Posted by Bixby23 on 9/11/2007, 3:30 am, in reply to "Hawaii unhappy" I've never seen it, but I bet the haka chant is cool. I always figured the Rainbows would just sit in a big circle and sing Kumbayah... --Previous Message--
61.213.181.36
Sounds like they have reason to be unhappy. Must've scared a few backwater types among an officiating crew that probably still considers anything West of the Mississippi "Injun territory," with the U.S. ending somewhere about west Texas.
: Jones defends pre-game haka
: Stephen Tsai
: Honolulu Advertiser
: September 10, 2007
:
: HOUSTON — Head coach June Jones yesterday
: argued that it was unfair for his Hawai'i
: football team to be penalized for performing
: a pre-game haka Saturday night.
:
: What's more, Jones accused the Western
: Athletic Conference of
: "micro-management" by creating a
: philosophy that "targets" the way
: the Warriors prepare for games.
:
: Prior to the opening kickoff against
: Louisiana Tech, the Warriors were assessed a
: 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
: The Bulldogs won the coin toss, opting to
: receive, and the Warriors were forced to
: kick off from their 15.
:
: "That was not the correct thing,"
: Jones said.
:
: The NCAA has rules against unsportsmanlike
: conduct, but none specifically mentions the
: haka, a Maori war chant the Warriors began
: doing last year before games. After
: receiving a complaint, the WAC circulated a
: notice of suggestion encouraging teams not
: to perform the haka during road games.
:
: "The rule hasn't changed since last
: year, and we were allowed to do it,"
: Jones said. "For someone to
: micro-manage outside the NCAA rules, that's
: not right."
:
: The WAC will not offer a public response
: until it receives a report from the
: officiating crew.
:
: Jones said he conferred with officials
: before Saturday's game. He said he was told
: the haka would be allowed as long as the
: Warriors were not on the playing field or
: facing the Louisiana Tech players.
:
: "It was never an intimidation
: thing," said offensive line coach
: Dennis McKnight, who joins the players in
: the haka. "It's a cultural thing for
: our fans and our players."
:
: The Warriors performed the haka in the area
: fronting their locker room, which was at the
: top of a grass hill in the South end zone
: overlooking the field. They faced the 200 UH
: fans sitting in a nearby section.
:
: "I checked," Jones said of the
: guidelines. "We didn't do it on the
: field. We did it 75 yards away from the
: field. ... It's not (unsportsmanlike). It's
: a cultural, spiritual thing. It's
: unfortunate. There's no unsportsmanlike
: issue in the book covering this."
:
: Safety Keao Monteilh said: "We got
: penalized for something we do before every
: game. There's no sense in that. We were
: looking over the field. We didn't make any
: gestures to (the Louisiana Tech players). We
: were pointing to our fans."
:
: Jones said it appears the Warriors are being
: singled out. He said other college programs
: have pre-game rituals.
:
: "Some teams hold up helmets in the
: huddle," Jones said. "Florida
: State does a march around their helmet.
: (Texas-El Paso coach) Mike Price comes down
: and sticks a pick in the end zone."
:
: Quarterback Colt Brennan recalled how his
: high school, Mater Dei, performed pride
: drills — synchronized routines — before
: every game.
:
: "That was something that was very
: traditional to my high school," Brennan
: said. "We would be very offended and
: feel it was unfair if we weren't allowed to
: do that. For us, they said we couldn't do
: the haka on the field, so we went off the
: field. I think we did everything right. We
: shouldn't have been penalized."
:
: Instead, Jones said, the haka should be
: celebrated as a cultural act that "is a
: positive thing for the conference. The haka
: has international recognition. It brings our
: conference identity. It's talked about all
: over the world."
:
: Jones added: "There's no rule to
: control what we do off the field, like they
: can't control what we do in our locker
: room."
:
: Monteilh said: "Maybe the next time we
: have to do it in our locker room. There
: might be a ref in there, too."
:
:
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