Nate
: ?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.?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?
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