According to the wonderful football blog Off The Post, experts have warned that the vuvuzela could leave World Cup spectators with permanently damaged hearing, after tests showed that the South African trumpet is actually louder (127 decibels!) than a chainsaw.
UGGH! I could have told you that just by watching last year's Confederations Cup on television. The vuvuzela is awful!
The Hear the World Foundation - formed by Swiss hearing products group Phonak to raise awareness about hearing loss - found the trumpets were louder than a chainsaw in tests conducted in a sound-proof studio.
The vuvuzela was crowned the noisiest instrument at 127 decibels, beating the air horn at 123.5 decibels, with the samba drum and cow bells trailing in third and fourth.
Audiologist Robert Beiny said: “My advice to fans would be to enjoy the atmosphere that the World Cup creates, but also to consider their hearing. Why not give their ears a break from the noisy atmosphere at half time, or if they are one of the lucky ones heading to South Africa, remember to pack some earplugs - once the damage is done, it is irreversible, so prevention is key.”
Bright, sunny days such as today in New York City remind me what I love so much about soccer. Lush, green grass. Warm, balmy weather. Dust being kicked up from the tracks of football players.
It's the sight, smells and feelings of playing the sport that drive one to identify so much with the Messis and Ronaldos of the world, who'll be vying for the world's richest sporting prize in 11 days time.
What's the weather going to be like in South Africa anyways?
Look, I'm all for expressing your unique cultural qualities.
Singing, dancing, etc. I think it's fabulous.
But the vuvuzela is incredibly annoying.
It's 50,000 people blowing their air horns (vuvuzelas), making a noise that can only be described as a nasty beehive descending on your head.
Remember the Confederation Cup last year? How indescribable the noise of the South African noisemaker was? You didn't hear cheering or singing or boos and yays. You heard a non-ending BZZZZZ that kept going and going and ...
According to the website:
Prior to South Africa’s warm-up friendly with Colombia yesterday, fans were warned the plastic horn was still ‘under review’ and could be banned from the World Cup if too much noise was made during the match. Apparently TV networks have been struggling to cope with the 140db onslaught during broadcasts, while players have complained of not being able to hear their manager, or even each other. Making a point of not actually referring to vuvuzelas directly, head of the World Cup Organising Committee, Danny Jordaan, warned fans to choose the right moment to make their noise:
'If there is an order to evacuate that stadium and an announcement is made, you have to ask yourself, will everyone in that stadium hear that evacuation order?'
Jordaan also made it clear the instruments would banned if “one incident of violence [occurs] involving a vuvuzela”. We’re not sure how much damage you can do with a plastic stick, but there you go, the man has spoken.
It's all over. The 2009 Confederations Cup is in the books and Brazil reigns supreme as the greatest team in the world.
Ok, maybe not. Or maybe so ... Hard to tell. What does the Confederations Cup really mean?
One thing the Cup does is serve as a dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup. This year's version surely showed the world what to expect come next summer: Raucous crowds, vuvuzelas and exciting play.
#1 and 2 are interesting: Spain can be beaten and it's cold in the winter time in South Africa. Fair enough.
What do you think about #3? The world wide introduction of the vuvuzela?
"Those African trumpets?" Xabi Alonso said with a look of genuine disgust. "They make a terrible noise. I don't think it's a very good idea to have them on sale outside the grounds. Here's a piece of advice for Fifa: they should try to ban those things. It's not distracting but that noise is a bit annoying."
It seems like an innocent enough comment. Why, after all, shouldn't Alonso complain if something irks him? But it prompted fury among South African fans and was, it seems, part of the reason why the home crowd got behind the US in their semi-final victory over Spain. "South Africa is a noisy country," blasted a leader in the Daily Sun. "Foreigners should get used to it." A letter in the same paper, meanwhile, accused Alonso of being a modern-day conquistador.
You may know that the idea they're connected to the myth that baboons are killed by loud noise is farcical. You may know that they've only really been around for four or five years. You may despair of people who tell you that they're part of African football (they're not: I've been to three African Cups of Nations and heard the drumming of the Beninois and the Ivorians, the trumpets and trombones of the Nigerians, even the banjo-playing of Ali, the grinning and omnipresent Tunisian, but I'd never heard a vuvuzela until a fortnight ago). You may be driven slowly insane by them. But it's probably best not to mention it.
As far as I'm concerned, the noise kind of fades into the background once the play starts. I'm ok with them.
Wilson's 4th thing learned is that Brazil is pretty good. Kinda knew that already.
#5 is interesting. South Africa's almost ready. But not quite.
