Which group of sports fans is credited by sportswriters for starting 'The Wave' during a game?

1986 World Cup in Mexico http://www.channelnewsasia.com/worldcup/didyouknow1986.htm [Link added -- Zb] Aug 12 00, 5:45 PM

zbeckabee

The exact origin of the wave is disputed. Its growth may be traced to four different sports, across three different North American countries. It may be said that it was created (by chance) at a National Hockey League game in Canada in 1980, was introduced to a wider audience (intentionally) in October 1981 at a Major League Baseball game in Oakland, California and/or at an American Football game in Seattle, Washington. Whatever its origin, by the mid 1980s the practice was widespread throughout North America. Finally, it gained world wide notice, and the specific name Mexican wave, during the FIFA Football World Cup in Mexico in 1986. The wave was also believed to be created in Vancouver, British Columbia by a marketing campaign for the local soccer team the Vancouver Whitecaps, in which they got the crowd to perform this for a commercial in which their slogan was "Catch the Wave." Although it was not associated with sports, Frank Zappa is credited by some with inventing a precursor to the wave in 1969 at the Denver Pop Festival in Denver Mile High Stadium when he assigned sounds and gestures to sections of the crowd and sequenced them with hand gestures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audience_wave#Origins Apr 19 08, 9:21 AM