The Hurricanes Poua team began their season last Saturday with a haka including the line "karetao o te kawana kakiwhero", labelling the government coalition "redneck".
The haka, by the women’s Super Rugby Aupiki team, also referred to Toitū te Tiriti, a movement that has taken a stand against coalition government policies on te reo and perceived breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop responded sensibly, not inflaming matters. He rejected the redneck accusation and said the Poua were entitled to their views. He would continue to support the Hurricanes.
Act New Zealand leader David Seymour also took the freedom of expression line, adding the comments were stupid.
Both will see benefit in the controversy and criticism.
They appear moderate while those siding with the haka seem extreme.
Although the haka and its sentiments might appeal to "progressives", much of middle New Zealand will see the words as over the top and inappropriate. Some will resent the redneck insult.
By international standards, the coalition is temperate. A government looking to devolve more delivery to iwi organisations is hardly far right even as it abolishes a separate Māori health authority and curtails some use of te reo.
Instinctively, many New Zealanders, while recognising the gross injustices done to Māori, are uneasy about the increased emphasis on "us and them".
It did not help when the haka leader, 12-test Black Ferns prop Leilani Perese, said she did not care about the backlash.
"I believe that in rugby, we have a platform where people watch and listen. And why not use our platform to show our people we will never fold? To tell the government that we are stronger than ever, and we will never go down without a war."
Hurricanes chief executive Avan Lee said he was disappointed by the action and there was no consultation with him by the players.
He made the point that any political statement needed to be agreed across the organisation because some players and staff were not comfortable with what was said.
While it is possible all the Poua themselves agreed, one wonders whether in the face of strong personalities and vehement views, some felt safer just keeping their heads down.
Perese, and other players, are entitled to make political statements as individuals. Others in rugby have done so, including Otago star Josh Kronfeld (anti-nuclear headgear) and T.J. Perenara (racism). It is different when a whole team does so and blindsides its employers. The actions also appear to conflict with the terms of the players’ collective employment agreement.
Te Pāti Maori, unsurprisingly, joined in. Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer accused the Hurricanes chief executive of "mansplaining". It was inappropriate for him to tell a women’s team what they could or could not say.
Others have claimed there is a tradition for haka as a form of protest. But before a sporting fixture, and without discussing it with the organisation that the players represent?
It might also be that name-calling is part of the haka culture. That is up to the haka experts to determine.
Nevertheless, attacking politicians in such a way and context is divisive and unhelpful. There are plenty of legitimate critiques of various coalition policies without resorting to that.
And another thing
Victoria University of Wellington’s Prof Joanna Kidman this week engaged in an egregious ad hominem attack on the government when she tweeted about boot camps and school lunches: "Is this a government or a death-cult?"
She is also a co-director of He Whenua Taurikura (translated as "a country at peace"), the National Centre of Research Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism.
How ironic and how misplaced. Again, while she might preach to the converted, she alienates the moderate.
