The comments on the 2026 Worlds continue to reverberate. There can be no question that this year’s championship was an outstanding success for which the RSPBA and the promoters, Glasgow Life, deserve considerable credit. But things could be better say our readers. The treatment of the Juvenile grade and the lack of concern for spectators can be added to the row over Friday heats in Grade 2. We start with this contribution from a reader who wished to remain anonymous ‘for obvious reasons’…..
‘Our young players are being shabbily treated. It’s bad enough that they are now excluded from the actual Worlds on the Saturday, but we were sold the pup last year that Friday was supposedly going to be ‘their day’ when young players could take centre stage.
From what I could see [last weekend], that was not how it turned out. The adults took precedence. Young players were shoved to the end of the day and kept waiting until the adult grades had played, including Grade 2 heats, with some not performing until almost 6 o’clock in the evening. Prize-giving was even later on Friday than on the Saturday! These young players are increasingly being made to feel like an afterthought. What message does that send to them and their families who have invested so much?
The winning set from North Lanarkshire Schools, winners of the World Novice A title…..
And can anyone imagine a scenario where Grade 1 is moved to a ring at the back of beyond so that a Grade 4B heat could be played in the main arena? Because that is effectively what happened to Juvenile on Friday. It was a shocking way to treat the premier under 18 grade.
These players have put an enormous amount of work into reaching such a high standard – many would not disgrace themselves in Grade 1. The opportunity to play in the main arena at the Worlds is one of the great thrills of the day. Instead, we had some terrific bands, including one which had travelled from the other side of the planet, shoved up the hill and out of sight for the final, while a heat consisting of two-part marches was being played in the main arena with corked-off tenor drones and players barely weeks beyond a goose.
If Friday really is supposed to be the ‘Junior Worlds’, then treat it that way. Give the young players priority. Give the best juvenile bands the same respect, visibility and sense of occasion that we would expect for the best adult bands. Otherwise, no more disingenuous rubbish please about it being ‘their own special day’.
Although the RSPBA will be rubbing their hands with the extra revenue generated by all the parents and supporters who now attend on a Friday, the experiment clearly hasn’t worked, at least not for the young players themselves and their families.
The solution is staring us all in the face. Now that the precedent has been established for heats on a Friday — and heaven forfend that an overseas band should not get to play on a Saturday — this is what should at least be tried: heats on Friday for all grades, finals on Saturday. If you don’t make it through, try again next year. That way, those who are the future of pipe bands are properly re-included in the Worlds on the Saturday, as they always were until last year.’
Brian Kirk: ‘I agree that the paying spectators seem to get very little consideration at the Worlds. As a piper, the spectator’s needs never bothered me at contests. Now, as I approach 80 they have become very important. Specifically, the lack of seating at Glasgow Green, and the apparent expansion of barriers all over the place, which mean that you are prevented from getting from one point to another by a metal obstruction which does not have any obvious purpose, and are forced to make a tiring detour.
What happened to the temporary wooden ‘bleachers’ which used to be at many of the arenas, and offered a respite for tired legs? It has now got to the situation where, if you need somewhere to sit during the Worlds, you have to buy a Grade 1 arena ticket. That is surely unacceptable.
The paying public doesn’t care if the responsibility for lack of resting places at the Green lies with Glasgow Council or the RSPBA. It just wants the situation resolved.’
Correspondent Nicholas Taitz on the Editor’s comment applauding Shotts for turning and facing their audience for the last part of their Saturday Medley: ‘What about the concern that if the whole pipe band performance is done facing outwards how do the pipers watch each other’s fingers? Precision would suffer? Just a thought.’
The Editor: ‘That’s not what I am advocating at all Nicholas, rather the basic principle that no musician should turn their back on their listeners. For more years than I care to remember I have been calling for an open circle approach with the P/M in the centre of the gap, facing the band. This could be easily achieved at Glasgow Green and a large part of the audience in the stands would then listen ‘face on’. A simple tweak that would make a huge difference.
‘At the outside it should be offered as an acceptable formation option for the top bands. They wouldn’t need to use it if they didn’t want to. Judges just do what they do at the moment. The lower grades could remain in circle formation and therefore within their comfort zone.’
- Stay tuned for more on the Worlds.
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