Māori in two minds over New Zealand PR man’s Hakacise programme sweeping the United Kingdom

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air

Māori are at odds over a New Zealander’s newly launched “Hakacise” exercise programme in the UK.

Kiwi PR man Richard Hillgrove and his English partner, Angus Browne, run a bootcamp inspired by the haka, made famous by the All Blacks.

Browne said he wasn’t attempting to understand the ins and outs of the tradition or pass himself off as an expert.

Instead, he said was about recognising how “people stand in awe when they see the mighty All Blacks doing it before a rugby match. It’s formidable.

“Doing it before you go about your daily grind means you are punching well above your weight.”

Browne said they wanted to use aspects taken out of sequence as a form of daily routine.

“If people want to combine it all together in the correct order as an actual haka, they have to do that in their own time. We’re not going there!”

New Zealand PR man Richard Hillgrove (in hat) performs the haka. Photo / Ki Price

Hillgrove has whakapapa to the Ngāti Awa iwi. His tupuna, Te Wai Heberley, also known as Maata Te Nahi Te Owai, was from Ngāti Awa in the Bay of Plenty. She also had whakapapa to Ngāti Toa and was married to a German Whaler, James Heberley, who was one of the first Pākehā to climb to the summit of Mt Taranaki.

University of Auckland academic and te reo advocate Bernie O’Donnell said the normalisation of te reo and Māori culture, had to have tradeoffs over which Māori could not have total control.

“We often lose control over what we give as a taonga [treasure], but Hillgrove has whakapapa and believes that there is value in teaching haka to non-Māori that will help people, and you can’t argue with that.

“That’s the tradeoff of normalisation and he has every right to do what he is with his culture.”

Auckland University academic Bernie O'Donnell.

But Māori advocate Rangi McLean - whose facial image was used by a German artist to sell his artwork - and who chairs Manurewa Marae, disagrees.

“What he is doing is definitely a no for me,” McLean said.

“This should be done by our own and when the All Blacks perform the haka, they are our own from Aotearoa.

“I would hope that this guy touches base with our Māori people in England, then I would change my view because he is interacting with our people, our culture and our tikanga and cultural perspectives.”

Hillgrove said he wants to develop an app where people can do Hakacise daily.

In November he opened Global Entrepreneurship Week from Piccadilly Circus with a haka at the Eros statue lit up by the infamous electronic billboards.

“I grew up when ‘Aerobics Oz Style’ was big. We want to take that mantle over with Hakacise”.

He said the Hakacise is for men and women and children and would enhance people’s cultural view of Māori culture.

Rangi McLean with the portrait by German artist Gerd Stritzel. Photo / Supplied

Meanwhile, McLean has sorted the dispute he had in 2022, with German artist Gerd Stritzel who painted an unauthorised portrait of him.

“He contacted me and we had a good korero about the image and he understood our cultural practices,” McLean said.

“I gave him some pointers on what he can and can’t do. I could see the wairua [spirit] in his paintings.”

Joseph Los’e joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for 12 years for Te Whānau o Waipareira.