The Oranje women’s football team were seen by thousands on social media, presumably, doing the haka, a traditional Māori dance of New Zealand — and the internet didn’t hold back.
The Dutch football association (KNVB) proudly posted a video and images, via Instagram, of Oranje players Sherida Spitse and Merel van Dongen doing movements that very closely resemble the traditional New Zealand ceremonial dance, the haka, reports NU.nl.
The Dutch team came under heavy fire for disrespecting and mocking Māori culture without learning about the culture and the meanings behind the dance.
The haka or not?
The KNVB reacted by asserting that the players weren’t imitating the ceremonial dance, but just doing some sort of physical training “to evoke inner strength”. 🤨
In the video, Spitse can be seen clapping her hands and bending her knees — okay, until here, arguable…
But a few seconds later, Van Dongen is heard shouting “haka, New Zealand.” Oh nee…
Dutch and Spanish teams have shared videos of players spoofing the haka. Amazing the privilege they feel having previously colonized half the world 🙄 WoSo has plenty of issues to solve already, let's not be making a mockery of other cultures too. https://t.co/UjaDU5NW7t
— SᐰRᐰH ↙️↙️↙️ (@manic_swens) July 9, 2023
If you thought it couldn’t get worse, buckle in.
The reason that so much attention was drawn to the Dutch’s clumsy faux pas is that four players from Spain had done the exact same, just a week before.
The traditional New Zealand ceremonial dance
While everyone is free to do the ceremonial dance, it has to be done with respect for the indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand, the Māori. New Zealanders saw none of that respect anywhere on the field.
People quickly took to social media to share their opinions. The New Zealand-Australian actor from Star Wars, Jay Laga’aia, said “You come to our home and have no respect for our culture,” tells NU.nl.
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The Dutch quickly realised that it hadn’t gone down well.
After not-very-convincingly denying that the players had performed the haka, the KNVB took down the images “out of respect.”
The Dutch national coach, Andries Jonker, then added that Van Dongen’s blurt, “haka, New Zealand”, was just a joke. “If there’s something that we as a country are good at, it is respecting other countries and cultures.” (Umm, have you heard of Zwarte Piet?).
What do you think of Oranje’s faux pas? Tell us in the comments below!
Using aspects from other countries, singing their songs, playing their music, wearing their Fashion, haircut, spraking their language, cooking their food, why should it in any form be distrspect? Does anyone distrspect the Netherlands by wearing orange? Distrspect Austria for Rating viennese schnitzel? Disrespect China for igniting a firework? France for wearing Haute Couture? Men from all over the planet wear English style business suits. We are humans and have been adapting things from each other ever since. All that isn’t disrespectful in any way. New Zealanders can do a “klompendans” to get equal if they want to. No Dutchman would mind.
They were mocking the tradition of another culture. It’s not the same as any of the things you listed. It was mockery and it was insulting.
Sorry, but I get so tired of this whiny victim ship. So you cannot do a dance that looks like a Haka without New Zealanders getting upset? What a BS. Doing a dance is no cultural appropriation. Please stop this woke BS and get over it.
It’s like that in Europe. With Māori culture it works differently. It has always been that way. You don’t understand because you haven’t lived there. Perhaps read into it first at least.
Being respectful is not ‘woke’ Bob. But then again… being insensitive barbarians does not necessarily make you evil, either. Or stupid.
They weren’t doing a dance that looked like the Haka. They were mocking the Haka. Then they denied it. I see that as far more “whiny”. Cowardly babies who can’t take responsibility for their own actions.
If you are totally ignorant of the culture and significance of Maori traditions and culture, then you would call the haka a dance. I don’t blame you for being uninformed, just don’t play the victim if people call you out for it.