Most people found it hilarious, says Thurso piper after Munich mishap
Tartan Army piper Bob Bell has confirmed that he – and his precious set of bagpipes – emerged unscathed from the Munich mishap that became a social media sensation.
Bob, from Thurso, took a tumble while playing a rousing tune in a bar packed with Scotland supporters attending the Euro 2024 football tournament in Germany.
The resultant video clip – showing the 37-year-old losing his balance on a bench seat, falling backwards, disappearing out of sight, then picking himself up and continuing where he left off – went viral and made news headlines at home and abroad.
It happened in the run-up to Scotland’s opening Group A match against Germany.
Bob is taking part in a series of organised performances as a member of the Pipes and Drums of the Tartan Army. The “piper doon” incident, as it has become known, happened last Wednesday night while he was having a refreshment ahead of Scotland’s opening match on the Friday.
“I’m having an amazing time,” Bob said this week. “The pipes have been played a lot and have been received very well by all.
“Between all the pipers involved we have had upwards of 20 million views on different social media platforms.
“The ‘piper doon’ video has obviously gone viral. The buzz of being in Munich meant I was quite ‘merry’ by the time it happened.
“I wasn’t injured, and the pipes were still in one piece, so I got back up onto the table and got on with the job of leading the pub back in a singsong!
“My phone was red hot for the whole day on Thursday but I was too busy enjoying Munich to realise just how much people were talking about it.
“I was recognised a lot in the squares of Munich, so I knew it was being talked about. But it was only really on the Friday, when I was taking things a bit easier – due to the match being a night kick-off – that I got the full scale of how many people had seen the video all around the world.
“The majority of people commenting found it hilarious, so it wasn’t too bad.”
Bob is part of the Thurso-based Top Joe’s Tartan Army. He was a member of Thurso Pipe Band from 2003 until 2008 and joined again after moving back to the town in 2022 following a spell living in Aberdeen.
He is a senior financial accountant working remotely for a worldwide engineering services company.
Other members of Top Joe’s Tartan Army were featured in a BBC TV news report on Wednesday as they looked ahead to that night’s match against Switzerland in Cologne.
Steve Clarke’s men began with a 5-1 defeat to the host nation and play their final group game against Hungary in Stuttgart on Sunday.