haka in the shed. At the end of the day, the Haka is about spiritual preparation and we do it for ourselves. Traditionally fans can share the experience too and it’s sad that they couldn’t see it today.”
http://www.planetrugby.com/News/story_55490.shtml
Match result NZ 45 - Wales 10 
Wales messed up. They could have had a bit of fun by letting the All Blacks do the Haka and then come on to do the “Prada” with each player coming out with a handbag. Course maybe it was just as well- 45 to 10 is bad enough
That should shut them up for a while!
Backlash certain over ‘haka-gate’
3.30pm Sunday November 26, 2006
By James Corrigan
With so much certainty crystallising itself in solid black in the Cardiff air this morning (NZ time), it was perhaps strange to find one giant question on the lips of everyone leaving this humbled stadium: why didn’t New Zealand do the haka?
The answer was they did - in the dressing room, lined up in front of two petrified stewards who, as legend already has it, immediately handed their bibs back in and were last seen legging it up St Mary’s Street.
So before the merry dance came the angry dance and if anything the inquest into the reasons for it was even more intense than that of Wales’s dramatic destruction.
After all, the thumping was quite foreseeable after this northern hemisphere autumn of awful realisation; the fact that they would not be performing the haka for the first time in decades was palpably not.
And all because of some petty bureaucratic row.
In short, Haka-gate came to pass because Wales wanted to sing their national anthem after the haka and New Zealand insisted they did it, like they believe their tradition to have it, before .
Incredibly, the argument began six weeks ago and lasted so far up to kick-off that the Wales players were actually on the pitch waiting for the usual grunts, leaps and thigh slaps to be enacted out in front of them.
Even Dave Pearson, the referee, went to ask what was going on before coming back and getting proceedings under way to a resounding boo.
In normal events that is a sound that should never be heard around a rugby pitch, but not this time.
It was perfectly understandable.
They felt shortchanged, like a fan who goes to see Tom Jones and he neglects to do “Delilah”.
>>> Match report, photos, other reaction >>>
Inevitably, the recriminations came thick and fast.
The Welsh Rugby Union pointed the finger at the New Zealand management and the stabbing digit then came back with interest.
At least the Welsh were first to do something here yesterday and their statement was a classic piece of PR gibberish that even Alastair Campbell, that glorious exponent of oval-ball spin, would have blushed at.
Among other things, they claimed to have spoken to a Maori chief in the midst of the debate and “were assured that the haka was performed to invite a response, an invite from the opposing team”.
The WRU got a response all right - although it was perhaps not the one they were expecting.
It was less “Ka Mate” and more “ta-ta mate”.
In fairness, to the much-maligned governing body they had believed they had created a precedent last year by scheduling the singing of the anthem after the war jig.
This, they said at the time, was because it was the centenary of the first international between the countries and it was exactly what happened in 1905.
The All Black hierachy were reported not to be too happy about it, but decided to let it lie.
Until the cheeky Welsh deemed to try it on again, that is.
So when was the last time that New Zealand kicked off without their favourite boogie? Well not as far back as most first expected.
Record books were dusted down, historians consulted, but it was the memory of a legend which pointed out that until the 70s the haka was not a regular sight at all.
Barry John was on hand to declare that in all the times he lined up against the All Blacks he could not remember them doing it once.
“Barry, that’s because it’s hard to dance when you’re on knees and bowing,” said one wag.
For the Welsh there wasn’t much else to smile about here.
- INDEPENDENT
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=4&ObjectID=10412510
I have no idea who, what this is but I wouldn’t mess with it. (pic in the crowd at the rugby league tri-nations footy final between New Zealand and Australia in Sydney yesterday). The Aussies won in double-overtime and three of the Kiwis were hospitalised :eek:
I think its a sad day when ones culture can’t be expressed … Wales suffered after anyway!
I remember one wag a few years ago suggested the Irish team do ‘Riverdance’ in response to
the Haka when we play the All Blacks … we’d probably be as well off!!!
As silly as that sounds it would have been more appropriate a response to the Haka is fine but it should be in the same format (a war dance or challenge) …Riverdance with knives? 
KK, 3 taken to hospital? Haven’t heard that apart from your post. Steve Matai injured a shoulder and Jones, Wiki & Vagana retired from international footy after the game.
EDIT on the way to work I heard on the radio that Motu Tony and Manu Vatuvei were injured as well so that woild make 3 taken to hospital. Also heard that Frank Pritchard dislocated a shoulder but got Nigel Vagana to pop it back in rather than go off :eek:
‘The world has ceased to give a stuff about their precious haka’
03 December 2006
By EMMA PAGE
British rugby writer Stephen Jones has launched a tirade against the All Blacks, criticising their “bullying tactics” and “arrogance”.
In a column today, The Sunday Times’ senior rugby writer, who has been scathing of the All Blacks for some years, asks: “Is there any end to the preening, pretentious pomposity of the All Blacks?”
He goes on to explain that his mate calls the All Blacks “The Black Toenails” because “they are so far up themselves these days that their toenails are all that’s left visible”.
The haka is also on the receiving end of Jones’s comments. “Do they not realise that the rest of the world has ceased to give a stuff about their precious haka… their supreme, bullying arrogance is putting their own reputation, and that of rugby, in serious jeopardy.”
Jones appears to be particularly offended by the All Blacks performing “Ka Mate” behind closed doors before last week’s Wales test. The Welsh Rugby Union wanted the haka performed between national anthems rather than the traditional pre-kick-off spot.
