Petition protesting Kingsmead name change handed over

A petition protesting a possible change of name to the Kingsmead cricket ground was handed over to Cassim Docrat, chief executive of the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union on Friday.

Recent newspaper reports have revealed that the KZNCU has been involved in negotiations with East Coast Radio which could result in the provincial team being known as the East Coast Dolphins and the ground renamed as the East Coast Arena.

The petition, signed by members of the Kingsmead Mynahs club, an association of cricket supporters and benefactors formed in 1971, objected to any change of name for the ground. Kingsmead was first used as a cricket ground in 1922.

Glen Fletcher, a spokesman for the Mynahs, said: "We don't want to get into conflict with the union, but we want to make our feelings known."

He said he had received e-mails from as far afield as England and Australia deploring any name change.