War on Vuvuzelas Begins in Europe, Coming to a Stadium Near You

It wasn't just the stadiums in South Africa where you were subjected to the hideous drone of the vuvuzela. While Bafana Bafana was still in the tournament, the racket would begin at sunrise.

There was never a need to set the alarm -- someone walking outside the hotel would take care of your wake-up call for you. Fans brought them to shopping malls. You'd hear them while sitting in a restaurant eating a meal.

Tens of thousands of vuvuzelas, when united in the rhythmic blowing that would occur about once each half at the World Cup, ravaged the ear drums. Talking to the person sitting next to you could be impossible. Escaping onto the stadium concourse, or even to the bathroom, didn't always solve the problem.

For example, the toilets set up behind the media seating at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town were housed in trailers in areas accessible to fans, and several poked the plastic horns in through the little windows and sounded off, right in someone's ear, while they were using the urinal.

The buzzing was the soundtrack of the World Cup, and for most it was tolerable because it was temporary and, we were told, part of South Africa's unique soccer culture. But there were several signs of trouble -- most notably that many foreign fans seemed to delight in taking up the custom and that many were buying boxes of the things to bring home from South Africa. Would the plague spread?

A few days after I returned from the World Cup, a D.C. United fan unleashed his vuvuzela a few feet from my right ear as we were walking toward RFK Stadium. I jumped like one of the recently-returned soldiers in a movie who hears a car backfire.

Enough is enough, it seems. On Wednesday, UEFA put its collective foot down and outlawed the vuvuzela at its matches, and American soccer may be close behind.

The European ban won't cover individual leagues (several English Premier League teams have banned them already), but will extend to European Championship and qualifying matches, the Champions League and the Europa League.

"UEFA feels that the instrument's widespread use would not be appropriate in Europe, where a continuous loud background noise would be emphasised," the governing body said.

"The magic of football consists of the two-way exchange of emotions between the pitch and the stands, where the public can transmit a full range of feelings to the players ... Vuvuzelas would completely change the atmosphere, drowning supporter emotions and detracting from the experience of the game."

This is true, of course. Fans of both teams playing in a given World Cup match, in addition to neutrals, all sounded the same. And they sounded terrible.

But what about the U.S., where fans are still learning about that "two-way exchange of emotions?" It appears the plastic menace is on its way out here as well. The first sign is pictured above, and it was the best thing about the otherwise dull and forgettable $1.6 billion New Meadowlands Stadium that hosted the USA-Brazil friendly last month.

"Stadiums each have their own restrictions on what can and can not be brought into a stadium, although U.S. Soccer has also had some history with vuvuzelas in the past," a USSF spokesperson told FanHouse on Wednesday.

"In the early 2000s, U.S. Soccer's merchandise vendors sold a sizeable quantity of vuvuzelas (known simply as 'plastic horns' back then) at a number of home games. After receiving a number of complaints during and after those games from fans, we ultimately made the decision to no longer allow them in the stadium."

So, no horns at Soldier Field or PPL Park next month. Or maybe ever.

MLS, for now, is leaving the decision up to its clubs. With the growing supporters culture in MLS and the obvious desire to replicate the sounds and colors of stadiums in Europe and South America, don't be surprised if those well-organized groups pressure franchises to bar the horns from their stadiums.

Someone at MLS forwarded this video to me a few weeks ago, and it serves as an eloquent, almost irrefutable argument against the vuvuzela (ignore the kid at 0:12 -- he'll learn). If this is the direction the American league is going, then the horn won't stand a chance.