Editorial: We can do better with rugby haka

Seriously now, should the All Blacks keep this throat-slitting climax to their new haka?

We have seen the haka performed several times now and the final gesture still looks devilishly outrageous - to many New Zealanders anyway. Australian coach John Connolly is probably not alone among outsiders who find it less than funny.

"As custodians of the game we are continually talking about setting an example to young players and throat-slitting probably doesn't send a good message," says Connolly, whose work as a custodian of other social activities has earned him the nickname "knuckles".

His criticism has probably ensured the Wallabies face the new haka again tonight and made a sensible discussion more difficult. If the gesture niggles our nearest rival, rugby fans will find that sufficient reason to keep it. Certainly, they are not about to bow to Australian sensitivity.

But seriously, the haka done by the All Blacks before test matches has been perhaps New Zealand's best-known image abroad. It is a stirring sight in stadiums far away when the team lines up on the field after the anthems, a hush descends on the crowd and they watch the drama of our native challenge.

The old haka, Te Rauparaha's, had the virtues of continuity and brevity. The new one, composed for the Rugby Union, is longer and seems to stop a couple of times. It is not quite as good at sustaining the build up to the kickoff, quite apart from the question of taste that it raises.

The climax to Kapa o Pango looks designed to shock rather than express anything genuine. That impression is strengthened by some of the strained explanations offered by the composer. Drawing life into the heart and lungs? There would not be much life in either organ if the mimed act was for real.

In the Court of Appeal last month a lawyer challenged the Crown's use of graphic photographs of a murder victim, arguing that witnesses could just as easily have given the jury an idea of the victim's injuries with a gesture such as that in the All Blacks' haka. There perhaps the case rests.

The final gesture is simply over the top. No matter how culturally authentic it may be, is it part of the image we want to present to the world? "We" being Maori, Pakeha and all other cultures here. Would Maori want to present themselves in this way today?

Other Polynesian nations perform distinctive haka before sporting events without the gross display of this one. Perhaps the fact that they are independent nations is the reason they show no inclination to assert themselves as aggressively.

Celebrating Maori language week with an article in the Herald yesterday, Haami Piripi, chief executive of the Maori Language Commission, cited "Te Rauparaha's haka" as one of the prime examples of the value of te Reo in national life. He did not mention the new one.

There must be many other climactic gestures to a haka, leaving aside the leap that became the All Blacks' signature image for so many years but has been ruled culturally invalid. The old haka is still awaiting an adequate replacement for the leap, as it happens, so a revised climax to Kapa o Pango could kill two birds with one stone.

Many, perhaps most, New Zealanders, Maori and Pakeha, find an innocent delight in the All Blacks' throat-slitting tableau. We know it means nothing, but can we reasonably expect foreign audiences to know that?

At best they might think it tasteless in a juvenile sort of way, at worst they will see it as a faintly disturbing degree of pride in a bloodthirsty heritage.

We can do better.