Should the Vuvzela be banned?

[Moonbat]

There were pictures last nights of Brazilians banging their drums (not a euphemism) but they couldn't be heard. Its the same thing with the England band, they were playing but couldn't be heard.
I think it detracts from the noise fans can bring to their own country, but it has become synonomous (spelling?) with the World Cup in South Africa.
I wonder if they will become a permenant fixture at world cups?
I imagine at the next world cup (in Brazil) that drumming will be common place, but no doubt will not be complained about as much

[digs]

I voted No! Banning the vuvuzela would be like banning clappin' sticks at an Australian sporting event. Except...we don't...really use clapping sticks.

Anyway, the vuvuzela has had absolutely no impact on me during the World Cup thus far, save to teach me a funky new word and to give me a random talking point. What's annoying me more at the moment are the stories about vuvuzelas that keep cropping up all over the place. I get it, various news outlets! They're controversial!

[tangaloomababe]

What matches I have seen to date, I have not watched a great deal of for one reason and one reason only............. the vevezula. Its so damm annoying. I don't know how the players can even concentrate on the game, it would drive me bonkers.

[Ursa major]

I did notice that they were less ever-present towards the end of one of yesterday's matches: the one involving South Africa.

(Perhaps - and I have no evidence for saying this - the vuvuzelas had mostly been blown earlier in the match by those leaving early rather than staying on to support their team.)




And hi, Tanga. Long time, no see.

[Sephiroth]

I hate the vuvuzelas. I'm happy to put up with them for this one World Cup, however, since it's in South Africa, and this is part of their football culture.

But I hope they ban them throughout Europe and the rest of the world. I would not appreciate hearing them at Tannadice (or, indeed, any other ground I visit in Scotland). They ruin the atmosphere, and make it difficult for players/officials to communicate. I can't see that they offer anything positive to the football-watching experience.

Drums are different. They don't drown everything else out, and they can be used to conduct the crowd and augment the atmosphere.

(Rather than sounding like an angry giant hornet hovering above the stadium for an entire game.)

I also don't understand why anyone would pay to watch a game of football -- at the World Cup Finals, no less -- and then spend their time blowing incessantly on a stupid plastic horn. Would they not rather watch the game? And do they not get dizzy?

[Ursa major]

I'm not sure that everyone is blowing them all the time, even though it sounds as if they are. It's just that each individual instrument is so loud that it doesn't take that many of them to create that wall of sound. (And when thousands of folk do have them, they can take turns in making a noise nuisence of themselves.)



All of which means that you should get Dundee United to ban them ASAP.

[Sephiroth]

I imagine you're right. Although I've seen a few close-up crowd shots of guys who seemed barely to pause for breath between honks on the infernal things.

I do hope we ban them, because I know from other internet forums that more than a few folk are bringing one back as a souvenir.

I really hope they don't start selling them here, but if they aren't banned, it may only be a matter of time. Or maybe not. Maybe they're a passing fad (for those of us who are not South African, at least).

[Ursa major]

I'm sure they could be banned for any number of reasons: the noise level (health and safety/law suits), or their size. (Offensive weapon, anyone? And who's to say they haven't been weight-enhanced - filled with something heavy - to give the wielder the promise of a bit more damage?)

[Sephiroth]

Hmm, I do hope there are no Rangers or Celtic fans reading this. You may just have given them ideas, there.




Now that I think of it, the size of a vuvuzela may already cause problems for people trying to take them through the turnstiles in Scotland (perhaps Britain, although I've only ever been to one game down south, so I can't really say). Most of the time, one is not even permitted a flimsy cane stick to hold up a flag, so I fail to see how a vuvuzela would be acceptable.

Perhaps folk will resort to smuggling them in their trouser legs?

[Ursa major]

* Imagines a fan going into a shop to buy a vuvuzela and being asked what kind of blow he expects to produce with it. *


If non-violent me can think of adding weight to it, you can be sure that some of those of - how can I phrase it? - a more athletically confrontational nature will have done so too.

[Harpo]

I don't give a flying one about football, but I love noise, and I love anything creative/expressive done by masses of people who might not usually be creative/expressive (such as the mexican wave, to give another example)

My band's playing in London next week, and we're trying to get hold of some vuvuzelas

[Sephiroth]

Blowing a vuvuzela may well be expressive, but it sure as sugar ain't creative. Except in the sense that it creates a hell of a racket.

Originally Posted by Ursa major

* Imagines a fan going into a shop to buy a vuvuzela and being asked what kind of blow he expects to produce with it. *

I have this great mental image, which I'm not going to share.

[Ursa major]

Only one...?

[Sephiroth]

Not any more!!

[Lenny]

Originally Posted by Ursa major

Offensive weapon, anyone? And who's to say they haven't been weight-enhanced - filled with something heavy - to give the wielder the promise of a bit more damage?

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Hmm, I do hope there are no Rangers or Celtic fans reading this. You may just have given them ideas, there.

Gods... I shudder to think what Millwall fans would do with a couple of hundred weighted vuvuzelas. "The Millwall Horn" will be the melee weapon to compliment the long-range "The Millwall Brick". Couple it with the ripped-up-seat-shield and you've got a veritable army.