Sports Politics: South Africa's new emblem

SOUTH AFRICA'S National Sports Congress has approved the protea flower as the country's new sports emblem. The new badge, which will depict the white protea on a green and gold background, has been introduced to replace the springbok.

The NSC general secretary, Mthobi Tyamzashe, said yesterday: 'We felt there was a need for a break with the past.'

Ali Bacher, the director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, said the time was ripe for a new emblem. 'The problem is that, among the majority of the people of South Africa, the springbok will be seen as representing a period in South Africa sport where only whites were eligible for selection,' Bacher said.

'We now have a new political dispensation, a new flag, a new national anthem, and the time is appropriate to lessen division in sport by having a new national sporting emblem.'