London mayor expects English throats to duel with vuvuzelas (Feature)

Jun 18, 2010, 10:45 GMT

Cape Town - London Mayor Boris Johnson expects a duel between lusty-throated English fans and the cacophony of the vuvuzelas during Friday's Group C clash with Algeria in Cape Town.

'I think they (the vuvuzelas) may not completely translate to the northern hemisphere,' he told Sky Sports in an interview outside Cape Town's Green Point stadium. 'Tonight there will be an issue of the singing of English fans versus the vuvuzelas.'

Much criticism has been directed at the vuvuzelas for drowning out crowd noise and making it difficult for players to hear each other.

England fans are the most vehemently opposed to the horns, and the thousands who have congregated on Cape Town ahead of the game made their feelings clear on Thursday evening.

Supporters who thronged the bars of the city's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront regaled the locals with repeated hearty choruses of: 'You can stick your vuvuzelas up your arse!'

The honking was notably absent around the large groups of boisterous supporters, most of whom had indulged heavily in the local brews and were likely to burst into song at the slightest provocation.

'England fans hate the vuvuzelas,' said Stephen Smith, 30, from London. 'They completely kill the atmosphere.'

Not all England fans are as negative, however.

Those with experience of living in other African countries warn that fans should be more careful about doling about criticism of the vuvuzelas, given the history of colonialism on the continent.

'We want to avoid a situation where we could be viewed as cultural imperialists,' England fan Duncan Hart, who travelled down from Ghana, said. We have to understand this is part of their culture, as difficult, frustrating and annoying it is for us.'

Johnson - who is in Cape Town as part of efforts to lobby for the World Cup to come to England in 2018 - suggested a novel solution for the stand-off.

England supporters often sing English composer Eric Coates' Dambusters March, the theme to the 1955 Dam Busters movie about bombing raid on German dams during the World War II.

The mayor, apparently unaware of the difficulties of playing the plastic horn, suggested the two be combined.

'We should learn to play the tune to the Dam Busters on the vuvuzelas,' he said.