RSPBA likely bringing Grade 2 to World’s Friday in 2025

The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s Music Board is reportedly recommending that the Friday of the 2025 World Pipe Band Championships include a Grade 2 competition or competitions in addition to the usual two Grade 1 events.

According to sources, the news was brought up at the RSPBA’s Glasgow & West of Scotland branch meeting on October 6th. Another source with the RSPBA confirmed that the report was accurate.

The RSPBA’s Music Board can make competition format recommendations, which are passed on to the association’s board of directors for review and ratification or rejection.

For several years, some Grade 2 bands have expressed frustration that they perform only once at the World Championships, and a single four-minute medley or MSR determines a band’s fate.

The format for the potential Grade 2 competition(s) is not yet known, but it is thought to be an MSR (drawn from two submitted) on Friday and an own-choice Medley on Saturday.

The RSPBA polled the leaders of Grade 2 bands that competed at the 2024 World Championships for their opinions on the event’s format. According to one pipe-major who participated, the poll asked whether the 22-band threshold should be reduced to 18 for Grade 2.

The MSR Friday / Medley Saturday format could work well if the threshold is met, making the popular Medley more of a spectacle on Saturday.

The Grade 2 entry has not met the threshold for qualifying heats in the three years since the pandemic caused the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 World’s.

Nineteen Grade 2 bands competed in a one-and-done Medley competition at this year’s World Championships, which was won by Ravara of Northern Ireland. The band was subsequently elevated to Grade 1 by the RSPBA.