Battle continues for Bafana name

This comes as Parliament this week told SAFA to either resolve the controversy surrounding the Bafana trademark ownership or ditch the name all together.

SAFA spokesperson Morio Sanyane on Wednesday, 21 July 2010, referred all queries regarding the matter to the association's President Kirsten Nemathandani and CEO Lesley Sedibe who could not be reached for comment.

Trademarked clothing range

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 on Tuesday.

The name Bafana Bafana is believed to be the brainchild of Sowetan sports journalists. As early as 1992, journalists from the publication 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".