ROOSEVELT, Utah — Police in a small Utah town are being accused of overreacting after using pepper spray to break up a group of Polynesian men and boys performing a traditional dance called the Haka after a high school football game.
A form of the Haka has been popularized by rugby teams in New Zealand that chant, beat their chests and gesture aggressively before matches. The Maori tradition also can include fierce facial expressions. Haka is performed at football and rugby games around the world.
The group in Roosevelt, a town of 8,000, had traveled about 125 miles east from the Salt Lake City area to watch a relative play his final game for Union, which lost to rival Uintah and finished the season without a victory. The group reportedly was trying to boost Union’s morale with the Haka as the players left the field.
