Don't ban the vuvuzela
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
The vuvuzela is a long (now plastic) horn which can be found in the stadia of South Africa in huge numbers this summer, creating a cacophony to rival anything you'd have to tolerate at a Glasvegas concert. My god, they're shit.
It sounds like a swarm of bees, a trio of hellish street hockey playing teenagers or an over-excitable speedway crowd and it's bloody irritating. Reading through the posts of my Twitter folk during the matches predictably throws up hundreds of posts about the dreaded vuvuzela, and more importantly the fact that it will undoubtedly be the sound of the summer when the World Cup rolls into South Africa in 2010.
People around the world are queuing up to call for the instrument to be banned next summer because of how utterly annoying it is. Ginge eloquently makes one such call.
But I'm going to go against the grain and say NO! Don't ban the vuvuzela! Here's why.
It was initially banned for this tournament by FIFA on the grounds that it could be used as an offensive weapon - I think they meant physically rather than aurally. However, the South African FA won a reprieve on the basis that it is an essential part of South African football culture. And that's the point on which I'd like to focus:
I spend a huge amount of my spare time whining about how the Premier League is eroding my football culture. I'm not going to moan about somebody else's.
But...
I do think it would be funny if, by World Cup 2010, the word 'vuvuzelas' has replaced 'bollocks' in at least some conversations you have - hence the picture in the corner.
(Pic via flunkster @ Flickr)
9 comments:
In a perverse sort of way, I actually quite like the vuvuzelas. They remind me of...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNRZw4oRspU
Fair enough - but I just can't listen to the commentary on the TV over the loud fog horns. Perhaps the TV stations need to figure out how to broadcast with clearer and louder volume over the next 12 months and we can keep the vuvuzelas after all...
Bonus points for the Dogma reference.
Here is a news item, published this morning;
"Fifa president Sepp Blatter told a media briefing he was aware of complaints the din of the instrument was drowning out the commentary.
The Fifa chief said broadcasters wanted it banned at this tournament and next year's World Cup in South Africa.
Blatter said football's governing body would discuss the matter with the organisers."
http://banthevuvuzela.blogspot.com
I simply don't agree. When did football become more about the people watching on TV than people in the stadium?
IF, as I'm reliably informed, vuvuzelas are a key part of South African football culture then we shouldn't take them away in my opinion.
Ban the things. Seriously, I was flicking between channels showing the game thinking that somehow my TV was bolloxed. I was about to get the screwdrivers out when the wife said it's only doing it on the football channels (so that was the end of the football ....).
It might be part of the South African football culture, but imagine if the next international tourney is held in the UK, would you like to see the stands full of Morris dancers wi' their bells and sticks and waving hankies about the place?
Naw, didn't think so.
I appreciate your point Seb but morris dancing isn't part of *football* culture so it's a false comparison.
It'd be like banning bovril and pies, or I suppose football rattles. Yes, they're annoying, but we can't let a global TV audience override local football characteristics.
That's why the Premier League is so fucking awful.
ok, bad comparison, but the point is valid. It's desperately annoying to have to listen to that constant droning - an opinion not just mine, but also that of several commentators and players.
I guess there's always the 'Mute' button on your remote... ? :)
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