Vuvuzela Ban?

Due for publish in Nerve* Magazine (September 2010 issue) for Bournemouth University.

Dean Court has ensured it remains a vuvuzela-free zone this season after Bournemouth AFC has banned the use of the musical instrument. Since the arrival of the infamous vuvuzela this summer during the World Cup, the African musical instrument has caught on in numerous countries where a ball can be kicked and a television turned on. However, its arrival for many people has been far from welcoming, including an always-increasing list of English football clubs, with Bournemouth AFC banning it way back in June.

The ban won’t be easily adhered to though, for over 100,000 Britons reportedly own a vuvuzela. Although most will, quite plainly, end up in a landfill, there’s sure to be one or two that make their way into a stadium somewhere nearby, causing havoc to any unlucky (or Blackpool) fans nearby.

With the amount of clubs banning the horn from the stands could easily be mistaken for a county-wide shopping list these days. In fact, the odds that the musical nuisance will be banned from all Premier League grounds this season were a whoppingly-low 7/4 as far back as June.

Many football teams both home and abroad speedily enforced the ban, including seasiders Bournemouth and Southampton as well as Premier League starlets Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. Borussia Dortmund became the first German club to oppose the horn back in July, alongside London rugby outfit Harlequins whilst the trumpet was firmly kicked out of the recent Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

The vuvuzela is part of South Africa, and went some way into making the recent World Cup into the atmospheric spectacle that it was. In fact, taking it away is arguably like taking the Mexican wave away from the ’86 tournament. However, on a worldwide scale, the instrument is being pushed into extinction, and fast.

FIFA have repeatedly rejected calls of a global ban on the trumpet however many clubs – both from inland and abroad – are taking heavier action on the case. Back in October last year, the Japanese Football Association tried to ban the instruments from their World Cup qualifiers, yet their words fell on deaf ears.

Now however, the voice of the nation seems to be getting more luck. With support coming from all angles of the globe, the instrument is to be given the red card when the World Cup 2014 kicks off in Brazil for a start.

Talks are also well under way regarding a ban on them for the Rugby World Cup next year, and with the horns already being banned from previous Tri-Nations matches, the future of the musical instrument remains very much uncertain indeed…