Nigeria Content Online

Vuvuzelas will not
be banned from the World Cup despite the fearsome din the plastic
trumpets make inside and outside the stadiums, organisers said on
Monday.

“Vuvuzelas are here
to stay and will never be banned,” said Rich Mkhondo, a spokesman for
the local World Cup organising committee. “People love the vuvuzelas
around the world. Only a minority are against vuvuzelas. There has
never been a consideration to ban vuvuzelas.”

Mkhondo was
reacting to a BBC report that the chief organiser, Danny Jordaan, had
not ruled out banning the most talked about instrument in this World
Cup. Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk has banned them from his team’s
training sessions.

A thriving industry

The plastic
vuvuzela trumpet has been controversial since the Confederations Cup
last year, a World Cup dress rehearsal, when several players complained
they could not communicate through the din, which sounds like a herd of
charging elephants. FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, rejected calls for
them to be banned, saying they are as typical of South African football
as bongo drums or chants in other countries.

“Look at them as
part of our culture in South Africa to celebrate the 2010 FIFA World
Cup. As our guests please embrace our culture, please embrace the way
we celebrate,” said Mkhondo. He added that vuvuzelas were also being
used by fans from other countries, a view backed up by the enormous
extra demand seen by vuvuzela outlets across South Africa.

“It seems like the
bad publicity has been good for us,” said Brandon Bernado, owner of the
vuvuzela.co.za web site and a factory he said could churn out at least
10,000 of the instruments every day. “We’re completely sold out. Every
time we manufacture more, the next morning by nine we’re sold out,” he
told Reuters.

The vuvuzela
industry is worth 50 million rand in South Africa and Europe, according
to Cape Town-based Neil van Schalkwyk, who developed the vuvuzela seven
years ago.