Three Premier League clubs have all independently announced the banning of vuvuzelas from their stadiums next season, with Tottenham, Arsenal and Birmingham City all declaring that they intend to stem the moronic drone of the plastic trumpet that featured so prevalently at this summer’s World Cup.
Tottenham were the first top flight club to take a stand, posting the news on their official website yesterday evening;
“Following discussions with the Police and representatives from the local licensing authorities, the club will not be permitting vuvuzelas or similar instruments into White Hart Lane on match days.
We are concerned that the presence of the instruments within the stadium pose unnecessary risks to public safety and could impact on the ability of all supporters to hear any emergency safety announcements.
We are very proud of the fantastic atmosphere that our supporters produce organically at White Hart Lane and we are all very much looking forward to this continuing into the forthcoming season.”
Arsenal were quick to follow suit this morning, again stating that ‘safety’ concerns (no-one wants bleeding ear drums at a football match) were the overriding factor behind their decision;
“Further to their hugely debated involvement at this summer’s World Cup Finals in South Africa, Arsenal Football Club has decided to forbid the use of vuvuzelas within Emirates Stadium with immediate effect.
This decision has been taken to ensure the enjoyment and safety of supporters on Matchdays, which is of paramount importance to the Club.”
And finally, in the last few minutes in fact, Birmingham City issued a similar declaration of intent;
“We can confirm that supporters will not be allowed to bring vuvuzelas into St. Andrew’s on matchdays.
The club took into account feedback from both supporters and relevant bodies such as the Safety Advisory Committee and have made the decision on health and safety grounds.
An overwhelming majority of Blues supporters said they didn’t want vuvuzelas to be allowed at St. Andrew’s.”
I think you can probably expect a few (hopefully 17) more of these announcements during the few coming days as good old-fashioned chanting and singing make their glorious return to the football-watching experience.
UPDATE: The backlash shows no signs of abating as West Ham have become the fourth Premier League team to announce that they will officially banning vuvuzelas from home games.
UPDATE: It seems that a lot of clubs were just playing chicken over announcing their decisions to blacklist the vuvuzela with Everton, Fulham, Sunderland and Liverpool all now confirming that they plan to ban the monotonous horn.
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