BAN the VUVUZELA

What’s plastic, a metre long, brightly coloured and sounds like an elephant? It’s the vuvuzela, the noise-making trumpet of South African football fans, and it’s come to symbolize the sport in the country. The vuvuzela’s are making quite a noise off the field as well where on one hand tons of supporters, players, coaching staff, TV viewers and commentators calling for a ban on the irritating sound described as swarm of romping elephants and buzzing bees while on the other locals describe the vuvu as a traditional and historical instrument which has been played since ages. (Going by this we as well should bring shehnai in cricket matches).

Ban the vuvuzela

Long forgotten are the days of crowds chanting songs, cheering on every move by their team and swearing at their counterparts. Well, this is certainly the case in the Soccer City where the opening match between Bafana Bafana and the Mexicans took place. You could hardly hear a thing being said by the commentators, only an irritating sound due to the involvement of the over enthusiastic crowd who were apparently blowing their lungs out. Many supporters also reported swollen lips due to repeated blowing of the instrument (Serves them right I guess!).The sound level of the instrument has been measured at 131 dB(A) at the opening of the horn and at 113 dB(A) two metres in front of the opening, both dangerously high levels for unprotected ears. Taking into account a similar soun level emitted by a gunshot people might soon switch to watching Rambo series for umpteenth time.

Recent sales estimates state over a million of the plastic noisemakers have been purchased, and if the opening matches provided any indication, they are being put to heavy use. Reportedly, stores have also run out of ear plugs for this purpose (looks like early Xmas for local stores), which indicates the large no. of protestors as well. This is confirmed by growing voices on social networking sites such as Facebook where a group Ban the Vuvuzela 2010 has more than 3500 supporters. Messages such as “Like a swarm of wasps just kills any joy in watching a match…. pure background noise; disgusting [and don't give the cultural bulls***, there's nothing cultural bout it just noise]” and “Grrrr!!! this is ruining the world cup experience” are doing rounds all over the net.

As if one wasn’t enough?

We’ve talked about Vuvuzela, expressed our feelings about it and looked only from fans’ perspective so far. Let’s see what Spanish Cultured Midfielder Xabi Alonso thinks about it;

According to NY Times;

“I find these vuvuzela’s annoying. They don’t contribute to the atmosphere in the stadium. They should put a ban on them.”

and BBC;

“I think they should be banned. They make it very difficult for the players to communicate with each other and to concentrate. They are a distraction and do nothing for the atmosphere.”

It’s good to know that someone on the pitch feels in a same way and shares our feelings. His supporters will certainly grow now.I can hear many of you screaming “Go Xabi Go”.

Dutch coach Bert Van Marwijk, commented on vuvuzela’s. He is also against them. His words are:

“At home watching TV it really was annoying, but in the stadiums you get used to it but it is still unpleasant. You want to coach your players during the match but it is almost impossible with that noise. So for me the horns can stay outside the stadium.”

This has been a heated debate among all soccer fans who wish to enjoy the world cup, but personally speaking Vuvuzela does no good to the beautiful game, rather spoils the experience apart from other health problems it creates. So spreads the word BAN THE VUVUZELA!

P.S. Hope Mr. Blatter takes note of this.