Aussies bag All Blacks
6 Jul 2006
An Australian TV advert that shows the All Blacks doing the haka while carrying handbags has upset the New Zealanders camp.
Seven Network’s ad is an irreverent reference to one of the most embarrassing moments in New Zealand sport, to promote Saturday’s first Vodacom Tri-Nations Test.
In a bizarre off-field incident in May, Tana Umaga broke up a fight between team-mate Chris Masoe and an unidentified man in a nightclub by hitting the Masoe over the head with a woman’s handbag he picked up off a table. Mosoe then burst into tears.
The offending handbag later attracted R65,000 in an online auction and made New Zealand players the butt of many cross-Tasman jokes.
But New Zealand rugby officials have complained about the ad.
“It’s insensitive, I think, to Maori and disrespectful of the All Blacks,” New Zealand assistant coach Wayne Smith said.
The video can be found here
122 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 [3] Show All
7 Jul 2006, 10:00 am
The interesting thing is that you can see the “Transformation” in NZ Society (from a white colonial society to a (more) integrated European/Polynesian society) from how the Haka has been treated/performed.
See:
http://www.allblacks.com/index.cfm?layout=haka (& also the Video links on the right of the page).
It shows how European NZ has become more comfortable with its Polynesian roots.
Some interesting parallels with where SA is at the moment????
7 Jul 2006, 10:01 am
Ja Koos, but the injury risks are huge. Would you let Jaco handle that spear?
7 Jul 2006, 10:05 am
Koos
Prior to around 1980, the Haka was only ever performed when on tour, never at home.
For some reason Kiwi’s felt deprived, because we never got to see that mighty display immortalised in the clip you saw, so in the 80’s the dance became a preamble to every friggin match.
So begat a tradition! A worthless one in my mind.
7 Jul 2006, 10:12 am
BillTong
Your comment @101 is the most touchey feely nonense only a left wing liberal could think up.
More like the PC world has gone overboard, and allowed **** like the Haka to become entrenched as if it is sacred to NZ culture, rather than what should have been done at the outset.
Just ban it!
7 Jul 2006, 10:13 am
OK I lied, put everything away and then remembered still have to do the friggen timesheet, anyway, quick trip to the boardroom and I will complete the task with a cold one…
Katman, they can start with broomsticks, first trick will be to hold on to it without dropping and then…nah, it will take forever, get the Zulu!
Thanks Brads, love the way you refer to it as a dance
Fits in perfectly with the mascara and handbags…
7 Jul 2006, 10:29 am
Brads
Get over it.
I wasn’t commenting on whether this is a good thing or not. You live here – you can see things changing compared to the way it used to be. Nothing ‘PC’ at all – just the facts. The place is different than it used to be. (If you notice the vidoe you linked to, there were about 2 non-Europeans in it (Sid Going & Kent Lambert). Just the way it is…..
7 Jul 2006, 10:45 am
Ag Shame! Hamba Kahle
7 Jul 2006, 10:48 am
BillTong
The world is changing so does the ethnic mix of the AB’s. That has nothing to do with why the Haka should be revered.
PC overload has created the environment that has allowed a totally worthless dance to be elevated to the point where it has become a cultural outrage to disparage it.
Bollocks. It is a dance that has become a tradition prior to sporting matches involing NZ teams – every bloody team including the NZ Netball team.
Dear God, the bloody women arn’t allowed to perform the dance in Maori culture, but somehow they can have a Haka at a netball game. (OK it was only once)
Do you get the drift here, this slapping of thighs and beating of chests is all fine and dandy. But when it was done the first time it was done for entertainment, and that is where it’s status exists.
7 Jul 2006, 10:50 am
twojays my old mate, how are you.
But first I suppose I should ask for an interpretation.
What do you mean by Ag Shame! Hamba Kahle.
7 Jul 2006, 10:58 am
This may help with your PC overload Brads: http://www.apple.com/
7 Jul 2006, 11:00 am
Nice dig Rev
7 Jul 2006, 11:04 am
Brads
We agree! The Haka is overdone, and is rolled out much too often. But lets be honest – its part of the “AB” Brand. They started using it – now its part of why an interational company like Adidas shells out $millions to be associated. Now it is all about the money – but – if you are going to do something, you may as well do it properly.
Cheers
7 Jul 2006, 11:06 am
I don’t see the big deal about the Haka either. It started in the States anyway…
“You put your left arm in, you take your left arm out, you put your left arm in and you wiggle it about, you do the hokey pokey and you turn around, kamate, kamate etc etc”
7 Jul 2006, 11:11 am
I have to give at least 6 out of 10 to the one bloke with the massive side-parting in that clip. He at least had the “waving right hand over bollocks” bit correct.
The rest get 1/10 for effort, 0/10 for execution, and -3/10 for hairstyles.
7 Jul 2006, 11:15 am
Most of them stuck to one move – either wriggling the fingers, fanning the bollocks or putting out the fire – in the hope that the rest would get there too.
The slightly camp blondie, about 5th in line, was totally ****** lost. I think he was ushered in at the last minute.
7 Jul 2006, 11:17 am
Here is another Aussie pisstake that offended the bejeezus out of some people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGD16wfRybs&search=Haka
7 Jul 2006, 11:22 am
BillTong
Exactly – you have put your finger on it nicely. The Haka is part of the AB brand.
I have no issue with this at all. That is exactly what the AB’s are doing when they perform the Haka.
7 Jul 2006, 11:22 am
ha ha. yukama… yukama…
7 Jul 2006, 11:36 am
All kinds of flavours of classy comments after that Aussie haka clip:
“take dat **** off dis internet ****, for ur dam safety……big tripps its gonna b….TAKE IT OFF….!!!!!!……u causing enuff problems as it is…”
7 Jul 2006, 23:32 pm
Back in about 2002 when the AB’s were about to play Oz in sydney there was a lot of talk about the Wallabies facing up to the haka and singing Waltzing Matilda at the same time with all the yobbos in the crowd drowning the haka out
Anton Oliver(Capt)in the dressing room said “stuff them we just won’t do it” or words to that effect and I think he was begged into still doing it because it was part of the brand
Adidas demand a haka so a haka they will do
Anyway the haka (espicially when Tana did it) always sends a shiver down my spine and
most of the AB’s love it and find it’s helps get them in the zone – Although they do still have to keep Troy Flavell blindfolded and ear plugged in the dressing room til it’s over to prevent him running down the paddock and killing someone!!
7 Jul 2006, 23:52 pm
by the way Brad nice links
And Wayne Smith didn’t prove to the world he was soft,
he proved he was real and honest in saying that he didn’t know if he wanted to reapply for the AB coaching job because he wasn’t 100% sure he was the best man for the job.
8 Jul 2006, 21:58 pm
Lived in Australia for 4 years. Most Australian’s I met did not give a f%^& about their won native culture. I can see how the advert apeals to the John Howard public (if you check the election results then I could say to most Australian’s). Do they have to start showing this sort of lack of respect to someone else’s culture?
Pages: « 1 2 [3] Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.