Sir, – I read with amusement the letters of scorn sent by a couple of your readers (Letters, November 16th) about the terrible "sporting behaviour" of the Irish fans for not properly "respecting" the culture of the haka.
As one of the Irish fans who joyously sung The Fields of Athenry during the haka I would like to say that for all the years that Ireland and Irish fans paid “respect” to the haka, the end result was always that we finished up as the losing team.
It is only when we began to have belief and confidence in ourselves and been unafraid to stand up to the mind games that the All Blacks are allowed to get away with at every one of their games, have we begun to see success.
Long may we continue to be unafraid to express our own individuality and culture by challenging the so-called accepted norms of behaviour.
– Yours, etc,
PHILIP O’KENNEDY,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.