by The sport needs more Joe Marlers.
People with a sense of humor, good arguments and the thick skin to withstand the criticism that inevitably comes their way.
I applaud Marler, the accomplished English prop, for his latest performance at the All Blacks haka.
I understand that the haka is culturally – and commercially – important to the All Blacks and New Zealand Rugby, but I’ve never felt like everyone else needed to treat it with respect.
This was something the All Blacks used to do on tour, but not at home. It was also largely a symbolic exercise until Wayne Shelford invested more mana into the whole thing.
Those of us of a certain vintage remember the meeting between Shelford and Irishman Willie Anderson in 1989 as one of the great moments in the history of the haka.
Nowadays rugby teams are kept separate and I can understand why.
One of the most memorable pre-match challenges I have ever seen took place in Hawke’s Bay about 20 years ago between the New Zealand Maori and Cook Islands rugby league teams.
I say memorable because that ended in a brawl after the two teams got a little too close for comfort.
As surprising and exciting as that was, it’s not something you want to see at Twickenham every time the All Blacks come to town.
I’ve always felt that the New Zealand national sevens teams do the haka right. They run it when they win a title, in large part because the tournaments’ tight schedule doesn’t allow it to happen before every game.
I’d like to see it become a post-match ritual for the All Blacks too, not least because despite all the good haka I’ve seen in recent seasons, they’ve often been the prelude to defeat.
The New Zealand rugby league team, for example, produced a spine-tingling haka before Sunday’s test against Australia. The only problem was that the following 80 minutes didn’t quite have the same ferocity and cohesion.
Some of the Australian players grinned afterwards, which no doubt upset some sensitive people, and that is partly the problem Marler is aiming at.
Just because the haka is important to us doesn’t mean it has to be important to everyone else. Teams should not have to undergo cultural awareness training to maintain the haka just because New Zealand teams insist on it.
I remember a time in the 1990s when Wallabies loose forward Sam Scott-Young blew kisses to the All Blacks during the haka.
It’s probably not something I would do, but I would defend Scott-Young’s right to do it.
Marler certainly offended people with his tweet about the haka, and it will become the topic of pre-match and post-match conversations in London as journalists hungry for truly interesting topics resort to driving a wedge between the teams drive, on the grounds that the haka is a kind of sacred cow.
I was never much of a rugby player but I played 1st XV. Footy and was very proud to perform the school haka before our games. However, the thing is that the opposition did it too.
A challenge was made, then another was accepted in response.
That’s our rugby culture, but it’s not Marler’s or England’s, and I’m not sure we can expect him to like or even respect our desire to do this.
