PROVO — For a nonathletic pregame ritual permeating sports from the Pop Warner and prep levels to World Cup and Olympic events and from the Pacific Islands to the Lone Star State and everywhere in between, the art of haka — Maori dances — is used to celebrate, commemorate, motivate and even intimidate.
As well as infuriate, since a haka can be polarizing among fans and casual observers. Does it have a place? Should only those of Polynesian heritage participate, or is it open to all? Is it seen as a threat or challenge to an opponent, similar to flashing a gang sign?
With the Ka Mate version performed by the BYU football team in its pregame routines drawing its own attention for three seasons running, haka is back in the news again. In its football game at Louisiana Tech last weekend, the University of Hawaii performed its haka and drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty even before the start of play, violating the WAC's policy on pre- and post-game choreographed routines, including dances and chants.
In a late August e-mail to WAC member schools, conference commissioner Karl Benson reminded that such routines should be done when the opposing team is off the field or court and in the locker room. He also urged visiting schools not to do the haka.
One WAC school complained to Benson last year about Hawaii's pregame dance, which has included a slash-across-the-throat gesture, while a referee officiating at the Warriors' Aloha Stadium also reported he felt uncomfortable with the performance.
With a haka part of BYU's routine under third-year coach Bronco Mendenhall, no other Mountain West Conference school has formally complained to league officials, nor does the conference have a specific policy beyond its normal game-management guidelines about pre- and post-game dances, chants and routines, said Javan Hedlund, MWC associate commissioner for communications.
A pregame haka certainly didn't originate locally with BYU — other schools such as Utah State and Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) were doing haka a number of years ago. It's been a staple with the nationally renowned Highland High rugby team, and local teams such as Bingham have adopted the practice.
Best known for the pregame ritual is the All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby team currently competing in the World Cup. Other New Zealand national squads have followed suit — including the 2000 Olympic basketball team. The Kiwis, as they're known, gestured and gyrated their way through a pre-tipoff haka in front of the likes of Vince Carter, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett and the rest of Team USA.
With Mendenhall stressing team unity in 2005, Cougar wide receiver Bryce Mahuika suggested the Ka Mate haka to the first-year Cougar coach. The grandson of a Maori tribal chief, Mahuika joined his brothers in performing it several months earlier at the funeral of their father, and he explained to Mendenhall the origin and potential benefits.
Mendenhall agreed on the condition it not be done facing the opposition, as is customary, but rather near the sidelines in front of family, friends and fans in the stands.
Prior to the '05 opener against Boston College, Mahuika taught willing teammates — of any race and ethnic background — the movements and pronunciations of Ka Mate, along with the showing of the white eyeballs, the poking of the tongue, the sneering, the slapping, the stomping, the flexing and the jumping.
It debuted at Edwards Stadium as a surprise hit, with encores coming before every Cougar game since, both home and away.
But not without its detractors, as some opponents see it as a threat, an intimidation, a challenge.
Two seasons ago, the haka nearly resulted in a brawl prior to the BYU-Utah game in Provo as Utes rushed toward midfield. Other teams have taken umbrage — a handful of Bruins were well beyond midfield barking and bristling at the Cougar haka before last weekend's game at UCLA.
"We're not trying to go out there and cause trouble and get teams riled up with us," said Mahuika, adding that the Cougars have their backs to their opponents and aren't aware of reactions.
Utah senior linebacker Malakai Mokofisi, who first started performing haka before youth football games in his native Hawaii, agrees: "It's just a mind-set, you're just ready to go into battle and stuff. ... It makes you want to play and go harder. It just hypes you up."
Yet even the Cougars acknowledge the inherent "challenge" factor.
"I think that's a little intimidating, seeing something like that," said BYU receiver Austin Collie, who opts not to perform the haka. "I mean, that's what it was used for back in the old days, with the warriors in the Maori culture."
Mahuika admits the same, that a haka underscores the proverbial "do-or-die" prospects.
"It's either going to be us or it's going to be you, and obviously doing your haka let's them know that it's not going to be you," he said. "That's just kinda the challenge you're laying on the table, to either accept it or reject it."
At the "Fremont Street Experience" festivities in downtown Las Vegas several days before BYU faced Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl, Cougar players performed an impromptu haka, with Duck players taking exception. Shouting and scuffling ensued, with at least one Oregon player jumping a barricade, ready to rumble.
Mahuika admits the timing and location of the Cougars' haka wasn't right but said Oregon could have responded in like manner. In fact, Mahuika knows how he would react if an opponent did a haka in front of him: "I'd just do my haka back."
Cougar linebacker David Nixon, who joins in BYU's haka, says that while others may not be fond of the haka, it's a part of the program to stay. "We've got our routine down, and we know that this is something that's important to us," he said. "So, until we're told not to or we're penalized for it, we're going to keep going on with it."
BYU's Ka Mate haka
The BYU football team performs the Ka Mate version of haka — one done without weapons, so it is not considered a formal Maori pre-war dance.
Ka Mate traces its roots to the 1820s, when Te Rauparaha, the high chief of the Ngoti Toa tribe, was trying to elude his enemies. He came to Te Wharerangi for help, the latter hid the former in a leaf-covered kumara (sweet potato) pit, with his wife sitting on top.
The words are Te Rauparaha's mutterings to himself as his enemies arrive — fearing he will die and then realizing he will live as his pursuers leave. His hairy friend uncovers the pit, Te Rauparaha climbs out into the open area, without fear of capture.
Ka Mate
Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora!
Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora!
Tenei te tangata puhuru huru
Nana nei i tiki mai
Whakawhiti te ra
A, upa ... ne! ka upa ... nie!
A upane, ka upane ... whiti te ra!
Hi!
English translation
I die! I die! I live! I live!
I die! I die! I live! I live!
This is the hairy man
Who fetched the Sun
And caused it to shine again
One upward step! Another upward step!
An upward step, another ... the Sun shines
Source: www.haka.co.nz
Contributing: Dirk Facer
E-mail: taylor@desnews.com