Arizona may debut new rendition of haka

After an international controversy led to a ban of its rendition of a popular haka, the University of Arizona football team hopes to debut a new one for Saturday’s game against Hawaii.

One painstakingly taught by a Punahou School graduate, senior defensive tackle Sani Fuimaono.

Whether the Wildcats will perform it before the crowd at Arizona Stadium and a TV audience — or confine it to their locker room — is the growing question.

Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez praised the work of Fuimaono and said, “I think we’re going to try and do it — whether we can do it on the field or have to do it in the locker room.”

UH unveiled its Ha‘a on Saturday prior to the home opener with Tennessee Martin. A UH spokesman said the Rainbow Warriors did not perform it in earlier games in Australia or Michigan because the team wasn’t proficient enough.

An Arizona spokesman said the Wildcat players adopted the Ka Mate haka, popularized internationally by the All Blacks rugby team, “around 2009” and it became a pregame tradition. It proved so popular that UA’s Polynesian players made a video so the “’Zona Zoo” student section could join in.

UA said it received some sporadic complaints but a social media controversy was sparked after the haka was featured on the Wildcats’ ABC-TV prime-time game against UCLA last season, promoting the ban.

The New Zealand Herald reported the performance and video “received a mixed reaction from New Zealanders, both (at home) and abroad with one Kiwi expat starting a petition to stop the university (from) performing it.”

As a result, a UA spokesman said the school’s administration “agreed to discontinue the use of the Ka Mate haka with the understanding we could create our own in the future.”

Since then Fuimaono “has taken it upon himself to spend time in the offseason thoughtfully putting together a new version unique to Arizona’s program” and teaching it to teammates, the spokesman said.

Rodriguez said, “Sani Fuamaono worked his tail off this summer to create one just for Arizona, Arizona football (and) has been slowly trying to teach our guys. I thought it was really pretty remarkable what he put together but I still think, from what I understand, there are still some objections, even if you create your own.”

Rodriguez said, “I thought it was a neat tradition and actually honoring, not trying to take away from (the Ka Mate haka). But we live in this political world where (people) get upset about something. I mean, in my opinion, c’mon. I’ll get into trouble for saying that, but c’mon.”