Rugby fan that I am, I find it odd to think of American football teams performing their own versions of the Polynesian pregame haka (here in Oregon I think it was brought over by Hawaiian football recruits). Still, it’s a step in the right direction—now they just need to ditch the pads, helmets, and forward passes
a kottke.org post, 7 October 2008
The high school football team in Euless, TX (population 52,900) starts their games by performing the haka, a chanting dance used to intimidating effect by New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team. What’s odd/interesting about this is that the Maori chant was appropriated by the team’s contingent of Tongan players—whose parents moved to the town to work at DFW airport—and has led to a greater sense of acceptance of the Tongans into the larger community. How’s that for multiculturalism?