Cowal Games 2013 R.I.P. - Who Killed the Cowal?

Cowal Games Organisers, Argyll and Bute Council and the Police group together to destroy Scotland's Finest Highland Gathering.

[@rosaprice]

From Canada and I first went in 84. loved it. big crowds, pipe bands marching down street before and after competition. couldn't squeeze a toothpick between throng of people lining the street to watch bands. been 5 times total. didn't enjoy it at all last time in 2012. no pipe bands before games marching to field and sporatic after games. carnival atmosphere at games site with bouncy castles for kids, every second stall selling booze and NOT ONE vendor so much as selling a practice chanter reed! I ALWAYS timed my visit to Scotland to see games in Dunoon. not anymore :0( Will settle for World Championships wherever they may be. still a GREAT town to visit though! thanks for posting brought back memories of Argyle Street to be sure...

[@euanm2054]

too true... grew up in Dunoon in the 90s and to see what happened to the games is criminal.

[@price-singspuccini6124]

@@euanm2054 Lucky lad! I am so glad that I saw the games when it was still about the piping. Best memories were the piper playing on the ferry and a group of old fellas singing the auld scotch songs in a pub after the games. The atmosphere was emotional as I’m from across the pond but my heritage and heart is in Scotland!

[@CountessNachtfrost1]

I watched the live feed yesterday [2015] and a bit of my heart always rests in Dunoon and was loving every moment. A big pat on the back to George Watson College who are not too big or mighty to keep coming back and I loved every moment. When I was little I used to count all the bands like Shotts and Dykehead etc. but people power and love of the games and Dunoon will keep the real people coming back xx

[@CountessNachtfrost1]

+Fiona Colquhoun I am in Yorkshire by the way.

[@carlb4u12]

We were there by chance. It just worked out that we could go back to Dunoon this very year and month. Many great memories from our duty aboard the USS Simon Lake '68-'71 in Holy Loch. Still keep in touch with Scottish friends.

[@evanmacduff3888]

my grate grandfather was the drum major of the band that won the 1938 cowal games world championship

[@donsinealarosa6446]

i was brought up going to cowal games, i live in italy and teach enlish to kids. once i found an english school book that illustrated the cowal games,i was so proud...the first time i took my italian husband over in 1992 COWAL WAS CELEBRATED FOR THREE DAYS..NON STOP...24H OF PIPES FROM THURSDAY TO SUNDAY NIGHT...the whole world was there... so sad to hear its gone

[@deanmechanical]

I loved the Cowal Games, I was stationed on USS Hunley in Holy Loch from 1982 - 84 and married a Scottish girl. I was in Scotland last week and go as often as possible, as it is my 2nd home. Sad to know "The Games" in Dunoon, are no more.

[@jessiemiller7770]

Don't worry, they are still happening! Like they were YESTERDAY! All that has changed is the worlds band competition isn't there anymore but they're just as good!

[@bettyshaw7552]

just loved this , went with the Boy,s Brigade when I was young. now live in Canada . This has been a great treat .

[@DrumMajorShaw]

I attended the games in 1992, 1993, and 2004 as a competitive drum major. The event was bigger and the parade better in the 90's. That is just my experience. The parade after the games was the best part of the event for me. Parties after the games were not as good in 2004 as they had been in the 90s. Every pub had a band in it after the games in the 90's. I have been told the games were OFF THE HOOK in the 80's when the US Navy base was still open at Cowal. Time changes everything, including the Cowal games.

[@xmas8155]

it was huge in 1980, i was stationed on the USS Holland and attended my first games,,, what a blast,, sorry to see it slide

[@DrumMajorShaw]

Yes, I was told when the naval base was still open the games were tremendous.

[@Jimbowhocares]

That’s not my experience, my daughter is a Highland dancer and Cowal is the culmination of a years worth of competition and championships. We’ve been going for years (apart from 2020/2021 and it’s always packed. Maybe you’re a bit bitter because of something but as far as I’ve seen it’s still doing extremely well

[@CastlesForEyes]

The highland dancing side of it is doing well, but the band side has gone from hundreds of bands, to less than 50. Argyll street used to be so packed you could hardly move, for most of the day. There used to be a real festival atmosphere. There's old footage here on KZbin to give you an idea.

