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Are World Cup trumpets a safety risk?

Foreign fans and players complained about the noise of the plastic trumpets, which sound like a herd of charging elephants, during last year's Confederations Cup - a dress rehearsal for the football spectacular which starts on June 11.

But FIFA President Sepp Blatter said they were as characteristic of South African football as bongo drums or singing in other countries and would not be banned.

"I think the stadium operations require sometimes the attention of the people in the stadium... for example, if there is an order to evacuate that stadium and an announcement is made, you have to ask yourself, will everyone in that stadium hear that evacuation order?" he said.

"We will look tonight where, for the first time we'll have a full stadium at Soccer City, and then we'll see whether or not levels of noise impact on the efficiency of the operation," Jordaan added at Johannesburg's Ellis Park stadium, one of the tournament's 10 venues.

"Can we have a conversation, can there be instructions, is there difficulty because of these noise levels? Then we will talk to the people," Jordaan said.

But South Africa's Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said they should take advantage of the din. "We want it louder and louder," he said.

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