Royal Institute for Traditional Arts launches training on Al-Qatt Al-Asiri art    Nearly 2 million worshippers prayed in Rawdah at Prophet's Mosque during Hajj 1446    Saudi Arabia expands tech talent schools to five regions for 2025    Aubameyang exits Al Qadsiah as club turns to youth with Retegui signing    France withdraws troops from Senegal, ending military presence in West Africa    Germany's Merz and UK's Starmer sign 'first of its kind' defense and migration treaty    Norway leads Europe's best airports list    Syrian forces leave Sweida after ceasefire with Druze militias goes into effect    Main stage at Belgium's Tomorrowland music festival completely destroyed by fire    Sports vehicles can have now short number plates    Saudi Arabia draw Iraq and Indonesia in 2026 World Cup Asian play-off group    Saudi conjoined twins Yara and Lara successfully separated in 12.5-hour surgery    Babies made using three people's DNA are born free of hereditary disease    'Art of the Kingdom' exhibition to open in Beijing's National Museum on July 30    Saudi minister holds strategic AI and tech talks with French institutions in Paris    ASICS and Saudi Sports for All launch startup pitch to boost sports innovation in Saudi Arabia    Youth-led Saudi businesses exceed 474K    Scientists recover proteins from a 24 million-year-old rhino fossil    Jorge Jesus returns to Saudi Arabia as Al Nassr head coach on one-year deal    Jannik Sinner beats Carlos Alcaraz to win his maiden Wimbledon title    Sholay: Bollywood epic roars back to big screen after 50 years with new ending    Ministry launches online booking for slaughterhouses on eve of Eid Al-Adha    Shah Rukh Khan makes Met Gala debut in Sabyasachi    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Vuvuzelas not allowed to shatter peace at Wimbledon
By Clare Lovell
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 20 - 06 - 2010

Enthusiastic tennis fans will not be allowed to shatter the traditional tranquillity of the All England Club with vuvuzelas, despite the popularity of the plastic horn at the World Cup this year.
Wimbledon security has been told to confiscate - in the politest possible way - any of the South African noise-makers at the gates when the championships start Monday.
“We won't be having the vuvuzelas,” All England Club chief executive Ian Ritchie told Reuters in his elegant wood-panelled office overlooking the pristine grass courts.
“Half a dozen people with those things on Henman Hill and the entire grounds would hear them. So they are not suitable for us and we will be stopping them coming.”
The Grand Slam is taking no account of the world's biggest soccer festival.
Ritchie, a self-confessed football fan, is adamant Wimbledon will show only tennis matches on its big screen overlooking the grassy knoll of Henman Hill. “I think it's a fair to say that when Wembley (Stadium) puts tennis up then we'll think of putting football on the big screen.”
The tournament has no fear of the soccer event and officials are quite confident that queues will still snake down Church Road towards Southfields - a neighborhood, coincidentally, with a big South African expatriate population.
Advance tickets were sold out months ago and the only dip in attendance on the day might be when England was playing, Ritchie suggested.
Preparations for Roger Federer and Serena Williams to defend their titles are in full swing at the club as caterers, stewards, drivers, locker room attendants, launderers, ticket sellers, cleaners, security staff, electricians, lawn tenders, flower arrangers, hanging basket waterers, court coverers, and ball boys and girls apply final touches and complete training.
There appears to be no panic or anxiety, just confident practised efficiency.
Wimbledon, it seems, has been immune from the ravages of the credit crunch, banking collapse and financial austerity. Its Centre Court debenture issue last year was heavily oversubscribed and raised more than $90 million.
Its commercial partners, sponsors and broadcasters have nearly all extended contracts recently on favorable terms and corporate hospitality, Ritchie's barometer of success, is looking stronger than ever, he said.
Capacity is slightly reduced this year after record attendances of 511,000 in 2009 because the Club is rebuilding showcourt three.
Last year for every ticket on sale on any given day there were four people queuing, many overnight for the best seats.
Ritchie puts Wimbledon's resilience partly down to a “Murray factor”. Local fans hope that the world No. 4 will produce a British Wimbledon men's champions for the first time in 74 years - just as they vainly hoped with Tim Henman. But he also credits Wimbledon's mixture of innovation and tradition and its single-mindedness.
The moveable roof on Center Court first used last year for a Murray match proved a late-night success and the drama of Hawk-Eye line replays have met with almost universal acclaim.
Some find Wimbledon's traditions stuffy. Players must wear white on court and, in Ritchie's office complex, ties are mandatory.
But Federer, a six-time winner, loves all the traditions that go hand in hand with the event. For the past few years, he has worn a cream blazer or cardigan designed especially for the tournament and is delighted to follow the custom, as men's champion, of opening the action on Center Court Monday when he meets Colombia's Alejandro Falla.
Wimbledon will step slightly out of line in 2012 when it hosts the Olympics, but that is not unprecedented as the 1908 Games also used the Club.
Ritchie's job and those of the club committee revolve round just two weeks of an English summer.
“I think it's extremely helpful that we're very focused. All we do is this. Sometime people and businesses try to expand or go into other business.
“But we've found that ‘sticking to the knitting' is rather a good thing.”


Clic here to read the story from its source.