A football team just before the war
The C.I. Chant or “School Cry”
We all know the St. Edward’s chant Kiaora, Kiaora etc….but what was it originally back in the days of the C.I.? Where is it written officially?
The C.I. had a supporters chant, said “to strike panic into their opponents”! The first C.I. victory in the Liverpool Schools Junior Shield occurred 1917. The report says “we were all wild with enthusiasm and excitement when Sydney Meldon led his team on to the Liverpool Football Club’s ground (Anfield). The inevitable “Keora”cheered the C.I. and struck the opposition side with some wonder and dismay”.
The first line which appeared printed in a college magazine in 1918 was “Kay-oh-ra, Kay-oh-ra, Koomagee etc.” They did not print the “etc.” as all the readers would have been familiar with the second line! There are five more references in 1917/18 where the chant starts with “Kay-oh-ra” or “Ke-o-ra”, phonetic variants which all sound the same and not, you will notice, “Kiaora”!
The first line is thought to be Maori in origin, because it is similar to the aggressive Haka challenge. This was used for the first time in England by the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Team in 1906/7, around the time the C.I. first played in the Shield.
The Haka words are, phonetically, “Kay-oh-ra, Kay-oh-ra, Koo-ma-tee, Koo-ma-tee”, which means “I live, I live, I die, I die”. These words are identical to those printed in the C.I. Magazine except that a “t” has been replaced by “g”, i.e. “Koo-ma-gee” in the C.I. version. “Koo-ma-gee” has no Maori meaning. It is not known how “Koo-ma-gee” came to be replaced by “Kumbashee”. Chinese whispers? Kumbashee has no Maori meaning either.
At present the versions printed in 1917/18 are the earliest versions we have seen in print. This was 10 years after the C.I. entered the Shield competition. Possibly a small change in the words had developed. Does anyone have any earlier written versions? We do not have a date proving when the chant was introduced but from the way it was used as described in the 1917/18 references it appeared to be popular and well established at that time.
Readers will also know that today and for many years we say “Kia-oh-ra” in place of “Kay-oh-ra”. The first written reference found for Kia-oh-rah” or Kiaora is in the match report for 1929. “Kia ora” is also a Maori word – it means “be well/healthy" and is used for both "hello" and "goodbye". The name was first used for a lemon squash in Australia in 1903, 'Kia-Ora' was launched in Great Britain in 1917. Can anyone tell us how this replaced Kaora in the chant?
Line 2 of the C.I. chant has not been found in writing. A paragraph in a 1919 report ends with a simple “Akee, Akee, C.I.”. It would have changed when the college name changed but the magazines which survive make no reference. Perhaps someone has a magazine with the words? It was probably similar to that used today starting, phonetically, with “Akee” from the Latin school motto meaning “Act”. The boys wore the school crest on their shirts at Goodison in 1918. The question is “how many syllables in line 2?” Possibly, “Akee, Akee, Akee, C.I, C.I., C.I.”? Any comments?
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