Australia’s Scotch College awarded World’s Novice Juvenile B title; Burntisland wins drumming
The Scotch College #2 Pipe Band of Melbourne, Australia, have reportedly emerged winners as more details regarding the Novice Juvenile B grade results debacle at the 2024 World Pipe Band Championships have come to light.
Scotland’s Burntisland & District reportedly has won the drumming title, taking the prize from Dollar Academy.
The changes take the announced band and drumming championship wins away from Lochgelly High School Junior of Lochgelly, Scotland, and Capital District Youth of New York, respectively.
“How do these bands pick up the children involved from such a heart-wrenching disappointment and expect them to continue with faith in the organization responsible for giving them the platform to compete?”
If reports are accurate, Lochgelly High School Junior drops to tenth place overall, and Capital District Youth is third in drumming and moves from an announced second prize overall to eighth. Balerno & District, announced fifth overall on the day of the World’s, drops to twelfth in the 12-band final, narrowed from heats comprising 28 bands.
The unofficial revised result is reportedly:
Novice Juvenile B (prescribed marches, 28 competed in two heats, 12 in final)
1st Scotch College No.2 (Australia) (1,1,2,1)
2nd Burntisland & District (Scotland) (ens.pref.) (4,9,1,3)
3rd Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia (NJ) (Scotland) (3,3,5,6)
4th Stirling & District (Scotland) (2,6,9,5)
5th High School of Dundee (Scotland) (10,7,4,2)
6th Kintyre Schools (Scotland) (5,5,6,8)
7th Edinburgh Academy (Scotland) (8,2,12,7)
8th Capital District Youth (USA) (ens.pref.) (12,8,3,9)
9th North Lanarkshire Schools (Scotland) (7,4,11,10)
10th Lochgelly High School Junior (Scotland) (9,11,10,4)
11th Dollar Academy (Scotland) (6,10,8,11)
12th Balerno & District Schools (Scotland) (11,12,7,12)
Judges: Jennifer Hutcheon, Barry Donaldson (piping); Keith Orr (drumming); Paul Turner (ensemble)
The erroneous Novice Juvenile B result announced at Glasgow Green:
Novice Juvenile B
Final
1st Lochgelly High School Junior (Scotland)
2nd Capital District Youth (USA)
3rd High School of Dundee (Scotland)
4th Burntisland & District (Scotland)
5th Balerno District Schools (Scotland)
6th Scots College No.2 (Australia)
Drumming: Capital District
At publication time, the RSPBA had not yet publicly communicated the erroneous full order of finish or the judges’ rankings.
The RSPBA held an online meeting at 1 pm GMT on August 22nd, with representatives of the 12 bands impacted by the matter to discuss the situation.
The snafu is allegedly due to the revised order of play in the Novice Juvenile B before the event, but the judges’ sheets apparently did not match the order of the compilers’ spreadsheet, so they did not match the actual bands being judged.
The compilers reportedly had the event’s original running order but failed to cross-check it against the revised order. The judges’ order of play was correct, but the compilers’ order of play was incorrect.
Scotch College spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get to Scotland to compete at the World’s, but their members and parents will have to celebrate their success scattered around Scotland and back home.
“How do these bands pick up the children involved from such a heart-wrenching disappointment and expect them to continue with faith in the organization responsible for giving them the platform to compete?” one RSPBA insider said on condition that their name not be used. “[There are] concerned parents calling asking how the RSPBA intend to resolve the issue.”
“People have messaged me saying this is the single worst thing to happen in the history of the RSPBA, and they’re not wrong,” the contact said.
Capital District Youth of New York, the feeder band for Grade 3 Scotia/Glenville, has collectively travelled to Scotland to compete at the World’s six times, each trip exceeding a budget of US$100,000, according to a source close to the band.
“I don’t know enough about the RSPBA system but something is missing in the ‘checking’ and they are squeezing in too much into one day, all for the sake of not taking another day off from work but don’t spare the 1.5-hour [expletive deleted] March Past. It is the World Pipe Band Championships for goodness’ sake!”
At publication time, RSPBA Executive Officer Colin Mulhern had not responded to a request for comment.
You know in any other organisation, the entire board would be sacked and replaced, with the number of screw ups that the rspba have been involved in over the years. But inexplicably, they continue to get away with it. This particular screw up cannot ever be repaired. How on earth do you move on from that?
There have been a number of issues in recent years involving the RSPBA. This is perhaps the most egregious. The public, the bands, the adjudicators, the compilers, the participants and their families are all due an apology and an explanation. One would expect the executive director to step up and take responsibility. Once again silence is the loud reply.
The RSPBA is not sacrosanct. At what embarrassing point does the organization loose its standing in the piping world and, perhaps, its “Royal” appellation? Hopefully, positive change will come, soon.
– Charlie A.
This explanation given does not make sense. For transparency I would like to see both the judges order of play( which ,per the article, was correct ) and the compilers ( which was incorrect). Put them side by side, look at the judges scoring and see if it computes with the listed positions. I tried thinking of a few scenarios and none fit. For a screw up of this magnitude that should be paramount and transparency should be foremost.