PLAYERS from the Spain and Netherlands national teams have come under fire for appearing to mock the Maori Haka ahead of the Women’s World Cup.
The two squads arrived in New Zealand last week to prepare for the tournament, which is set to kick off in Auckland next Thursday.
However, just days into their respective training camps, two separate video clips emerged on social media showing some players appearing to mimic the Haka, a ceremonial Maori dance.
A video of four Spain players attempting the traditional dance briefly appeared on the national team’s social media channels on Saturday evening before being taken down.
The Dutch national team also received heavy criticism for posting a similar clip, which showed one player appearing to attempt the dance, on Instagram before deleting it.
Following severe backlash, the Royal Dutch Football Association were quick to defend the video.
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A spokesperson told The Telegraph: “The clip from the video online is part of a training [session] the team recently had in the Netherlands.
“At the physical part of the training, the team did an exercise that was focused on channeling your inner strength and was absolutely not referring to the Haka or mimicking it.
“There was no intention of showing disrespect to anyone.
“In sports the Haka is known and admired by all professional athletes. The Dutch women’s football team is no exception to this.
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“Our visit to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will provide us with the opportunity to get to know more about both host countries. We look forward to our stay and the pōwhiri ceremony that awaits us.”
Fifa refused to comment on the issue.
A short statement from football’s governing body read: “As this is a team matter we won’t be making any comment.”
Spain kick off their World Cup campaign on Friday July 21 against Costa Rica, while Netherlands face Portugal two days later.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
