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Bitter Aussie Whinging

by Whaleoil on October 20, 2011

The Aussies are whinging after the All Blacks cut their throats last weekend:

The All Blacks need to dump the throat-slitting gesture at the end of the Kapa O Pango haka as it reminds people the “Maoris (sic) once engaged in unspeakable conduct”, according to an Australian commentator.

Sydney Morning Herald columnist Paul Sheehan writes today that “the violence suggested by throat-slitting gestures has no place in sport or sportsmanship, especially in the national colours”.

In an opinion piece about simple gestures meaning a lot in the ultra-competitive world of sports, Sheehan says that “just before kick-off the All Blacks will perform the greatest ritual in world sport, the haka”.

However, he warns the team and its management might want to consider what exactly they are symbolising.

“If some of the All Blacks persist in ending this latest version of the haka with a throat-slitting motion, they will be using a very big stage to remind people the Maoris once engaged in unspeakable conduct, which we don’t discuss any more.

I’ve got one word for Paul Sheehan – “Tasmania”

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  • Agent BallSack

    Good idea. We should also ban that racist song Waltzing Matilda, don’t they hang a homeless starving person in it for flogging off with a sheep?

  • Anonymous

    They should understand Maori history first before criticising it. Before the arrival of white man the Maori did not have any metal with which to slit throats. They were stone age people who cooked their food in the ground. I would pay attention to the clubbing actions.

    • diabolos

      Well they did decapitate people – we have dried heads to attest to that.  Must have been a messy job with stone or wooden implements.

      • Mully

        They had sharpened greenstone mere things with which to cut off heads – reasonably sure they didn’t have anything metal.
        I’d also suggest it was a messy job in any case…

  • Anonymous

    Ha ha! The Aussies have simply failed to find a suitable equivalent or response to the haka.
    I notice that they have given up on that whimpy guitarist in the akubra getting the crowd to do a ‘Waltzing Matilda’ singalong. Prior to that we had the blocks of supporters in the green and gold jackets and the cute little yellow Paddington Bear hats and at one time the crazies in Brisbane who did pressups behind the goal line every time Aussie scored (they were never in danger of too much physical exertion).
     
    Maybe the WO army could offer some suitable advice.  

  • TCrwdb

    How is Waltzing Matilda racist??

    Whale, you should know better than to believe what Wikipedia says about alleged massacres in Tasmania, I think you’ll find that Keith Windshuttle has debunked a majority of this as myth.

    In regard to the haka, if the AB’s wish to perform it at home games, then all power to them.  But should only do it overseas if invited to do so and at the time chosen by the host nation.  The debacle in Cardiff a few years back was arrogant and insulting.

    • Anonymous

      On the offchance that you bought the fact that there were no atrocities committed in Tasmania then how do you cope with other well known and documented massacres?
      Goulbolba Hill & Myall Creek to name but two out of hundreds committed as late as the 1920s. Quoting Windshuttle as a reliable source is an interesting stance.

      I didnt claim that ‘Waltzing Matilda’ was racist, I was merely quoting it as being a pathetic effort as a response to the haka.

      Don’t remember the Cardiff haka but I can’t recall the Welsh Rugby Union asking the ABs to desist at later games.

      I am a firm believer that the haka is being over-used not only by Kiwis but also by foreigners. I would like the ABs to copyright it!  The League version is a shocker.

       

      • TCrwdb

        It was AgentBallSack that said Waltzing Matilda was racist.

        Cardiff, when the AB’s threw a hissy because the Welsh asked them to do the haka before the anthems instead of after…petulant and arrogant…

        Question: back in the day before whitey lobbed, did Maori go onto the marae of another iwi and challenge with a haka, or were they challenged by those whom they were visiting?  Just asking. 

        No-one denies that there was slaughter of aboriginal people in Australia, the challenge is over the extent and the assertion that it was all a one-way street. Windschuttle essentially peer-reviewed the sources cited by various historians and found many examples of misrepresentation, inaccurate reporting and citation of sources that don’t even exist.

        Whilst there has been much hot air and bluster from the likes of Robert Manne, none of Windschuttles claims have been refuted.

        • gazzaw

          Agent Ballsack is incorrect. Nothing racist about Waltzing Matilda.

          Ah. I recall that test now. Quite recent but already faded into insignificance.

          The haka performed by the ABs has nothing to do with the ceremonial hakas performed on the marae. It is a ngeri which was a pre battle haka performed to psych up the warriors.

          Despite Windshuttle’s protestations there was organised mass slaughter of aborigines & the instances were far too numerous to assert any differently. Believe me I am not a bleeding heart liberal on racial issues. 

  • http://twitter.com/ChiefsFan73 Rhys Wilson

    Guys guys, stop listening to Aussies, and obsessing over their rubbish.  

  • Thorn

    The Haka is the dance of murderous, child-abusing, thieving, pissed and paranoid tribal types who bite the hands that feed them. The Welsh ‘two-fingers’ to this shit stoneage culture.