British, UK championships first 2021 RSPBA majors to be cancelled (updated)

As was widely expected, the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association announced the cancellation of the UK Championships. The event had been scheduled to be held on June 12th at Lurgan, Northern Ireland.

Within an hour, the association also announced the cancellation of the British Championships, which had been slated to be held on May 22nd in Paisley, Scotland.

The association cited “the latest guidance from the Scottish and Northern Ireland Governments, as well as advice taken from our key partners,” and made no mention of the organization itself looking out for the health and safety of its members.

The events would have been the first two in the RSPBA rota of five majors.

The RSPBA made the announcements via a messages from Chief Executive Ian Embelton. Embelton had announced his intention to retire and leave office by the end of 2020, but the association persuaded him to stay on until they could conduct a proper search post-pandemic.

By far the largest of the five majors is the World Championships. If the August 13-14 event in Glasgow is able to go ahead, it will almost certainly be without the vast majority of non-UK bands that typically would comprise more than a third of contestants.

St. Laurence O’Toole was the winner of both the 2019 British and UK championships, the last year the events were held.

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