Blow Me! Sincerely, Vuvuzela

As I understand the saying goes “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” The vuvuzela is a horn approximately one meter in length, commonly called a “stadium horn” and blown by spectators at soccer (football) matches in South Africa. The horn can reach volumes of 127 decibels and can cause permanent damage to unprotected ears. But seriously, they aren’t that crucial.

Now, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football) set this World Cup in South Africa. Clearly FIFA has been slipping on their location scouting. They should be familiar with South Africa’s vuvuzela, also known as the “lepatata”. Not only that, given all the things that could be going down at this World Cup, vuvuzelas are the least of their worries. It’s like getting upset about a gnat when you’ve heard wild pachyderm roam the area.

Granted, the vuvuzelas are potentially dangerous. 127 decibels is literally deafeningly loud; think jet engine. However a ban on vuvuzelas would have been excessive, petty and slightly insulting.

For starters, it’s a stadium full of cheering, shouting, singing football fanatics. The average football stadium reaches 117 decibels. Record highs rival the vuvuzelas. Hearing damage occurs over 85 decibels especially in prolonged exposure. So the increased volume is not vastly offensive. People destroy their hearing everyday regardless so the vuvuzelas are only aiding the inevitable for the most part. Perhaps the only downside is that the drone drowns out the other magnificent sounds of a stadium. The chants, cheers, etc are lost and that is a shame.

However, the vuvuzelas bring a different joyful dynamic that also capture the location. Deep down that is the point of moving the host location of the games; capturing a piece of the local culture and bringing that into the festivities as well as bringing the world to meet this location.

The passion of the spectators is part of what makes the game so great. It’s impressive that these fans can collectively maintain nearly incessant drone. Also, the sound the vuvuzela makes is kinda cool. It’s like extremely macho bees suffering roid rage. Very musically savvy bees holding a B-flat (Bb3). But the ominous tone makes the events unfolding on the field seem more badass than they do otherwise.

Alternatives to an outright ban would be to create vuvuzela free sections. Stadiums could even charge slightly more for the tickets to those seats. Besides, it’s only one World Cup. Four years from now it will be somewhere else with it’s own unique benefits and detriments.

In summation, get some earplugs and enjoy the game.