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Hurricanes investigate offensive politically-driven haka by Poua
By Ben Smith
The Hurricanes are looking into the altered haka that the Poua used before the Super Rugby Aupiki opener against Chiefs Manawa which took aim at the coalition government.
The haka's leader, prop Leilani Perese, spoke the Maori phrase "karetao o te Kawana kakiwhero" before the start of the haka which translates in English as "puppets of this redneck government".
The amended version of the haka was completed by composer Hinewai Pomare after players reached out, and then sent to Hurricanes' management "at the last minute" before the game to receive backing.
The composer said that the players were "frustrated" by the political environment and looking for "words to reflect that" and "add a bit of spice" to the haka.
"I sent it to management at the last minute. They were like 'go for it. We back you 100 per cent,'" Perese said.
Perese said the message was politically driven to take a stand against coalition government policy towards Maori and that they will "never fold".
"I don't care. I believe in what we're saying, I stand by it," she said.
"I believe that in rugby, we have a platform where people watch and listen. And why not use our platform to show our people we will never fold?
"To tell the government that we are stronger than ever, and we will never go down without a war.
"We wanted it to represent not just Maori, but people of all races and cultures. When we say 'taku iwi tuohu kore e!' that means 'what will always last is our people, we will never fold.'
"Whether we're Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Indian, what have you. I thought it was important for us to say because we've got a lot of other ethnicities in our team.
"I wanted to make sure it wasn't just about one culture, it's about all of us," she said.
RNZ reports that Hurricanes chief executive Avan Lee will comment publicly at some stage after the franchise completes its review.
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Latest Comments
was I right to infer that you assumed a 1:1 correspondence between points and places?
If so why were you so evasive about admitting that?
I've typed out a reply regarding the pool format but I won't send it if you don't answer my question.
Go to commentsFoster should never have been appointed, and I never liked him as a coach, but the hysteria over his coaching and Sam Cane as a player was grounded in prejudice rather than fact.
The New Zealand Rugby public were blinded by their dislike of Foster to the point of idiocy.
Anything the All Blacks did that was good was attributed to Ryan and Schmidt and Fozzie had nothing to do with it.
Any losses were solely blamed on Foster and Cane.
Foster did develop new talent and kept all the main trophies except the World Cup.
His successor kept the core of his team as well as picking Cane despite him leaving for overseas because he saw the irreplaceable value in him.
Razor will take the ABs to the next level, I have full confidence in that.
He should have been appointed in 2020.
But he wasn’t. And the guy who was has never been treated fairly.
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