The World Cup has seen its fair share of Mexican Waves, but where did this crowd phenomenon start and how do you actually start one?

Perhaps the strangest thing about sitting in a stadium with a 90,000 capacity is how a crowd the equivalent of a small city can occasionally act in unison.

The Mexican Wave is one such occasion. You look to your right and see the wave approaching, accompanied by a crescendo. When it hits you, you jump up and throw your hands in the air, making whatever noise you feel apposite.
You have taken your part in the wave, and so it continues.
The only variation in the routine is if the wave hits some sort of VIP box, and breaks down as the dignitaries refuse to take part. Booing usually follows and the wave may restart on the far side of the VIPs.
This pattern is repeated in stadiums for different sports across the world.
But where did this pattern start?
Mainstream outing
The first thing is that there is a dearth of evidence that the Mexican Wave originated in Mexico. There is indeed far more evidence that it started in the United States, where it is simply known as The Wave.
Digging into wave history, the names of two claimants come up again and again.
The first is a professional cheerleader "Krazy" George Henderson, who says he gave the wave its first mainstream outing on 15 October 1981 at a major league baseball clash between the Oakland A's and the New York Yankees.
"The Oakland A's had already lost two games away. In the third inning I thought I would try this thing that no-one had seen before. I found three sections and started explaining what I wanted."
When the first couple of wave attempts broke down, Krazy George encouraged the most enthusiastic sections of the crowd to engage in a chorus of boos.
By the third attempt the wave had gone around the whole stadium, by the fourth he had managed a continuous wave.