The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has threatened to disrupt the 2003 World Cup following the South African cricket board's (UCB) decision to scrap its race quota system. The UCB announced its decision on Monday (July 8), claiming that it had been done because the target set for the inclusion of black players in the team had been reached. But the ANCYL reacted angrily, accusing the UCB of "wayward behaviour" and stating that the decision was a "clear act of defiance and crude indication of its lack of commitment" to the transformation of South African cricket. In a statement, the ANCYL's anger was apparant. "We are being called to display the same militant and fighting spirit we demonstrated in 1976 to crush the resurrecting apartheid head in cricket. Without African participation in the game there will be no World Cup in South Africa. We will vigilantly defy and mobilise all our forces to disrupt it to make sure it does not succeed. This is our promise."

Their statement continued: "It is a sad and shameful reflection that merely eight years into our democratic transformation we still have only two African players who are not even regulars in the national team, and the UCB decides to unceremoniously close the chapter in the transformation of cricket. The ANC Youth League finds the UCB decision to concentrate resources only 'in areas where the game is traditionally strong' as a plain and deliberate way of excluding the previously disadvantaged from the game," the statement said.

The ANCYL requested an urgent meeting with Ngconde Balfour, the Sports and Recreation minister, to discuss the matter.

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