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Safa gets ultimatum on Bafana name
Safa gets ultimatum on Bafana name
Posted: 2010-07-21 15:40
Safa is refusing to say what steps it is taking to resolve trademark issues surrounding the name ‘Bafana Bafana’.
This comes as Parliament this week told Safa to either resolve the controversy surrounding the Bafana trademark ownership or ditch the name all together.
Saf spokesperson Morio Sanyane today referred all queries regarding the matter to the association’s President Kirsten Nemathandani and CEO Lesley Sedibe, who could not be reached for comment.
A well-known businessman, Stanton Woodrush, has already won two court cases to retain the name Bafana Bafana for his clothing range. Woodrush was the first to apply for the registration of the name as a trademark.
In 1994, the then sponsor of the national soccer team, Kappa Holdings Ltd, filed applications for the trademarks Bafana and Bafana Bafana. Then, in 1997, Safa embarked on an extensive legal challenge with respect to the name Bafana Bafana for virtually all goods and service.
However, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed a claim by Safa that it owned the trademark Bafana Bafana in relation to clothing.
The Chairperson of the Sports Portfolio Committee Butana Khompela is against what he called ‘a businessman being allowed to exploit the name commercially’ at the expense of the national team.
“If this thing cannot be solved and the businessman continues to gain through the adverts and promotions of the national team, then maybe we should change the name,” Khompela told Safa bosses yesterday.
The name Bafana Bafana the brain child of Sowetan sports journalists, Sbu Mseluku.
As early as 1992, journalists from the newspaper used the name ‘Bafana’ to refer to the national soccer team, and the nickname soon became synonymous with the team for the football supporting public.
Safa was initially reluctant to adopt the name Bafana as a commercially viable name for the team because it was regarded by some local cultures as derogatory to refer to a team of men as “boys”.
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: 2010-07-21 16:14
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