The buzz of the Confederations Cup is gently fading into the South African night and there are questions if the “buzz makers” will be present when the World Cup returns to South African soil in 2010.

“If they take away my vuvuzela then what is next, my Makarapa?” shouted Saturday Nelson, a long time Cape Town resident and lifelong soccer fan.  “They can have my vuvuzela when they pry it from my cold dead hand.”

The vuvuzela, possibly originating from Zulu meaning “making noise” or from every other language meaning “death to your ears and sanity,” is a long plastic trumpet used in South Africa to create a buzz at local soccer matches.  The noise is often described as the sound of an elephant although many have described it like that of a swarm of bees.  Nonetheless, the South African spirit horn is causing quite a stir among the international community instigating a movement calling for its ban from the 2010 World Cup.

FIFA has received thousands of calls from angry fans complaining that the sound of the vuvuzela is not only distracting when watching the matches on television but it also drowns out the commentators.

Coaches and players have joined in with the disapproving fans and have voiced their displeasure.  Dutch soccer coach, Bert Van Marwijk told reporters that the sound of the vuvuzela interferes with his ability to coach his players on the field.  Spanish midfielder, Xabi Alonso, added that the noise makes it nearly impossible to communicate between teammates on the pitch, and makes it difficult to concentrate while playing.

Some fans at the stadium who came to sit and enjoy a quite afternoon or evening of soccer, complained that the decibel level of the vuvuzela causes permanent ear damage.  They claim the damage is magnified when the die-hard Bafana Bafana fan, sitting directly behind them, blasts the vuvu right into their eardrum.

However, the only concern FIFA has voiced over the vuvuzela came out of a meeting in 2008 in which they conditionally approved the noisemaker for the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup as long as they remain free from logos and advertisements and as long as “hooligans don’t use the vuvuzela as a weapon.”

South African soccer fans laugh at the thought of the vuvuzela being used as a weapon, claiming there are plenty of other viable options for weapons if things go down.

“There are rocks all around, trash bins, backs of chairs, sticks that fly our flags and even forks to use if need be.  Why would we ever use our vuvuzela?” said one Bafana Bafana fan.

Street entrepreneurs have pointed to financial gains as the best reason to keep the instrument in the stadiums.  Upon FIFA’s announcement in 2008 allowing the vuvuzelas, 20,000 plastic instruments were sold in a 24-hour period.  Economists believe there could be more than 50,000 additional instruments sold during the World Cup next year.

Many sports fans, except golf and tennis fans, believe that the best players in the world should not need the additional coaching from the sidelines that is commonplace in peewee soccer.  They believe that the professional athlete should also be able to concentrate on his sport whether there are 40,000 vuvuzelas blowing in their ears or if there are 40,000 drunken Europeans singing their slurred songs during the match.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter remains in support of the vuvuzela as a traditional African sound, but many object of its African heritage claiming that the instrument’s prototype was developed in America.  However, South Africans are quick to point out that life began at the Cradle of Humanity located in Maropeng in the Gauteng province, and thus everything comes from Africa including the vuvuzela.

No doubt, the debate will rage until the completion of the 2010 World Cup, and the opinions will be as diverse as the countries participating in the most watched sporting event, but everyone can agree the more troublesome noisemakers are the baby crier and the nagging wife.

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J.David has never won an award for his writing, but he is a former collegiate athlete for a small college where everyone makes the team.  Currently, he is a grad student at the University of Southern California studying the archaic form called, Print Journalism.  J.David played soccer in sixth grade, which basically makes him an expert on the subject, and hated it because of all the running … he played goalie.

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