To ban or not to ban the vuvuzela at the World Cup?

What's plastic, a metre long, brightly coloured and sounds like an elephant? It's the vuvuzela, the noise-making trumpet of South African football fans, and it's come to symbolise the sport in the country.

It's an instrument, but not always a musical one. Describing the atmosphere in a stadium packed with thousands of fans blowing their vuvuzelas is difficult. Up close it's an elephant, sure, but en masse the sound is more like a massive swarm of very angry bees.
source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200906180211.html

The vuvuzelas blown incessantly by fans during Confederations Cup matches should not be allowed in the stadiums, says Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk.

"At home watching TV it really was annoying, but in the stadiums you get used to it. But it is still unpleasant," said Van Marwijk, who is on a fact-finding tour before the 2010 World Cup finals.

...

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said last week the world governing body had no plans to ban the instrument from Confederations Cup matches.

He said Fifa and the local organising committee would meet after the Confederations Cup to discuss whether it should be banned next year.

Blatter is against the idea of a ban, saying that "we should not try to Europeanise an African World Cup", but thousands of fans around the world have e-mailed Fifa over the past week urging them to ban the instrument.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=2871&art_id=vn20090621062426610C372043

The African Champions humbled the World Champions

"World Champions Italy were beaten 1-0 by Egypt in Thursday night's Confederations Cup game in South Africa. The African champions took the lead in the 39th minute through Mohamed Homos' header and despite second half pressure held on for a famous win."


From ESPN Soccernet; June 18th 2009. Click on the link below for full report.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=266845&cc=5901


Wishing the Egyptian Pharaohs all the best in this competition. This is a victory to be remembered. Well done African Champions!