Vuvuzela could be banned from the World Cup

June 13, 2010 - PRLog -- These noisy horns have been highly criticized by most coaches and players who considered them irritating, producing a sound like a swarm of angry bees or a herd of noisy charging elephants which completely drown out the national anthems being played and the chants of fans.

At the time FIFA was apparently not happy about these infernal horns, but the South African Football Federation pressured them into accepting the vuvuzela as being part of the football culture of South Africa.

Although the vuvuzela has been a feature of football matches in South Africa for the past 7-8 years, and especially after 2004 when South Africa won the honor of staging the 2010 World Cup, it’s hard to classify it as part of the countries “culture”. The African drums, Zulu horns or other instruments would have been accepted by everyone, but not this plastic horn.

Fast forward to June 2010 and a few days after the greatest event in the world of soccer has started, the debate about the vuvu has heated up, with a growing number of critical voices from the majority of teams participating in South Africa to thousands of angry web bloggers all over the internet.

If this was purely a South African competition there would be no problem. South African fans could legitimately hoot away to their hearts content, but this is not the case, this is the World Cup, celebrated by 32 nations from every continent in the world, bringing with them approximately 300 thousand colorful fans to the Rainbow Nation.

The Spanish National team has banned vuvuzelas in their training sessions, Lionel Messi and other players complained that it affects their concentration and they can’t hear their coaches or colleagues in the field. You cannot hear the fans humorous chanting, singing or the crowd reactions like the "Oooohhhs" when a shot passes just wide of the goalpost, the "Aaahhhhss," when a goalkeeper makes a fantastic, match-winning save, or the silence of the stadium after a bad injury.

French captain, Patrice Evra, even blamed the noise produced by vuvuzelas for the poor performance of the team in the game against Uruguay, which ended in a 0-0 tie. “We could not sleep at night because of the vuvuzelas. People start to make a noise with them at 6 am,” he declared before adding: “We are not able to hear each other on the pitch because of them."

Many doctors consider these horns a health risk, since they can cause hearing loss and for that reason alone they should be banned. The noise made by vuvuzelas can reach a staggering 130dB, much higher than being in a noisy discotheque at about 90-95dB, or close to the stage of a rock band concert at 108-115dB. In fact the vuvuzela's closest competitor is a military jet aircraft take-off from an aircraft carrier with afterburner at 15 meters … 130 dB.

Friday’s World Cup opening ceremony, followed by the first game at Soccer City Stadium showed lots of empty seats. Saturday’s game between South Korea and Greece took place at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth with capacity for 48.000 seats. According to a news report, there were only 33.000 people watching the game. Since they did not sell 3.000 tickets, it means that 12.000 ticket holders never went to the game. Could this have to do with the infernal vuvuzelas?

Danny Jordaan, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the South Africa 2010 World Cup, today admitted the possibility of banning vuvuzelas into the stadiums, after the growing chorus of complaints about the noise they produce. When asked by the BBC if they would be banned from the tournament, Jordaan said: "If there is justification for it, yes." adding: "We have said that if one was thrown into the pitch we would take action."

Jordaan has acknowledged that the sound of vuvuzelas irritated some people and ensured that the Organizing Committee was doing all it could to minimize the problem by putting some order, like not blowing the vuvuzela during the national anthems or stadium announcements. He admitted that he had received some complaints from broadcasters and people, but was continually evaluating the situation.

Jordaan also acknowledged that he was not a big fan of vuvuzelas, preferring the chanting which generates a fantastic atmosphere in the stadiums and encourages viewers to sing.

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