It has been reported that there will be no Belgian representative at the European Brass Band Championships in Birmingham in 2022.

It follows the late cancellation of the 2021 Belgian National Championships which were due to have taken place in on the weekend of 27th/28th November at the Zwaneberg Cultural Center in Heist-op-den-Berg due to Covid-19 concerns.

It will be the first time since 1984 that there would be no Belgian representative at the event.

Report

It was the second successive year that the event had to cancelled, and as a result Vlamo, the Flemish Amateur Music Organisation, issued a statement reported on the CU Brass website that it had taken the decision.

It was reported that they stated: "Due to the cancellation of the championships in 2020 and 2021, we do not have a sufficiently up-to-date evaluation of our brass bands and can therefore (having) no knowledge of the facts send a band to the EBBC 2022."

we do not have a sufficiently up-to-date evaluation of our brass bands and can therefore (having) no knowledge of the facts send a band to the EBBC 2022Vlamo

Youth and Composer

However, it is understood that Belgian representative players are being asked to apply to take part in the European Youth Brass Band as well as for the European Composers Competition..

The defending champion from 2019 was Brass Band Willebroek. 4BR has written to them and to European Brass Band Association for a statement.