Russell Crowe's haka embarrassment admission: 'Bunch of white blokes' doing it wrong

Kiwi-Australian movie star Russell Crowe has revealed he was embarrassed, and cringed, when watching white men in the All Blacks doing the traditional Māori haka before games.

In the documentary Araatika! Rise Up, which follows indigenous former NRL star Dean Widders in a quest to initiate traditional Aboriginal dance into sport, Crowe made the comment that watching them butcher the haka made him feel uncomfortable.

"I certainly remember as a child watching the very uncomfortable white blokes doing the Haka, and like most other New Zealanders we just knew that really wasn't how to do it," Crowe told the doco, screened on NITV on Australia Day.

The remarks were played over footage of the 1973 All Blacks side performing the haka in Wales before a match against the Barbarians.

Russell Crowe's comment about "uncomfortable white blokes" doing the haka was played over footage of the All Blacks performing it at Cardiff Arms Park, Wales, in 1973. Image / YouTube

The team in the 70s was mostly composed of New Zealand-European players with no Māori heritage, compared to nowadays when the majority of the side has Māori and Pacific Island roots.

Crowe said that if you are going to perform a cultural custom then it needs to be done properly, something which the current All Blacks pride themselves on.

"Incredibly, as the culture has grown, Māori got back involved with [the haka] and actually sort of said, 'well, if you're going to do it, do it properly'," Crowe said.

In the documentary, Widders highlights the difference between Australia and New Zealand and how Kiwis appear to embrace Māori culture.

He said white Australia shamed Aboriginal people out of dance, culture and language for many years.

Russell Crowe's comments came on a documentary called Araatika! Rise Up, which follows former NRL star Dean Widders in his quest to initiate a traditional dance to be performed in sport. Photo / NITV

"That's why I feel that if the [national rugby league team] Kangaroos do it, our kids get rid of that shame straight away," he said.

"In New Zealand, right, they don't hesitate to do the haka or Māori culture because it's embraced by the rest of the country."

A pre-game dance celebration known as the Unity Dance has been performed by the Indigenous rugby league team before the pre-season NRL All Stars game since 2015.

Widders was the first to conceive of the dance.