Two stories: a) driving back from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg, we ran out of fuel a couple of miles outside Soweto at 4am in a thick and swirling mist.
We walked to the nearest toll plaza, and were rescued by a short man with a moustache called November. He had no reason to help us but willingly hotwired his own car (I think), turned his hazard lights on and drove the wrong way up a slip road to get to a petrol station. His was merely an extreme example of the general welcoming attitude on the part of locals, fans and stewards.
b) After an excellent steak at the Melville Grill, I got a lift back to Sandton, where I was staying. I got out of the car, and went through the security gates, only vaguely aware of two vehicles screeching to a halt in the driveway. It was only the next day I found out what had happened next. The first car contained a white couple, in clear distress. The driver of the second car, who was black, leapt out, remonstrated angrily with the driver of the first, and then pulled a gun from a hip holster — at which the friend who had given me a lift sped off.
As he admitted, his first thought was that this was one of the car-jackings for which Johannesburg is notorious. Only later did it dawn on him that a carjacker probably wouldn't bother with a holster, and the likelihood was that the man with the gun was a plain-clothes police officer. But how on earth would you tell?
I can only rely on this journalist's view point and other man-on-the-ground reports I've read, such as this one from the BBC's Simon Austin.
According to Reuters, FIFA is to discuss the future of the vuvuzela, the noisy plastic trumpet blown at the Confederations Cup which has drawn complaints from European television stations. and bloggers like myself.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter told a media briefing he was aware of complaints the sound of the instrument was drowning out the commentary of broadcasters and that many wanted it banned at this tournament and next summer's World Cup in South Africa.
Blatter said soccer's governing body would discuss the matter with the organizers.
"It's a local sound and I don't know how it is possible to stop it," he said on Wednesday. "I always said that when we go to South Africa, it is Africa. It's not western Europe.
"It's noisy, it's energy, rhythm, music, dance, drums. This is Africa. We have to adapt a little."
Vuvuzelas, which have been given away free to fans, are a constant background to Confederations Cup games.
Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso said: "I think they should be banned. They make it very difficult for the players to communicate with each other and to concentrate.
"They are a distraction and do nothing for the atmosphere," he added after his team's 1-0 win over Iraq.
MY POV: Ban them? Hmm ... let's not go that far. They're just a part of the game in South Africa. But ban them, you say ... hmm ... You know what? Let me think on that one ...
As a commenter on South Africa's Times so eloquently put it:
Vuvuzelas were created by South Africans for South Africa’s soccer-loving people.
They are proudly South African and are approved by soccer’s governing body Fifa.
We are not going to stop blowing our vuvuzelas just because we now have the Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup. I bet these vuvuzela-haters only watch the English Premier League and some European leagues.
This is Africa, not Europe. If you don’t like vuvuzelas, tough luck.
Buy yourself a vuvuzela and I’ll happily teach you to blow it. Remember: if you can’t beat them, join them.
BRIGHTLY coloured, plastic, a metre long and weighing about 100 grams, the trumpeting vuvuzela is the sound of football in South Africa.
Some say its history goes way back in time - long before football was the country’s most popular sport. The first vuvuzela, it is said, was the kudu horn used to call African villagers to community meetings ...
Made of plastic, they come in a variety of colours - the standard primary red, blue and yellow, with a smattering of green too. But the most popular are those in club colours: black or white for fans of Orlando Pirates, yellow for Kaizer Chiefs, and so on.
And the sound? An elephant, a swarm of angry bees, a fog horn - whatever it is, it is loud. When there's action near the goal mouth, it is something to behold; a sound you are unlikely to forget in a hurry.
The cacophony gets louder and more frantic towards the end of the game ...
"There is an old African saying that goes like this: 'The baboon is killed by a lot of noise'. We make as much noise as we can to confuse our opponents on the field," said Mafani. "Remember this game is not like golf or tennis, where you are actively encouraged to keep quiet. This is a loud game."
In this advertisement for the Confederations Cup, the vuvuzela takes center stage, calling all Africans to make their way to South Africa and enjoy the matches.
Unfortunately, this sound is what we often get from matches ...
I'm here to say: PLEASE STOP!!
The noise is maddening! It's like a swarm of bees, living in my head! The sound doesn't go away. I watch the match for a few hours, then go off to cook dinner and what do I hear? The vuvuzela!
I'm dozing off after a long day and what do I hear? The vuvuzela!!
I wake up and take a shower, drink my morning coffee and start working and what do I hear? THE VUVUZELA!!!
Ok, I'm exaggerating ... but really, what do we do about these instruments?
South Africans, what's your experience with the vuvuzela?
