78th Highlanders first Grade 1 band to move permanently to open-neck polo shirts

The Grade 1 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) of Nova Scotia have made a permanent switch to open-neck polo shirts as part of their uniform, choosing comfort over tradition and believed to be the first top-grade band to make the switch in the name of good playing and safety.

“It was really a no-brainer for us,” said 78th Highlanders Pipe -Major Alex Gandy. “We looked up the rules to ensure we weren’t actually breaking any of them, at least in North America. It is getting hotter and hotter. Reducing any barriers we can to ensure members are comfortable but also safe is important to me.”

Over the years, Grade 1 bands have occasionally opted for a more casual look, especially in concerts and parades on hot days, but wearing the gear in competition is probably a first.

The band is entered to compete at the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario, on August 3rd. The Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario sanctions the event, and the association’s traditional rules call for competitors to wear “Proper Highland dress,” stating that a tie is optional. Still, a hat must be worn, and only “feather bonnet, Glengarry, or balmoral” are listed.

“Games everywhere, especially in North America, have to adapt, or more and more people will end up dealing with dehydration, heat stroke, or worse.” – P-M Alex Gandy, 78th Highlanders

The PPBSO’s rules have been bent or even disregarded many times without penalty. Bill Livingstone was infamously suspended for not wearing a hat in a massed bands ceremony in the 1970s. Livingstone recounted the PPBSO matter in his Preposterous memoir.

After competing in polo shirts and baseball caps, the PPBSO disqualified the Grade 2 Glengarry Pipe Band at a hot 2009 Montreal Highland Games.

In the 1970s, most top-grade bands still wore “number one dress ” or even evening wear, replete with strangulating tunics, plaids, cross-belts, feather bonnets, and horsehair sporrans. Canadian bands often went with Prince Charlie jackets and bow ties. The looks gradually gave way to “daywear” jackets and ties. The last bands wearing number ones were in the early 1980s.

Barathea jackets were the standard for decades, especially in the UK, where the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association was believed to frown on any band that was not wearing them.

Eventually, waistcoats/vests were adopted and accepted, and the look is now ubiquitous, as bands chose attire that was even more conducive to playing. UK bands now only wear their jackets at the march-past ceremony, if they even have them.

Gandy stressed that the decision was mostly about health and safety: “Playing with a humidex of 40 is difficult no matter what you wear, so getting branded dry-fit polos was something I was very keen on. I know the uniform is a historic part of what we do, but games everywhere, especially in North America, have to adapt, or more and more people will end up dealing with dehydration, heat stroke, or worse.”

The band confirmed in March that it will not attend the World Championships this year.