Noisemaker or Cultural Symbol: The Vuvuzela Controversy and Expressions of Football Fandom

Abstract

Awarding the 2010 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup to South Africa was a watershed moment, the first time the sport’s hallmark event would be held on the African continent (Hawkey, 2009). While football came to the continent through colonialism, the game actually served to bolster ‘African resistance, not only against colonialism but also against social inequalities within African communities’ (Alegi, 2010: 22). In this way, Africa developed a unique brand of football — signified by neighbourhood clubs, pan-ethnic teams, magic and religion, and the liberal and creative use of praise names for players. Confined spaces, limited training facilities and material poverty combined to create a playing style that emphasized the display of individual talent. This attribute of the African game was reflected in the aforementioned nicknaming of players, which included Dancer, Phantom, Magician and Steamboat. Alegi (2010) noted that in Africa ‘players and fans self-consciously enjoyed the cleverness, beauty, and excitement of feinting and dribbling, delightful moves that elated fans but also captured the cultural importance of creativity, deception, and skill in getting around difficulties and dangerous situations in colonial societies’ (Alegi, 2010: 34). Thus, a long and clear football tradition grew out of a unique African context — which combined the elements of European football, as imported via colonialism, and the unique characteristics and circumstances of Africa.