Officials at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand have scotched the practice of spectators bringing bagpipes to matches, and fans are angry about it. Bagpipes aren’t the first unusual thing banned from sporting events.
Piping plans for Scottish fans have been kilt off
Scots traveling to New Zealand to watch Scotland in action during Rugby World Cup matches have been greeted with a rude surprise, according to NBC Sports. Rugby World Cup officials have been turning people away for carrying bagpipes into games.
A ban on bagpipes might be welcome to many, but Scottish fans are disappointed that they aren’t allowed to play the pipes during games. The mayor of Invercargill, New Zealand, said that pipes weren’t “a gimmick, but a serious part of Scottish culture.” Scottish politicians and the Scottish team have lamented the ban and polls have shown most New Zealanders want the pipe ban overturned.
The ban is not on the pipes themselves, but on noise-making devices like drums or vuvuzelas, the plastic horns that caused so much ruckus at the soccer World Cup in 2010.
Other noise banned from sporting events
When people go to a stadium to watch a game, they don’t necessarily want to hear the devices that some people use to celebrate. For instance, “quackers,” the hard plastic oversized duck beaks used by University of Oregon fans, aren’t being allowed at home games this year, according to KGW, a Portland, Ore., NBC affiliate. The devices are essentially a duck call, similar to the kind hunters use, and make a “quacking” sound.
Fans of the Mississippi State University Bulldogs were informed earlier this year, according to AOL Sporting News, that they had to leave their cowbells at home when traveling to away games. Cowbells are a tradition at MSU games, but the Southeastern Conference is cracking down on artificial noise at football games and other sporting events. MSU was fined for violating that policy in 2010.
Goshen C0llege, according to NPR, banned the national anthem from sport events, as the “bombs bursting in air” and other clauses in “The Star Spangled Banner” were deemed to be too violent.
Annoying behavior also targeted
Obnoxious behavior among fans can also get banned from sports events. Parents in Scarsdale, N.Y., were told earlier this year that unruly behavior such as booing kids on opposing Little League baseball teams and verbally abusing officials will earn them a ban from games, according to ABC.
According to Wikipedia, the “wave” was banned from Australian cricket games in 2007, due to too many drinks and other items getting spilled on other fans. Some people think “the wave,” is low class. A recent column in The Telegraph lamented the first “wave” seen in the Rugby World Cup.
Major League Baseball teams the Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies, according to CBS, have also banned “the wave.”
Sources
NBC: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44623131/ns/sports/
KGW: http://www.kgw.com/sports/Quackers-banned-in-Autzen-Stadium-129745628.html
Aol: http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2011-08-23/cowbells-banned-for-mississippi-states-game-at-memphis
NPR: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/06/08/137031395/goshen-college-bans-national-anthem-at-sporting-events
ABC: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93203&page=1
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_%28audience%29
The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/8781185/Rugby-World-Cup-2011-record-breaking-South-Africa-performance-marred-by-crowds-attention-deficit.html
CBS: http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/31035757
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