By Lucky Vince Pienaar
- Rugby fans are backing Joe Marler’s call to stop the haka, saying they’re tired of seeing it so often.
- Some feel the haka has lost its power and say it is looking too staged compared to older and more thrilling performances.
Controversy about the haka isn’t new. An older rugby fan who witnessed the haka at the 1995 World Cup final against South Africa, commenting on Scrolla.Africa, said: “With his final lunge, Jonah Lomu almost landed on Kobus Wiese’s toes!”
After Joe Marler’s comment that “the haka needs binning”, many rugby lovers have surprisingly come out to agree with him.
Responding to Marler’s comment, people on the England-based rugby website Planet Rugby shared opinions ranging from dislike of the haka to indifference, with some readers saying they didn’t care about it one way or another.
While one Scrolla.Africa reader called it a “d***bag thing to say” and another called Marler a “stupid idiot”, many others said they no longer watched it.
“Every weekend! When I look up, I get a close-up view of TJ Perenara’s tongue. I like team spirit, but this is too much!” said one reader.
Another reader, with a more moderate stance, commented: “I’m on Marler’s side. 100%.”
Saturday’s performance of the haka at Twickenham was anything but boring. With the All Blacks breaking the rules by slowly advancing well past the ten-metre line on their side of the field, the crowd singing “Swing Low”, and the England players standing with their toes on the halfway line as if defending England from invasion, it was certainly exciting.
Perhaps it is time for the All Blacks to consider how often they want to perform the haka.
In the days when the All Blacks played perhaps four tests a year, it was a spine-chilling event, but even the first murder in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre becomes old hat if you see it three or four times in a row.
The staging has certainly become over-dramatic. It’s a far cry from the days when a bunch of enthusiastic guys in black worked hard at trying to remember their steps and chant at the same time. These days, you can almost imagine a choreographer in the background mouthing the words and performing the steps like a mother with a child at an America’s Got Talent competition.
Joe Marler, with 95 caps for England under his belt, has decided to retire ahead of this tour, which could have taken him close to the milestone of 100 matches.
Will he be remembered as a worthy representative in the front row for England, or as the guy who said the haka needs binning?
Pictured above: The haka.
Source: All Blacks Experience
