Budget Accommodation Port Elizabeth Affordable and Comfortable Accommodation in Port Elizabeth, South Africa

They’re calling it Vuvuzela-gate, and it’s presenting 2010 World Cup organisers with a real conundrum. Do we bend to the demands of foreign fans and players, who find the buzz of South Africa’s favourite plastic trumpet insufferable, or do we just toot on our vuvuzelas even louder, defiant in protecting our quirky local soccer culture from the slick, generic and Eurocentric mould of the World Cup?

In one corner are those who hate the vuvuzela, and expect it to blight the World Cup.  Poster-boy for the anti-vuvuzela movement is Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso, who believes the instrument does nothing for the atmosphere and should be banned. He is supported by numerous mostly European fans who have been venting on online forums across the internet:

“these things make among the more annoying noises on the planet. there’s no room for rhythm or beat or anything like it, it’s just the same nails-on-the-chalkboard monotone honk, over and over from all sides with absolutely no regard for what’s going on in the game or with other people using the same instrument. maybe South Africans find that appealing. nobody else does. and it absolutely does detract from the viewing or game experience.”

In the other corner are the majority of South Africans, and anyone else who may feel a bit annoyed by the arrogance of a call to ban the instrument. For the moment SeppBlatter seems to be in this camp, but enough international pressure may force him to reconsider.

To be fair, the vuvuzela is an extremely abrasive sound, especially if you haven’t grown up knowing it as the sound of soccer. For this reason, most South Africans would probably be happy to make some compromises regarding their use of the vuvuzela, if engaged in a respectful manner. But vitriol and demands from vuvuzela-haters is unlikely to result in a satisfactory result.

Let’s hope whatever FIFA decides, regarding the fate of the vuvuzela, that it does so with an eye on compromise. It may be that many foreigners are showing a precious, parochial streak towards this issue, but if they are really that unhappy about it, it may be wise to humour them. It would be disappointing for the World Cup to be ruined by their sulking.

Then again, maybe an encounter with a few thousand vuvuzelas will force the world, and soccer, to actually adopt some of the ideals – tolerance, respect, etc. – that it constantly preaches.

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