[@McQueenUK]

Following discussion with the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, the Gathering has agreed to withdraw its pipe band championship’s ‘major’ status from 2014. Although the Cowal Highland Gathering will continue to host a pipe band competition it will no longer count towards the Champions of Champions competition. The RSPBA withdrawing their "major" status is the thin edge of the wedge.

[@kirstinemccowan2801]

What a load of pish. just wasted 11 mins of my life I am not going to get back. Cowal Games in not dead. This video doesn't even show Cowal Games in its true glory which is in the stadium where everything happens. The games is a competition, all these bands are competing all day not to mention the highland dancers competing for the world highland dancing champion title. Too many people are uneducated when it comes to the games. Have any of you posting negative comments about the games ever competed in it? The bands marching up and down Argyll Street is not what the games consist of. Its the bands choice to march in the march past after a long day of competing not the Games committee or the council. Think about that. These bands are here to compete not just for the pleasure of everyone standing in Argyll Street who didn't buy tickets to go into the stadium and watch them play at their absolute best performing technical medleys and showing their amazing talents. No matter what the local people think about the Games it will still continue every year attracting competitors from all over the world. Just because people in Dunoon don't appreciate it doesn't mean other people won't. Cowal Games is very much alive and kicking and its up to you if you want to support it or not. Instead of making negative comments and videos you should support something that actually still brings life and people to the town. People of Dunoon need to stop complaining and make it better. Its so easy for people to be negative all the time. why not make some effort and be positive?

[@McQueenUK]

Kirstine Mccowan 24 Bands this year. I rest my case.

[@kirstinemccowan2801]

What exactly is your case? Its still all happening in the stadium not the street. There may only be 26 bands actually, there is over 500 dancing competitors, the athletic competitors and the heavies. Its not just about the pipe bands. Why is that so hard for folk to understand? And its only the bands loss for not entering. I can tell you this the prize money at cowal is far higher than at the world pipe band championship and the trophies are heaped in far more history. Cowal Games is a highland games, filled with all different types of competiton its not purely a fecking pipeband competition. Why is that so hard to comprehend????

[@PIPERJIM2024]

Glad i read your comment before watching it then Lol

[@evanmacduff3888]

Why does everyone seem to think that cowal games is just the marchpass? I mean if you go to the staidium the atmosphere should be enough to bring you in. Not to mention everything leading up to the games such as the kirn gala and the sunset ceremony. Cowal games is far from dead.

[@alastairduncan4065]

The greed of the local shops, restaurants and chippies etc. having Cowal Games prices at double the normal prices plus the poor treatment of the bandsmen over the past 3 or 4 decades has also contributed greatly to this once great competition's demise. They have brought it on themselves........... Shame on them!

[@GayorgVonTrapp]

What happened? Has it been completely struck off the calendar?

[@kirstinemccowan2801]

Nope. Cowal Games is still going ahead. This video is a load of nonsense

[@rosaprice]

+Kirstine Mccowan Have read your replies to this video and can't agree with you though I wish to hell I could! Been 5 times and my first time at cowal games was 84 and the last time in 2012. BIG changes, not good. Carny atmosphere. As a foreign visitor my interest was in the piping yet I couldn't even find a vendor to sell me a practice chanter reed! Booze? Yes! Bouncy castles for kids? Yes! It may still be on but the atmosphere that it once had is gone. In 84 it took over 2 hours for the bands to parade down argyle st. when the games were over and there were no breaks in the parade...just band after band. In 2012, I could have walked around the block before hearing the next band. What happens on the field happens at other competitions as well. It was the atmosphere of the cowal games that was the draw. I was at world championship in Glasgow each time but there was no atmosphere. No parade down streets etc. Cowal HAS changed since 84 and not for the better...

