'Hands off' Bulls tell politicians
Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:26
Hands off: The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd will protect its trademark
The Blue Bulls will not give into political blackmail and have no plans to discard their much-love blue colours and Barberton Daisy as a logo.
Barend van Graan, CEO of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union, made it clear on Thursday that speculation in the media over a change of colours and logo were premature.
This follows reports that the Tshwane Sports Council (TSC) is keen for all sporting codes to adopt more uniform colours and symbols - which for the TSC is white-black-yellow-and-green, while they are also keen for teams to discard the traditional Barberton daisy as their sporting symbol.
Van Graan, reacting to the media speculation, said the Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd is the registered owner of several trademarks- including the Daisy (in white shield), Blue Bulls logo, Bulls, Bulletjie, Loftus Versfeld and Bulls Babes.
He also pointed out that there appears to be dissension within the ranks of the TSC, while the government-backed changes are aimed at mass-participation sport, not professional sport.
"Yesterday [Wednesday] evening the Tshwane Sport Council and Gauteng-North Sport Council [GNSC], met at Loftus Versfeld," Van Graan said in a statement.
"The TSC is part of the new sub sport structures of the Gauteng Sport Council and forms part of the new sport structures that government is currently implementing nationally with it's focus on mass participation in sport, not professional sport.
"The new TSC was instituted in November 2009 and the new executive invited the sport federations of the old GNSC to discuss certain issues at a meeting last [Wednesday] night, e.g. the constitution, legitimacy of the election of the TSC executive, the composition of the executive, new logo and colours, etc. The issue of colours and logo was never discussed at the meeting.
"The GNSC used the blue and the daisy as utilised by the Blue Bulls as their colour and logo. The issue of new logo and colours led to the rumours and discussion that the Blue Bulls teams will have to change their colours and logo to the new colours and logo of the TSC, in future.
"The meeting led by the chairman, Bismarck Mosue, ended in chaos when a vote of no confidence in the chairman was accepted by the meeting.
"This resulted in the supporters of the new TSC leaving the meeting. The rest of the Sports Federations elected an interim committee under chairmanship of Chaka Croukamp [TUT], to organise a meeting between the executives of the TSC and the GNSC as soon as possible and communicate the new draft constitution to the Sport Federations and get input from the federations by the end of February 2010.
"These federations indicated that they are not opposing the new sport structures of government, but that they oppose the approach and processes followed in the election of the TSC executive and adoption of the new constitution."
Van Graan also pointed out that the Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd is very separate from an amateur union that registers with sports councils such as the GNSC and TSC.
"The Blue Bulls Rugby Union and the Blue Bulls Company would like to make it clear that their development programmes are in line with the SA Rugby and new government sport structures," Van Graan said.
"Furthermore, the Blue Bulls Company will protect it's intellectual property, because we have build a international brand with supporters all over South-Africa and in the rest of the rugby world."
To read about the TSC plans, CLICK HERE!
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