PORT ELIZABETH It is commonly acknowledged that, in addition to many hours of practice, one needs a good pair of lungs to blow a trumpet and do so with so much precision.

Conversely, it must take more than just that with the boogie blast commonly known as the Vuvuzela. Your guess is as good as mine that passion precedes everything with this plastic made soccer horn.

The meaning of the word Vuvuzela is so ambiguous with the Zulus saying it means making noise, and what a deafening noise this horn makes.

Any soccer match day in South Africa is more like a festival of vuvuzelas as supporters blow it to spur on their teams. The noise produced by this soccer horn en mass sounds more like a massive swarm of very angry bees.

According to Vuvuzela online supplier Boogieblast, the horn was introduced to South Africa as a toy for kids to blow, and hardly got off the ground. But local soccer supporters saw its potential and its marketing was a winner as it is now a must have item for every soccer loving household.

It is reported that the announcement on May 15, 2004 that South Africa would host the 2010 FIFA World Cup gave the vuvuzela a massive boost. Twenty thousand were reportedly sold on the day by enterprising street vendors and the sale is still going strong. A recent international friendly between South Africa and Japan at the newly constructed Nelson Mandela Bay stadium was an endurance of hours of noise produced by many of this plastic made horn.

We decided to get to the stadium early to avoid commotion at the entrance in addition to getting a nice spot to watch the game. As expected, that turned out to be a well calculated move but we had to endure the deafening vuvuzela noise for one and half hours before the game started and throughout the entire match that ended in a goalless draw.

The Japanese players must have a strong mental character as they seemed unfazed by the noise around the stadium, managing to maintain their pattern of play.

It was a wonder how the players manage to hear the whistle or instructions from their coach on the touchline but as for us the uninitiated we could barely hear announcement from the stadiums public address system.

The Japanese media crew had its attention glued on the spectators and my guess was the vuvuzelas. One of the crew members later admitted in passing that it was their first encounter with the horn.

Introducing himself just as Don, he said he had heard stories of teams complaining about the noise during the recently held Fifa Confederations Cup in South Africa. He described the atmosphere at the stadium as both electrifying and intimidating especially for the opponents. The soccer governing body, FIFA, recently came out in support of the vuvuzela during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. FIFA, however, warned that should the instrument be thrown onto the field of play at any match, it will be banned.

South African league matches are at times abandoned as unruly fans throw objects onto the field of play to show indignation at the referees decisions against their team. Vuvuzela has proved to be a symbol of passion, support and appreciation of the local soccer spectators who used to show such through singing and dancing at soccer matches.

This appears to have taken much on the notion of truly South African as a similar atmosphere in England will be characterised by spectator songs for their favourite teams such as You will never walk alone for Liverpool or the drums and cymbals at a match in Nigeria.

The travelling contingent of soccer fans for the World Cup next year in South Africa will have to either beat the local fans through singing which might be a tall order or join in the blowing of the vuvuzela.

This proudly South African plastic made soccer horn appears to be here to stay and airport security around the world should be made aware of its proper use so that they do not confuse them for any means of weaponry. BOPA