Thabo Mbeki, South African President, has called for the national football team to drop its Bafana Bafana nickname, meaning The Boys, saying it was unsuitable for the hosts of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

With Mbeki's governing African National Congress (ANC) party also wanting the Springbok rugby team to change its nickname, the president said in a radio interview that there should be a rethink about the names of all the national teams, including the women's football team Banyana Banyana, The Girls.

"What kind of a name (Bafana Bafana) is it? I don't think it is fit for a senior national team or for the hosts of the 2010 Fifa World Cup," Mbeki told Metro FM in Johannesburg.

 

"We need to revisit the names of teams like Bafana Bafana, Banyana Banyana, Amaglug-glug (the under-23 football team)."

 

All South African national teams used to be known as the Springboks during the white-only apartheid era which ended in 1994, but most teams have since adopted new monikers such as the Proteas in cricket.

 

"We need to revisit the names of teams like Bafana Bafana, Banyana Banyana, Amaglug-glug." Thabo Mbeki, South Africa president

The one notable exception has been the national rugby team but even their name is under threat after the ANC passed a resolution at a conference earlier this year for the Springbok title and emblem to be scrapped.

 

Mbeki's call received support from Jomo Sono, former Bafana Bafana coach, who agreed the name was inappropriate and also urged a rethink on the team's strip which has changed colour on a number of occasions since apartheid.

 

"I support the president 100 per cent. We also need to change the colours of the team and get something close to, or similar to the Boks, which is a source of national pride and represents the country," Sono told AFP.

 

"Everyone knows the Springbok is an African animal, and green is our grass in the fields here. But what does Bafana Bafana mean?

 

 

"The name came from a journalist as a nickname in an article (when South Africa was readmitted to world football) and it stuck. It was relevant then, but now we need a name that is representative of the country."

 

However Fran Hilton Smith, Banyana Banyana's manager, was cooler on the idea.

 

"It will be difficult to change the names and colours of the teams... because they are synonymous with the team. People already know them by those names," she told AFP.

 

Mbeki said it was important the public was involved in deciding the new names.

 

"The public should participate in a plan where we look for new names for our national teams," he said.

 

"I'm not saying we must call all our national teams Springboks, but we have to change the names, the emblems and the colours the teams wear, so that they can be recognised as representatives of South Africa."