Great Britain Hockey called the mistake "sensitive" and "unfortunate."
"It was completely
shocking," the chief executive of South Africa hockey said of hearing
the pre-1994 anthem "Die Stem" being played before Tuesday's game in
London.
"I thought, 'What is
that?' And when I listened further, I realized it was 'Die Stem.' I
couldn't believe my ears," Marissa Langeni said Thursday.
Some of the younger players on the team didn't even know what song was being played, she said.
The anthem dates from the
days of white minority rule over South Africa. A new national anthem,
"Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika," meaning "God Bless Africa," was added
alongside it when Nelson Mandela became president in 1994, and the two
songs were combined in 1997.
"For the majority of
South Africans, we don't relate to that anthem," Langeni said. "It was
the anthem of a small section of our community. It's as good as not
having played an anthem."
"If they flew the old flag of the country, I would be equally surprised," she said.
Tournament organizer
Great Britain Hockey on Wednesday published "a full and unreserved
apology to the South African women's hockey team and their supporters
for mistakenly playing the wrong national anthem before South Africa's
match with Great Britain."
GBH Chief Operating Officer Sally Munday blamed the mistake on "a contractor responsible for sports presentation at the event."
She said organizers had not checked the anthem in advance and took full responsibility for the mistake.
Langeni said she was very satisfied with the apology, calling the error "a bit of an administrative blunder."
South Africa beat Great Britain 3-1 in an upset.
source: Cnn
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