Johannesburg

During the 2006 World Cup, an advert on South African television featured an excited group of youths en route to Germany (despite the fact that their country had failed to qualify). At the airport, they are stopped by customs officials who want to know what one of them has in his bag. “It’s a vuvuzela,” he enthuses, as if nothing could be more obvious.

The vuvuzela is an unsophisticated elongated plastic trumpet which requires serious lip and lung strength to produce its loud, piercing sound. Deeply rooted in African tradition, it was blown by the king’s subjects to summon villagers to a communal gathering – a ritual that easily translates to football.

Though it was already used by fans across the country, it was May 15 2004, the day that South Africa was named as host of the 2010 World Cup, that really propelled the vuvuzela into the limelight. An estimated 20,000 were sold during that weekend alone and hundreds of thousands have been shifted since.

In many ways this simple instrument is synonymous with the development and growth of South African football, a process that began in the 1970s, when football became the first major team sport to be fully integrated. It now pulls in far larger crowds than any other sport, especially among black South Africans.

Over the past three decades, South African football has been dominated by Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, arch-rivals from Soweto, the country’s most populous and famous township.

Pirates’ menacing black and white skull and crossbones symbol means they are affectionately known as the Mighty Buccaneers or the Ghost, while Chiefs, otherwise known as the Amakhosi, flash a two-fingered peace sign and sport bright gold colours.

Founded in the 1930s, Pirates have long been a symbol of civic pride in Orlando, Soweto, where they originated. Chiefs actually began as a 1970 breakaway from Pirates, under the leadership of managing director Kaizer Motaung, who had left to ply his trade in the NASL.

Along with fellow Jo’burg club Moroka Swallows, the two teams have dominated the Premier Soccer League, albeit to a lesser extent in recent years as Pretoria’s Mamelodi Sundowns (the ‘Brazilians’), owned by mining magnate Patrice Motsepe, have begun to challenge.

Run along the lines of the English Premier League, the PSL has secured good sponsorship and become a profit-making venture.

Yet despite an influx of overseas coaches, the South African style of play hasn’t changed much: it’s still a short-passing game with slow build-ups and lots of individual trickery. And although tactical awareness remains one of South African football’s greatest shortcomings, the PSL is among the best on the continent – Pirates won the African Champions League in 1995, Chiefs the Cup Winners’ Cup in 2000.

With increased TV viewing, there’s also plenty of support for Premiership clubs – during Manchester United’s recent pre-season tour of South Africa, red and white was evident everywhere they played – so don’t worry about missing the action from back home. The truth is, you’ll barely be able to escape it.