“The Beckham has landed ^[1]” reports the New Zealand Herald in Nov 29 editions. Some 500, as if hearing of a child in a creche, came to adore him in Wellington, where David Beckham has arrived with L.A. Galaxy for a friendly against Australian A-League side Wellington Phoenix ^[2] on Dec 1. “I told him he’s a legend,” says Kat, 22. “I asked him for a high five but then I felt stink so I just shook his hand.”

Becks and teammates did not know what to make of the customary Maori welcome, the powhiri ^[3]. The term breaks into two parts, combining the ideas of a venture into the unknown with an “act or experience of exchanging information and knowledge.”