Blowing a vuvuzela is the way football fans in Africa show appreciation and support for their respective teams. A vuvuzela is a lengthened trumpet type instrument that produces a noise like a foghorn. The sound has become synonymous with soccer stadiums in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the rest of Africa.
The name in Ndebele or Zulu refers to making noise. It takes a proud African to appreciate the trumpeting that comes off the vuvuzela. It is the sound that gets African elders reminiscing of the ancient days when the sound from the horn of an elephant was used for communication between distanced villages.
The instrument raised a lot of eyebrows during the 2009 edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, held in South Africa.
Some international audiences, teams and television commentators called for the world football governing board to ban the vuvuzela, in the upcoming 2010 World Cup, arguing that it did not only make a disturbing noise to the players on the field but also turned the terraces to an unbearable hell for foreign spectators.
They have said the noise was quite irritating.
But Africa being the hosts of the global showcase, a World Cup for Africa, in Africa, knows that the vuvuzela gives a form of identity to the continent. And so FIFA gave the instrument the green light and Africa will do it her own cultural way, in South Africa, next year.
Post published in: News