Image Credit: Scotlandnationalteam via Instagram
Scotland fans will be able to support their team with the national instrument in stadiums throughout the 2024 European Championships, UEFA have confirmed. Previously instruments and “mechanical sound-emitting devices” but the Tartan Army are allowed to bring their bagpipes as long as they are registered with Scottish Football Association.
The decision was made at the meeting of the Euro 2024 fan forum last week. Representatives of the 21 teams that qualified for the tournament decided the pipes would be approved. Iain Emerson, editor of the Famous Tartan Army magazine, said the sound of the bagpipes could help "lift the team”
He told BBC's Good Morning Scotland: "I think the very thought of banning our national instrument that identifies Scotland so much throughout the world would just take so much away from the occasion.“I was at the opening game of the World Cup in 1998 against Brazil. Brazil had their samba drums and we had the bagpipes and it was one massive party and it was fantastic.
"It is a unique atmosphere and it is unique throughout the world that we can bring the bagpipes to the game.
"Stevie Clarke knows how to get the players going but the fans backing is so important as well and this just adds to another lift we can give the team." Some devices were banned by UEFA following the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where vuvuzela’s were used in the stands.
The plastic horns created a noise similar to a large swarm of bees, however they were said to be too loud and risked "drowning supporter emotions and detracting from the experience of the game," European football's governing body said.
Items that have been banned include megaphones, air horns, pea whistles. Scotland will kick off their campaign with a game against host country Germany on June 14 in Munich before playing Switzerland on June 19 in Cologne, closing the group stages with a game against Hungary on June 23 in Stuttgart.
