THE Bendigo Spirit will take legal action if Basketball Australia doesn’t force new men’s team the Sydney Spirit to change its name.In a surprise move yesterday, the Sydney Spirit were launched as Sydney’s only team in the National Basketball League.This comes despite Bendigo being known as the Spirit in the Women’s National Basketball League.Bendigo Spirit general manager Wendy James said she is astounded by the NBL’s decision to give Sydney the green light to be known as the Spirit.“We’ve put in a protest to Basketball Australia and the WNBL commission fully supports us,’’ James told The Advertiser.“We’ve been trading as the Bendigo Spirit for more than a year now and having the Sydney Spirit playing the same sport will be confusing.“When Christchurch joined the league they wanted to be called the Wildcats, but BA stepped in and said they couldn’t because of the Perth Wildcats in the NBL.“Now the shoe is on the other foot and we expect the same decency for the women’s game as what was shown for the men.“Hopefully, the powers that be will sort this out . . . otherwise we will be seeking legal advice.’’The Sydney Spirit was launched after the West Sydney Razorbacks announced they had changed their name to Sydney Spirit for the 2008-09 NBL season in an effort to unify basketball in the harbour city, following the demise of the Sydney Kings. Scott Derwin, the interim CEO of the newly merged National Basketball League and Basketball Australia, didn’t return calls to The Advertiser yesterday.However, he had the following to say about the Sydney Spirit in a statement on the NBL website:”This is a bold move by the club to ensure they are truly representative of the whole city of Sydney,’’ Derwin said.“The NBL are supportive of the name change and we believe that it will provide the club with the best possible opportunity to capture the full support of the Sydney marketplace, rather than continuing to represent just the West.’’