South African fans showed their anger
NEW DELHI: On Thursday at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium the South Africa fans claimed their national anthem was “butchered” when it was cut short at the start of the World Cup match against West Indies.
Only half of the stirring anthem was played before the sound was abruptly halted, much to the consternation of the smattering of fans inside the stadium.
One of the fan wrote on twitter, “As if the World Cup has not been boring enough, now our national anthem gets butchered. Another failure.”
Another said: “…messed up our national anthem at the start of the match…so who’s to blame?”
One other tweeter praised the team, led by bemused skipper Graeme Smith, for bravely attempting to complete the anthem by themselves without the musical support.
“We assume it’s a technical error, but well done to the boys and supporters at the venue for finishing our national anthem,” said one fan.
South African team management said they had received an apology for the problem which was blamed on a technical hitch.
The team manager Mohamed Moosajee said, “The International Cricket Council has apologised on behalf of the hosts and have stressed that this will not happen again.”
