2026 Best Band on the Island: judging panel with international flavour announced
The panel of judges for Achill Island's "Best Band on the Island" competition of 2026 was announced earlier today. Featuring experts from bagpiping centres of excellence right across the globe, the panel will convene in a secret location (probably Lourdie's) at the end of the St. Patrick's Day festivities in Achill on 17th March 2026, to assess which of the bands taking part in the competition will prove worthy of being crowned champions.
The competition, which takes place in Achill every year on St. Patrick's Day, is keenly contested - both by the pipe bands involved and by their supporters. This rivalry has at times spilled over into outright antagonism, culminating in 2025 with accusations that one of the competing bands was running an illegal doping programme to ensure victory. Although those accusations were unproven, the committees of the Achill pipe bands recognised the need to address the impact the intense rivalry has on community cohesion.
The conclusion reached at a fiery conclave last Tuesday fortnight-three-weeks was to appoint judges with no, or at least sufficiently distant, connections to the island of Achill. Further, and given the high media profile commanded by the competition internationally, the decision was taken to appoint judges from abroad (though not Pollagh due to their presence in the competition) to fend off any accusations of bias.
As a result, judges from Glasgow in Scotland, Manchester in England, Frankfurt in Germany, New York in the US, the Rhodopes in Bulgaria, and Sialkot in Pakistan have been handed the task of judging the competition on St. Patrick's Day 2026.
Even the seemingly straightforward task of selecting neutral judges was a fraught affair. But following extended negotiations into the small hours, the controversial inclusion of England in the panel was passed by simple majority.
As always, the competition is bound to be hotly contested. Although the Dooagh Pipe Band will be seeking a record-extending eighth consecutive win in the competition, the other bands will no doubt feel that a change in the voting process will play to their advantage. All the Achill pipe bands however face stiff competition from an unexpected source in the form of US President Donald Trump, who claims to be widely recognised - even at this early stage - as the best band on the island.
Dooagh Pipe Band chairman, David McNamara, had this to say: "I have every confidence that no matter what tricks the opposition bands pull to try and undermine the Dooagh band's position as the pre-emient pipe band on the island, we will continue to deliver for our supporters, for our village, for Ireland, and for the world. Bring it on!!!"
