{"id":600100,"date":"2026-04-11T13:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/600100\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T13:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:31:10","slug":"2026-australian-champions-perth-metro-wins-grade-3-pipesdrums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/600100\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Australian Champions; Perth Metro wins Grade 3 \u2013 pipes|drums"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WAPOL_logo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-91994\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WAPOL_logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"124\"  \/><\/a>Perth, Australia \u2013 April 11, 2026 \u2013 The Grade 2 Western Australia Police under Pipe-Major Chris MacDonald and Leading Drummer Ryan Green were awarded the 2026 Australian Pipe Band Championship at the biannual contest hosted this year by Pipe Bands Western Australia at Subiaco Oval in Subiaco, a suburb of the Western Australia state capital. The weather was perfect.<\/p>\n<p>Hawthorn, Australia\u2019s only Grade 1 band, did not attend, and the only Grade 2 band to enter was the Western Australia Police. Grade 3 was the highest contested category, with six bands competing, and Perth Metro No.1 was the overall champion.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian Championships are co-managed by Pipe Bands Australia every two years and rotate among the country\u2019s six state pipe band associations (Pipe Bands Western Australia, Pipe Bands New South Wales, Pipe Bands Queensland, Pipe Bands Victoria, Pipe Bands South Australia, Pipe Bands Tasmania), depending on which association bids to host.<\/p>\n<p>The five-hour flight from Sydney to Perth is comparable to flights from Toronto to Vancouver or from New York to Glasgow, a substantial commitment for most of Australia\u2019s competing pipe bands.<\/p>\n<p>The total prize pool was more than AUD$8,500 distributed across all grades. Each winner also received a \u201cVictor\u2019s Pipe Banner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The event was livestreamed on YouTube, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/VstUmu3C2ec\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the entire eight-plus hours are available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WAPOL_Australian_Championships_2026.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-123095\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WAPOL_Australian_Championships_2026.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"218\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Grade 2<br \/>Medley<br \/>Western Australia Police<br \/>Judges: Ainsley Hart, Joy Joyce (piping); Greg Bassani (drumming); Callum MacSween (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>MSR<br \/>Western Australia Police<br \/>Judges: Scott Nicolson, Matthew Rigby (piping); Emlyn Brown (drumming); Brian Martin (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>Grade 3<br \/>Overall<br \/>1st Perth Metro No.1<br \/>2nd Scots College No.1<br \/>3rd Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No.1<br \/>4th Scotch College Melbourne No.1<br \/>5th Coastal Scottish WA<br \/>6th Haileybury No.1<br \/>Drumming: Scots College No.1<\/p>\n<p>Medley<br \/>1st Perth Metro No.1 (1,4,3,1)<br \/>2nd Scots College No.1 (4,3,2,2)<br \/>3rd Coastal Scottish WA (3,1,6,3)<br \/>4th Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No.1 (2,2,5,4)<br \/>5th Scotch College Melbourne No.1 (5,5,1,5)<br \/>6th Haileybury No.1 (6,6,4,6)<br \/>Judges: Ainsley Hart, Joy Joyce (piping); Greg Bassani (drumming); Callum MacSween (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>MSR<br \/>1st Scots College No.1 (2,2,1,1)<br \/>2nd Perth Metro No.1 (1,1,3,2)<br \/>3rd Scotch College Melbourne No.1 (4,4,2,3)<br \/>4th Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No. 1 (3,3,4,5)<br \/>5th Coastal Scottish WA (5,5,6,4)<br \/>6th Haileybury No.1 (6,6,5,6)<br \/>Judges: Scott Nicolson, Matthew Rigby (piping); Emlyn Brown (drumming); Brian Martin (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>Grade 4A<br \/>Overall<br \/>1st City of Melbourne No. 2<br \/>2nd Lion City<br \/>3rd Perth Highland<br \/>Drumming: Lion City<\/p>\n<p>Medley<br \/>1st City of Melbourne No. 2 (1,2,2,2)<br \/>2nd Lion City (3,3,1,1)<br \/>3rd Perth Highland (2,1,3,3)<br \/>Judges: Ainsley Hart, Joy Joyce (piping); Greg Bassani (drumming); Callum MacSween (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>MSR<br \/>1st Lion City (2,2,1,1)<br \/>2nd City of Melbourne No.2 (1,1,2,2)<br \/>3rd Perth Highland (3,3,3,3)<br \/>Judges: Scott Nicolson, Matthew Rigby (piping); Emlyn Brown (drumming); Brian Martin (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>Grade 4B<br \/>Overall<br \/>1st Scotch College Melbourne No. 2<br \/>2nd The Scots College No. 2<br \/>3rd Presbyterian Ladies\u2019 College Perth<br \/>4th Coastal Scottish WA<br \/>5th Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No. 2<br \/>6th Rockingham City<br \/>7th Haileybury No. 2<br \/>8th Northside Highlanders<br \/>Drumming: Scotch College Melbourne No.2<\/p>\n<p>Medley<br \/>1st Scots College No.2 (1,1,2,1)<br \/>2nd Scotch College Melbourne No.2 (2,2,1,3)<br \/>3rd Presbyterian Ladies\u2019 College Perth (4,3,4,2)<br \/>4th Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No.2 (3,7,3,6)<br \/>5th Rockingham City (6,6,5,4)<br \/>6th Haileybury No.2 (7,4,6,5)<br \/>7th Coastal Scottish WA (5,5,7,7)<br \/>8th Northside Highlanders (8,8,8,8)<br \/>Judges: Ainsley Hart, Joy Joyce (piping); Greg Bassani (drumming); Callum MacSween (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>MSR<br \/>1st Scotch College Melbourne No. 2 (1,4,1,1)<br \/>2nd Scots College No.2 (2,3,2,3)<br \/>3rd Coastal Scottish WA (4,1,5,4)<br \/>4th Presbyterian Ladies\u2019 College Perth (6,5,3,2)<br \/>5th Rockingham City (5,2,6,5)<br \/>6th Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No.2 (3,6,4,6)<br \/>7th Haileybury No.2 (7,8,7,7<br \/>8th Northside Highlanders (8,7,8,8)<br \/>Judges: Scott Nicolson, Matthew Rigby (piping); Emlyn Brown (drumming); Brian Martin (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>Novice Juvenile A<br \/>Overall<br \/>1st Scots College No.1<br \/>2nd Scotch College Melbourne No.1<br \/>3rd Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No.1<br \/>4th Haileybury No.1<br \/>Drumming: Scotch College Melbourne No.1<\/p>\n<p>Medley<br \/>1st Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No.1 (1,3,3,1)<br \/>2nd Scots College No.1 (3,2,1,2)<br \/>3rd Scotch College Melbourne No.1 (2,1,2,3)<br \/>4th Haileybury No.1 (4,4,4,4)<br \/>Judges: Ainsley Hart, Joy Joyce (piping); Greg Bassani (drumming); Callum MacSween (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>MSR<br \/>1st Scots College No.1 (1,1,2,3)<br \/>2nd Scotch College Melbourne No.1 (3,3,1,1)<br \/>3rd Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No.1 (2,2,3,2)<br \/>4th Haileybury No.1 (4,4,4,4)<br \/>Judges: Scott Nicolson, Matthew Rigby (piping); Emlyn Brown (drumming); Brian Martin (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>Novice Juvenile B<br \/>Overall<br \/>1st College Melbourne No.2<br \/>2nd Scots College No.2<br \/>3rd Presbyterian Ladies\u2019 College Perth<br \/>4th Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No.2<br \/>5th Haileybury No.2<br \/>Drumming: College Melbourne No.2<\/p>\n<p>Medley<br \/>1st College Melbourne No.2 (2,2,1,1)<br \/>2nd Scots College No.2 (1,1,2,3)<br \/>3rd Presbyterian Ladies\u2019 College, Perth (3,3,3,2)<br \/>4th Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No.2 (4,4,4,4)<br \/>5th Haileybury No.2 (5,5,5,5)<br \/>Judges: Ainsley Hart, Joy Joyce (piping); Greg Bassani (drumming); Callum MacSween (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>Selection of Marches<br \/>1st College Melbourne No.2 (1,1,1,1)<br \/>2nd Scots College No.2 (2,4,2,2)<br \/>3rd Presbyterian Ladies\u2019 College, Perth (3,2,4,3)<br \/>4th Brisbane Boys\u2019 College No.2 (4,3,5,4)<br \/>5th Haileybury No.2 (5,5,3,5)<br \/>Judges: Scott Nicolson, Matthew Rigby (piping); Emlyn Brown (drumming); Brian Martin (ensemble)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brucegandymusic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fp-advert-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gandy_chanter_bratach1200.gif\" alt=\"Bruce Gandy \u2013 banner\"\/> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perth, Australia \u2013 April 11, 2026 \u2013 The Grade 2 Western Australia Police under Pipe-Major Chris MacDonald and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-600100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}