But although the remarks seem to be designed to stir, he is not getting any bites from ex-All Black Norm Hewitt, who puts them down to sore-loser behaviour. “I laugh it off because the All Blacks have basically raised the bar among the rugby world and the English can’t step up to it,” he says.
“They should stick to what they know and at the moment all they can do is lose.”
Rugby journalist Phil Gifford was in Cardiff last year when Wales’ rugby officials said they would not change the order of when the haka was performed for the next 100 years.
“So perhaps Stephen Jones could add the words duplicitous, two-faced, lying, mongrel, weasel, lowlife slimeballs to his vocabulary the next time he’s describing the Welsh Rugby Union. As for only the All Blacks’ toenails appearing, it’s an odd comment from a Welshman who has spent all his working life crawling up the lower alimentary tract of the English.”
All Blacks great Colin Meads says having a go at the haka is a way of trying to get at the All Blacks.
“To call the All Blacks arrogant -that’s quite misleading and completely wrong. The crowds love it, they expect it, and it’s an All Black tradition.”
The haka furore also reached the New York Times last week, with writer George Vecsey advising the All Blacks to “lose the throat-slitting fast, lest you lose the haka”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/0,2106,3886701a6005,00.html
COMMENTS
It is extremely rare for Stephen Jones to have anything good to say about the AB’s so this will be taken with a grain of salt here. That said there is an arrogance to the AB’s but then there is with every successful team and sports person. One of the things NZers look at is the Aussie arrogance and self belief, as a nation we need to get more of that.
The last time I saw Kapo o Pango performed the throat slitting had been replaced by more of a cross chest gesture.
ABs’ precious haka arrogance a joke
03 December 2006
Is there any end to the preening, pretentious pomposity of the All Blacks? It seems that every sporting team in New Zealand has to take part in the national blind obsession, whether they want to or not.
Every Kiwi national team has to mimic the Blacks with their own name - Black Ferns, Black Caps, Tall Blacks and so on -although the Kiwi badminton team ran into trouble by calling themselves the Black Cocks.
One of my colleagues has a new name for the All Blacks, by the way. The Black Toenails.
“Why so?” we asked him. “Because they are so far up themselves these days that their toenails are all that’s left visible,” he said.
It was a very good point indeed. Do they not realise that the rest of the world has ceased to give a stuff about their precious haka and that their supreme, bullying arrogance is putting their own reputation, and that of rugby, in serious jeopardy?
Probably not.
How can you take a global view of anything when all you care about is yourself?
The All Blacks are labouring under the grossly mistaken impression that their action in performing the haka behind closed doors last week was some kind of heroic gesture. Frankly, I have not come across a single person in British rugby, or a single fan, who did not think that they looked ridiculous.
And that conclusion came before we even knew the details.
We did not know until later that, in order to parade their own childish petulance, they had hunted down a local camera crew from Wales, dragged them into the stadium on bogus accreditation and then offered the pictures to the BBC (and shame on the Beeb for taking them).
To make an honorable, dignified, private stand is one thing. To scurry round like embittered little dervishes to find anyone to show it, is completely another. They were given weeks of notice of the Welsh Rugby Union’s intentions.
However important the haka is to some elements of New Zealand society, it does not come within a thousand miles -in terms of intensity or focus or significance - of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau(Land of My Fathers) for Welsh people. This is the national anthem.
The home team in rugby is the host, the organiser, it can set down any programme it wishes. And unless my geography has gone badly wrong, Cardiff is in Wales, not New Zealand.
The lack of respect shown by New Zealand for the Welsh nation, the horrible way in it tried to bully the Welsh union, was disgusting.
And please, please don’t feed us that old rubbish that to perform the haka last is a great old tradition. To hell with that tradition. It is causing anger. If we carried on following old traditions no use to anyone, then we’d all be wearing boots with wooden studs, not paying our players, sitting in dangerous stadiums, having no replacements and having no coaches, and travelling on steamships.
Not one single national union we contacted in the past week felt that the All Blacks should dictate when the haka is performed any longer, on a foreign field.
Let us be crystal clear. The All Blacks have shattered their own tradition. The haka is no longer seen by them, let along their opponents, as some kind of shining cultural or sporting tradition. It is performed as a threat, a pose, an attempt to gain a playing advantage prior to kick off. It is no better, or worse, a ruse than secretly filming the opposition’s sessions, cheating at the breakdown, searching their team room for documents.
The haka is an attempt to get an edge for the match, full stop. Every opposition team has the right to say no, our anthem is last and, if you don’t like it, don’t come.
New Zealand will miss its big payments to come here and play, far more than European teams will miss their pitiful share of a few New Zealand dollars.
I have no information of the subject but I would love to think that the Wales coaching staff was prominent in moves to have the anthem played last. It was searching for an edge, as were the All Blacks.
Why must every union quail in the face of New Zealand threat? If the home unions want to invite the All Blacks to do the haka an hour before the kick-off, or not at all, then fine. If the opposition wants to take the field after the haka, or if to continue its warm-up while it is being done, or perform a mincing Gay Gordon concurrently, that is fine, too.
New Zealand is perfectly entitled to regard itself as the fount of the best team in the universe, and it is favourite for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. What New Zealand is not, has never been and never will be, is the centre of the rugby universe.
It has no right to dictate to others on traditions that it has itself destroyed, by posturing. New Zealanders are precious about it when it is not challenged, precious about it when it is challenged. Precious, precious, precious. Maori culture is one thing. Having it stuffed down your throat is quite another.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/0,2106,3886646a6444,00.html