Disqualify Field Marshall

[DocDudelSac]

At the European Championships as not unexpectedly it rained (sometimes it does here), Field Marshall Montgomery refused to play in until the rain stopped, so after a 35 minute delay they went and won the competition. This affected the build up of everyother grade 1 band that came after them. Dysart and Dundonald played in the rain as did many other bands to some degree that day. Surely a refusal to play at your alloted time should constitute a reason for disqualification, should a band be able to dictate its performance time to the competition organisers. Remember when Strathclyde Police won in Aberdeen in similarly inclement weather. If at the end of the day this was a decision by the R.S.P.B.A then shame on them for not passing on the information to the following grade 1 bands and allowing everyone else the choice to either play or not play when they want.
Other opinions on this matter would be of great interest to me and others, so please post. :mad:

[Mike Szarka]

Some of my band-mates played in the Grade 2 TTC band when it was disqualified from a contest for being late to the line. The thing is, the disqualification was not assessed until after the contest. What they all agree in retrospect is that the band has to be told BEFORE they play if they are going to be disqualified. If the steward and judges did not act at the time, any subsequent action is unfair.

Mike

[SDowns]

Did they, in fact, refuse to play or did they simply ask and receive permission for the delay?

If the request for a delay was not appropriate, it seems that in those 35 minutes, somebody should have implicated the "foul".

I have no skin in this game and I sure can't speak to the facts (the rules)...but from what I have read, I see no reason for them to be disqualified. :shrug:

[Eric M. Stein]

According to another PM at the contest. The RSPBA stopped the contest for 45 minutes due to very heavy rain.

[A Celtic Traveler]

Rain is part of the deal, especially in Great Britain. I doubt it had any affect on the outcome. Face it - FMM is a great band and they have the scoreboard on their side and it is never wrong.
Rain has interrupted the worlds on certain occasions and I applaud the RSPBA for delaying the proceedings in order to allow for the bands to deliver their best performances. It is bad enough having to submit two sets and have the choice delivered at the line - I have always wondered about this practice - I could not imagine Ishak Perlman being told in his dressing room what the organizers wish for him to play in an attempt to get him caught off guard. Music needs to be delivered with grace and with the very best of circumstances. Trickery ought not be part of what we prepare for.

[RogerW]

I always thought the reason for two selections was to keep the bands "honest". They needed to
have more than one "trick" ready. Not that I'm any expert.

Roger

[CalumII]

This rain would have affected the outcome. I can't imagine any band delivering a wall of sound through rain that was moving sideways in preferance to the more conventional downwards.

It hinges on whether or not Parkes did indeed refuse to play. If he did, well then, it is a flagrant breach of the letter of the law; OTOH, you rarely get rain of that sort anywhere. The competition should have been stopped before they went on.

Oh well...too late now. And to be honest, I don't think any other band that day deserved a first like FM did.

Cheers,
Calum

[Patrick Dean]

This is an interesting point, as our PBA (PBASA) clearly state in the rules that a band who is late enough to the line in such a way that completing their set would infringe on the next competing bands start time (equating to roughly 6 minutes late for MSR, about 4-5 minutes for medley, depending on grade) will be disqualified.

I didn't realize that this wasn't necessarily the case for other PBA's. Although in FMM's case, I also heard that the event was delayed by the RSPBA. :shrug:

[DocDudelSac]

If indeed the RSPBA did stop play, as you say Eric, then personally I have no problem, the weather at Belfast was atrocious. However nobody told my band about the delay until we were due to go on, maybe the RSPBA stewards failed us here. In this case I would apologise to FMM, but it wasn't what we were told by our runner when they went to enquire about how things were proceeding.And the RSPBA stopped play it would be interesting to know who instigated this decision.
If they did refuse to go on until the rain stopped then somebody should be asking questions of the RSPBA and asking why this was allowed to happen. :shrug: