Back to the Arizona Wildcats Newsfeed

Arizona will stop doing the Haka before football games

This is a thing people are passionate about, and ending it is the right thing to do

When the Arizona Wildcats were put on ABC last Saturday, that meant an entirely new television audience that never sees the team play.

That new audience included New Zealand, and the Kiwis did not enjoy what they saw before the game.

Since 2009, Arizona has been doing the Ka Mate haka before each home football game, a tradition started by a group of players of Polynesian decent that were on the team. Arizona has gotten away from bringing in Polynesian players, and thus, has gotten away from performing this particular haka in the proper fashion.