Watching the World Cup this year has been a very exciting prospect. One thing is odd about this particular tournament though; the noise. The loud noises in every stadium where matches are played in are very different to any noise heard before in a football match. Football matches are never a quiet place to begin with, with fans blowing trumpets, singing, playing the drums, whistling and making a whole lot of noise. The noise this year is very different though. The special and unique trumpets that the fans in South Africa play at every match have a deafening and very odd sound. Out of the thousands of people in attendance a good many of them blow their hearts out on trumpets and the sound resembles a swarm of flies descending on the stadium. FIFA is considering banning the trumpet because the noise problem is getting so out of hand.
The trumpet is called a Vuvuzela and it is one of the loudest noise makers available to the fans of this year's tournament. An article states just how loud the things are; "Fans created a din louder than a jet engine with their vuvuzela horns yesterday. Already the distinctive sound of World Cup 2010, the vuvuzela cacophony topped 144 decibels. Experts warn people should not be exposed to sound levels above 137dB". Commentators of the matches can sometimes barely be heard over the noise of these unique trumpets and it seems to be affecting on pitch performance as well. The noise is so loud that coaches cannot be heard by their players and have to scream at the top of their lungs to get their message across and players cannot hear each other when they are on the field. This has an affect on the quality of play and on the acceptance and understanding of instructions received from the team's bench.
FIFA is seriously considering banning the noise maker after complaints from all quarters rained down on them over the little vuvuzela trumpet. "But organisers said that the vuvuzela was one of the most visible and certainly most audible motifs of the tournament's opening weekend yet could be banned from inside stadiums. The BBC and ITV have received complaints from viewers about the background noise and, while both have said they will monitor the situation, they have also made the point that it is important to reflect the atmosphere of the tournament". This last statement is very interesting because FIFA has said that it wants the viewers to experience the true atmosphere of the tournament and will take all sides into consideration before banning the trumpet. The fans in attendance cannot do anything about the noise, except buy vuvuzela inspired ear plugs, but the fans watching the game on TV would really like it if they could hear the game and the sound of the kicks and the commentator speaking over the sound of a thousand angry buzzing flies.
A problem with a full out ban on the instrument is that fans who attend the tournament want to enjoy themselves and FIFA don't want to stop them doing that. The whole point of going to a football game is for people to enjoy the game they love and enjoy it with others in attendance. This concept of making noise at a sports match is nothing new and has been around for many years but the vuvuzela has brought it back into focus in a loud way. A few people have suggested that the South African fans sing instead of playing the noisy trumpet at matches. The Organising Committee's chief Danny Jordan said, "I would prefer the 10 stadiums hosting the World Cup to ring to the sound of singing and dancing than the drone of the vuvuzela". South Africa and many other African nations have a proud history and tradition of singing in times of struggle and joy and a revival of that would be most welcome at this World Cup event.
Whatever happens to the noisy trumpet in the very near future, whether it is banned by FIFA or allowed to stay on, we will have to wait and see. However in the meantime we can all enjoy the loud noise of the excitement of all those fans watching the first World Cup to be ever hosted in South Africa.
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