Trumpeting to Victory
Can a simple trumpet bring about sporting victory? This interesting question is being explored because players and managers of big sporting events should be worried about the level of noise that they have to deal with from fans in the audience. The managers and coaches might feel the noise level will affect the performance of their players and the players might find the noise might distract the managers from doing their job properly. It may just be a simple trumpet or some other small noisemaker but if there are thousands of people in an audience each with a noisemaker then the noise can become deafening.
This issue of noise in the stadium, the pitch or even the ground of different sporting events has become a pretty big problem. The problem is that audiences have to be brought into the stadium because it is their ticket price, which brings about revenue for the stadium or ground. The organisers of a match or a game also have to make sure that audiences have a good time at these games so they try to keep ticket prices as affordable as they can and try to make an atmosphere of fun and enjoyment when fans are watching the game. This means that fans have to be given some freedom when it comes to making noise.
One of the best parts for the fans of this year’s recently concluded T20 cricket World Cup was that the ticket price was reduced and they were allowed after many years to bring into the stadium any sort of noise making instrument they wanted. It just made the whole event more fun for them. It isn’t such a big problem in cricket because the field is so big but maybe even in cricket all the noise can distract the players. Let’s take a look at noise issues in other sports.
In basketball games, fans can be seen in the stands with signs and rubber floaters all the time. They are able to buy these and bring them in with them but they don’t have noisemakers in the audience. This is probably because a basketball court is a much smaller place than say a massive cricket ground for instance. But during matches when the home side is playing against an away team, the fans of the home team all line their floaters up and when someone from the away team is trying to take a free throw they try to distract him by waving their floaters from side to side to confuse the shooter.
It may be that these techniques of fans pay off and someone misses a shot but these guys are professional players and they are used to being booed and distracted by the fans so they just take it in their stride. The fans keep trying though. It happens in football matches as well with fans booing a player they don’t like the entire time that player has the ball. It must affect that player on some level but if it does they don’t seem to show it.
Tennis is another game where audience noise can play a big part in the game. Tennis matches because they are conducted in such a small area have to be monitored strictly for noise levels. It is the umpire’s job to make sure the audience is quiet when the tennis players are playing and effectively tells them to be quiet before a serve if they are being too rowdy. It seems to be that this isn’t such a big problem in tennis matches but if it could lead to one side winning a match in a sporting contest then it becomes a big problem. If this plays a part in the upcoming football World Cup in South Africa, it may lead to one side having an advantage over another.
It may be that the manager’s of teams that are playing on the pitch will have to scream their lungs out to try and get the message out to their players. How they get the message out there we will have to wait and see but it may be that this noise factor doesn’t play such a big part in the games of the World Cup. It will probably still be decided on skill and determination of the teams playing. But just to be on the safe side maybe all managers and coaches should learn a lesson from baseball, because in baseball all the messages that a coach sends to his team are in code and in funny signals that they make with their hands and arms. It may be time for other sports to take on this method of communication.
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