MIAMI - Get your ear plugs ready, the vuvuzela is going global.

MIAMI - Get your ear plugs ready, the vuvuzela is going global.

The Florida Marlins baseball team handed out free horns to the first 15000 fans through the gate for their game with the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.

Not surprisingly, as anyone who has watched a World Cup match would know, the result was a night of constant, vibrating noise.

While the young fans brandishing the mini-version of the South African plastic horn enjoyed the fun, the players were not amused.

"This isn't soccer," said Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla, who wore earplugs.

"I know the World Cup is going on, but this is baseball. We don't want to hear horns or anything like that. We want to hear the crowd cheering. We want to hear the crowd getting behind us, not horns," he said.

The Marlins, who often struggle to draw good crowds, frequently put on bands and other attractions on Saturdays.

"We try to create either a sound or visual giveaway," said Marlins' vice president of marketing Sean Flynn. "This is probably the loudest item we've had."

Meanwhile, Sapa-AP reports that Spain has enlisted the help of some local football fans to help the players get used to the sound of the vuvuzela.

Potchefstroom mayor Andrew John Maphetle said the Spanish football federation wants people to bring the plastic trumpet to its training sessions so it can get used to the blaring sound.

Maphetle says "we encourage people to come with the vuvuzelas so they can help Spain adapt to it".

There were some vuvuzelas among the 400 people in attendance for Friday's training, but the sound was far from overwhelming.

Spain play Honduras today after opening its World Cup with a 1-0 loss to Switzerland. - Reuters