History for kiwi pie

Examples:

 

1. New Zealander's getting het up when people disrespect the haka by not doing what we expect them to do when they are presented with a haka. Let's say there was a hypothetical culture out there, for argument's sake let's say an Andean Mountain tribe, and let's say in their culture it just so happens that the highest respect you can give someone who is greeting or challenging you is to turn your back on them, and the rudest thing you could do is get upset about them having turned their back on you...  If a New Zealand sports team played a team from that Andean Mountain tribe and the New Zealand team did a haka... whose cultural values trumps whose? Do we get upset that they are disrespecting our haka because we think that their turning their back on our haka is disrespectful, or do they get upset at us for getting offended when they pay us the highest compliment they can think of by turning their backs on our haka?

 

2. English sports fans, especially but not only football fans, have a culture of singing at games. There are conventions, some agreed, and some disputed that surround this culture. One, which I have discussed with several English friends of mine, is that songs and chants are, within that culture, often a challenge to the opposition fans to sing or chant back and/or each group is expected to attempt to outsing/outchant each other. If a group of opposing fans do not sing at all, they are (often) perceived to be weak or poor fans. Within the English sporting culture I say that's fair enough. I find it amusing though when groups of English fans travel to Australia and New Zealand and just assume that everyone has a culture of singing at sports events like they do, and declare that because the Australian and New Zealand fans don't sing, they are poor fans... I travelled with the Barmy Army around Australia in 1998/99 and many of the Barmy Army crowd were very dismissive of the Australian cricket fans for 'not singing anything back'. Over a few beers I tried to explain to them that Australians don't generally sing at cricket matches, so it's not fair or appropriate to judge them by the standards of the English sporting culture.... in a way that is similar to it being unfair of New Zealanders to judge other people's responses to a haka by the cultural norms of New Zealand.

 

You might be able to argue that one culture (singing at games) is better than another culture (not singing at games). However to just state that because people from another culture don't stack up to the way people from your culture behave doesn't mean that those people from the other culture are useless, inferior or poor... they just have a different culture... and part of the joy of international sport is surely the bringing of diverse cultures together?