On Sunday before the match between Bafana-Bafana and Iraq, only a shortened version of the National Anthem was played.  According to a report, fans were outraged. 

In my article Proudly FIFA? I questioned this stance by FIFA that a national anthem should only be ninety seconds long.  A few comments suggested that this happens a lot more than you might think and I am still convinced that this is a blatant disrespect for any country, seeing that the national anthem is even published on the FIFA website!

It seems though that the full national anthem will be played on Saturday in our match against Spain.  That is a confirmation of our national pride and a good move by FIFA.

What disturbed me most about my previous entry, is that the two comments made seemed to not be bothered by the fact that our national emblems were seemingly trampled on.  Why would that be?  Just because the practice of anthem shortening is used more often than not, does that justify it? 

Our national anthem includes five languages and is sung by the whole of South Africa.  Let us bear our symbols of democracy with pride!