Vuvuzela and the World Cup Cacophony

Most of you have probably watched at least some of the World Cup games from South Africa. It is hard to miss the constant, loud, supremely annoying and thoroughly obnoxious buzz emanating from the stands. It is of course the vuvuzela, being constantly blown by thousands of spectators.

A vuvuzela is a brightly-colored plastic trumpet, usually about a meter-long and commonly used at football matches in South Africa.

A fierce debate is raging over whether the world football governing board should ban it from the matches. Some fans find it too loud and studies have shown it can damage one’s hearing.

These concerns led FIFA to consider banning the use of the vuvuzela in the 2010 World Cup matches but the South African Football Association (SAFA), which pointed out that the vuvuzelas were an integral part of African football culture, later dissuaded it from taking such an action.

Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, has publicly spoken in favor of the vuvuzela.

That’s a big mistake, Sepp. This endless cacophony is not only distracting, but also ugly-sounding. In fact all of the World Cup matches are being outright spoiled by the endless, mindless noise, reminiscing of either a hive of bees, or thousands of tsetse flies.

There is still time for FIFA to step into the fray and institute a ban on the vuvuzelas from the stadiums. Along with improving the quality of the refereeing, which has been less than stellar up to this point, banning the noisy trumpets might still be able to salvage the first World Cup being played on the African continent.