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Haka in popular culture


The haka is a traditional Māori dance form. The use of haka in popular culture is a growing phenomenon, originally from New Zealand. Traditionally, haka were used only in Māori cultural contexts, but today haka are used in a wide range of public occasions to impart a sense of importance of the event.

For over 100 years the All Blacks have had a tradition of performing a haka before games (see Haka of the All Blacks). This has become the most widely known use of the haka, but several other New Zealand sports teams now perform the haka before commencing a game. These include rugby league (the Kiwis), the national Australian rules football team (The Hawks), basketball (Tall Blacks), wheelchair rugby (Wheel Blacks) and Ice Hockey (Ice Blacks).

In addition to this planned, formalised usage, teams and supporters now often perform impromptu haka as a celebration or encouragement. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000 these uses of the haka were numerous enough to draw some negative comment.

A number of sports teams outside of New Zealand have adopted the haka, most notably the American football teams of Brigham Young University, University of Hawaii and Trinity High School in Euless, Texas as well as the Highland Rugby Team. Both the Coventry Jets and the London Olympians, British American Football teams, have, on occasions, performed the haka before their games. Both squads have had a large number of Polynesian players over the past 5 years.


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Wikipedia

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