Should the vuvuzelas be silenced?
By Jonross Swaby
There’s been a lot of debate these past couple days about whether the vuvuzela, the South African stadium horn, should be banned from matches. A number of people watching at home from all over the world have complained to their respective broadcasters about the constant droning noise that accompanies this year’s World Cup. French captain and Manchester United left back Patrice Evra has also called for the vuvuzela to be silenced, claiming that they were distracting and made it difficult for the French players to hear each other on the pitch during their opening game against Uruguay.
While communication on the pitch is undoubtedly important, we must remember that football matches are noisy events. Decades ago, football matches in England were regularly set to a sound track of rattles and tickers. Today, drums lead the support when England play at Wembley, and repetitive (and often highly abusive) chants are a common part of going to see you favourite club. Surely, thousands of people hurling abuse at you is going to be far more detrimental to your on-pitch performance than a bunch of wind instruments?
Opposition to the vuvuzela is strong, and the South African authorities are considering to ban them before the tournament is over. In my humble opinion, this would be a shame, as they are a beacon of South African footballing culture, and if we take that away, then we lose some of the colour and atmosphere that a World Cup on any other continent could not bring.
Tags: evra, South Africa, vuvuzelas, World Cup
I feel that Little Paddy, in the English media, has been misinterpreted as he said they were an irritant and it caused problems, but not that they must be banned.
We wouldn’t like it if half foreigners came in to our culture and told us how to and how not to support our teams and create atmosphere. It’s incredibly annoying really but let’s face it, the African game is all about carnival and celebration – they don’t have the matchday chants and wit of the English game.
Let’s accept it as part of what South Africa 2010 offers and remember that we may well prefer it to the rather bland atmosphere of Japan/Korea 2002 and the well organised but ultimately uninspiring Germany 2006.
If this is how they choose to support, accept it and hope that they never lose their enthusiasm that sets an example to us all.
anyone blowing a plastic trumpet – let alone for 90 minutes at a football game – is a prick.
they sound like flies… yes silence them