[@euanm2054]

@@rosaprice spot on

[@TheTriumphgurl]

The bands are mostly going to the competition in Glasgow and they have bloody pay a bundle to march pass in the morning and the evening, in which I find idiotic. Also one of the hotels that housed the band shut down years ago.

[@mpullen99]

WTF. That's American for What the Fuck? When I was stationed in Holy Loch in the 80's, there were no strange critters in the march to the stadium. Just pipers and drummers. What happened? I didn't see one member of my lineage clan MacKinlay in the parade. I remember massive numbers of pipers and drummers at the stadium that would shake the skys.

[@SG-xy6hf]

The games in Dunoon lost a massive number of visitors when it stopped being considered one of the majors

[@bordersboy48]

cowal saturday was always a special day. the locals wont realise it is finished untll next year..

[@mpullen99]

Sad, I was considering flying my family over in 2014 to see what I enjoyed in 1989.

[@SG-xy6hf]

The council killed the cowal games.

[@bubbleboy02]

24-26 bands is a disgrace for a competition, even though it lost its championship status (which in itself is an utter joke) Cowal is still a major part of the season for me.

[@scottstewart7357]

I can remember the march past taking hours. This was the best weekend of the year by a diamond mile until the do-gooders ruined it by trying to make it more family orientated. Absolute joke.

[@McQueenUK]

Only 17 Bands attended this years games. The Cowal is now one big joke. Ignorance and arrogance of organisers, police and council have ruined Scotland's most popular highland gathering. Western Ferries and Calemac confirm that only a fraction of passengers travelled to Dunoon this year compared to last year. Next years event to be held in the telephone box in Alexandra Parade.

[@McQueenUK]

Mickie Shaw 1998 games 1998 Cowal Highland Gathering

[@TreasureHuntingSWPA412]

What's with all the weird costumes?

[@McQueenUK]

"More than 130 bands last year, down to 24 this year. The do-gooders & self-righteous must be very pleased with themselves, patting each other on the back. Who would have thought that such stupidity all those years ago of fixing something that wasn't broken would effectively turn "The Cowal Games" into a minor sideshow? The people responsible for making the streets an alcohol free zone.... that's who!!! It went downhill from there every year, lower attendances every year. Now the Bands aren't even coming thanks to the Uber-Pompous - including the Police, and the Council Health and Safety Zealots. On the up side - if it rains the event could be held indoors now... the Queens Hall this year, & if the trend continues the phone box at the Burgh Hall next year. Would the last person to leave........please turn off the light."

[@matthewhunter3370]

Are you suggesting we don’t bring in alcohol laws that prevent an increase in violent crime and many other offences just to save a Highland games if so you’re fucking delusional

[@CastlesForEyes]

@@matthewhunter3370 - The drinking ban was for the main street all the way up to the stadium. You could leave the main street and drink and the police didn't care. Not everyone drinking was falling about and fighting, they were just enjoying the festival atmosphere of it all.

[@marieeapz1]

The World's finest highland gathering!!

[@adamgray1107]

but i love cowal games

[@adamgray1107]

I LIVE IN THAT SHITE HOLE

[@CastlesForEyes]

10 years later, it's worse

[@stevex11sdw]

The only people killing the Cowal are you posting misleading rubbish about its demise and making people think twice about visiting the games. It would seem you regard not being able to drink in the streets the end of the games?. The rest of us are happy to attend the games (it's not just pipe bands) in the stadium with our family having contributed directly to the games by paying a very reasonable admission charge instead of hanging out of a pub door watching the pipers go by having contributed nothing to the games. As for local businesses putting up prices for the event, it makes perfect business sense to make up for the lean times throughout the year and is the same for events throughout the world. The Cowal games and associated spend no doubt help some of these businesses keep going so don't knock it. For anyone thinking of visiting Scotland, the Highland Games are not to be missed and should be treasured by the Scots as the national games. Long may they continue to entertain ....

[@CastlesForEyes]

200+ bands used to attend, marching to the stadium then back down after the competition. I think a couple of years ago the band count was about 38. The town used to be so packed you could barely move. Can't say that any more