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Scottish fury over World Cup bagpipe snub
Aberdeenshire GP is prevented from bringing his instrument into stadiums
A DIPLOMATIC storm has erupted at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand after Scotland supporter Matt Strachan, 32, was forbidden from bringing his bagpipes into matches against Georgia and Romania.
Strachan, a GP from Aberdeenshire, has launched a Facebook protest campaign in which he attacks organisers for failing to appreciate his instrument. "I've played the pipes in most of the UK stadiums and also in France during the last World Cup and they have always been gratefully received," he announced on the social networking site.
The Daily Telegraph reports a lengthy list of banned items at the showpiece tournament, which includes "umbrellas, vuvuzelas, gang insignia, flagpoles longer than 80 centimetres" as well as musical instruments. The Telegraph goes on to suggest hypocrisy in the New Zealand team’s traditional use of the conch shell as a pre-match rallying call.
With momentum gathering behind the protest, the Scottish Parliament has waded in. Friends of Strachan raised the issue with local MSP Jim Eadie, who announced that "we need our bagpipes belting out Scottish music to have a fighting chance". The Scotsman reports that sports minister Shona Robinson "has written to the organisers asking them to overturn the decision".
Rugby World Cup spokesman Mike Jaspers has denied knowledge of the incident but Strachan and his campaign are not going away. His Facebook group is closing on 1,000 members and he has written to the prime minister of New Zealand, John Key. ·
