Marymass' iconic greasy pole competition has been axed this year following an insurance bungle.
The iconic Irvine event won't go ahead later today as scheduled after organisers claimed their usual insurer is no longer in business.
Legal advice was sought to determine whether participants could sign a waiver, but experts dismissed the notion, organisers confirmed. Last-ditch attempts to find a new insurance provider but have been unable to secure coverage.
The competition was axed less than 24 hours before it was due to take place with the event one of many showpiece events on Marymass Saturday.
A post from the Marymass Festival Facebook page reads: "The greasy pole has unfortunately been temporarily suspended for 2022. Due to us being unable to source insurance for the greasy pole we have been left with no alternative but to cancel this event.
"We are sorry for the late announcement, we have tried out hardest to get insurance right up until late this afternoon.
"Join us at 2pm at the base of the pole for a special memorial to the late Shammy Cooper. Shammy holds a record that will never be broken, successfully claiming victory over the Greasy Pole 26 times in 30 attempts! Our thoughts are with Shammy's family this Marymass."
The greasy pole event sees teams of participants try to scramble to the top of a huge 25ft wooden telecoms pole. Successful teams then have to cut the prize ham from the top.
The greasy pole is no stranger to controversy with the recent history of the event appearing to be cursed. In 2017 yobs tried to saw that pole down a day before the event and in 2008 the prize ham was stolen from the top.
Organisers went on to say: "Our usual insurance provider is no longer in business, hence the removal of our usual insurance. Our volunteers worked tirelessly to seek a new provider, as you can imagine this has been a long, difficult and thankless task.
"We took legal advice this week with regards using a disclaimer and letting the pole go ahead should we not secure insurance. Sadly our legal advice has been that the disclaimer would not stand up in court and therefore we have no option but to cancel.
"Our team regret making this hard decision, this is one of our showpiece events and not a decision we take lightly."
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