SAINTS star Victor Wanyama has apologised after being photographed wearing a t-shirt featuring the American Confederate Battle Flag.

The captain was featured on a news site in his native Kenya, shaking hands whilst wearing the garment, which displayed the the controversial flag on the chest.

Now, the 24-year-old has said he was not aware what the flag represented.

He added: "It has been brought to my attention what it means and I just want to apologise to all those have been offended."

The flag, which has come to represent the pro-slavery Confederate States in the American Civil War, has become a hot topic in recent days since nine black people - six women and three men - were shot dead during a bible study session at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopa church in the city of Charleston, South Carolina.

The state flies the flag over civic buildings and features it on car number plates, prompting accusations of institutionalised racism and normalising racist views.

The man arrested for the shooting, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, is said to have wanted to start a civil war along lines of ethnicity, due to what he saw as non-white people "taking over" the USA.

He also ran a website which featured his racist diatribe about blacks, Jews and Hispanics, as well a collection of photos, including an image of Roof posing with a handgun and a Confederate Battle Flag.