Haka Performed By Non-New Zealand Sports Teams - Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University

The "Ka Mate" Haka has become well known in the Mountain West Conference, and among the fans and opponents of the Brigham Young University football team. Prior to the BYU Cougars taking on Boston College, their season-opener in 2005, the Cougars instituted a new tradition when they performed the "Ka Mate" Haka. Minutes before kickoff, members of the BYU football team lined up on the southeast corner of the field and performed "Ka Mate" for a stadium full of cheering fans. Planned and prepared under a tight veil of secrecy for months, this new tradition was inspired by Bryce Mahuika, the team’s only player of Māori descent."Taking the haka to American football games", Jon Stokes, Sep 17 2005, NZ Herald Mahuika had recently lost his father, Michael K. Mahuika (the son of Nepia Mahuika, chief of the Māori Ngati Porou iwi (tribe)). As a boy, Michael K. Mahuika, his father's oldest son and next in line to become the chief of his iwi, was taught everything about his tribe's culture. When he attended the Church College of Hawaii, now Brigham Young University Hawaii, he was employed at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), where he performed haka and other dances of his people at the Maori Village for tourists. He passed these cultural dances on to his children, teaching them how important they were to his people and his forefathers. On March 27, 2005, Michael K. Mahuika died in Vancouver, Washington due to Hodgkin's disease. Over a thousand mourners attended his funeral, including Curtis Brown, the Cougars' star running back, to honor the fallen chief. Kyle and Bryce Mahuika, his sons, led them in a haka at the gravesite prior to lowering Michael K. Mahuika's casket into the ground. After returning from his father's funeral, Bryce Mahuika attended a team meeting where Bronco Mendenhall, the head coach, asked the team for personal requests that might help the team reach their goals in 2006. Bryce Mahuika went up to the front to thank everybody for their support, when he had the idea to do the Haka to fire up the crowd and prepare for football games. He explained the origins and significance of the Haka to the team, and they enthusiastically supported the idea. On September 3, 2005, the BYU Football team instituted the new tradition, and a little over a year later, on November 18, 2006, the Cougars became undefeated (in conference play) Mountain West Conference champions. The BYU Cougars went on to win the rest of their games that season, including crushing the Oregon Ducks 38-8 in the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl.

There have been two occasions where the BYU Haka caused a near-altercation with the opposition. Both incidents flared because of perceptions that the haka was directed at the opposing team, rather than serving a more benign role of exciting the team and fans. The first instance was before BYU's game against rival University of Utah in 2005, when the team did the dance while facing the opposing team instead of in front of a student body. The second incident occurred during a shared pep-rally at the Fremont Street Experience before the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl against the University of Oregon. According to media reports, several BYU players performed the dance, provoking one of Oregon's Polynesian players to jump a crowd barrier. The player later explained his motivation, "They looked right at us. It would have been different if it had been on stage intended for everybody. Instead, it felt like it was intended for us." Although the confrontation was heated, it didn't turn violent, and BYU quarterback John Beck later apologized for any perceived disrespect.

In an interesting departure from their normal pre-game "Ka Mate" performance, on Saturday, 25 November 2006, the Cougars performed "Ka Mate" both prior to their historic rivalry football game with Utah, and upon winning a come-from-behind, extremely hard-fought game, breaking Utah's four-year winning streak in the series, BYU's football team performed an additional impromptu rendition of "Ka Mate" to the delight of their fans in attendance.

Before the Nov 22, 2008 "Holy War" at Utah's Rice Eccles Stadium, Utah coaches and players assumed that BYU's performance of the Haka was a sign of disrespect, and crossed the field and disrupted the cultural dance. Game officials broke up the altercation and made players from each team return to their bench.

BYU's use of the Haka may have influenced local high school and community football teams. Timpview High School in Provo has performed the haka before games, and even some children's flag football teams have been seen performing it in Provo.