Rangers fans 'kidnap' bagpiper

10:16am Saturday 17th May 2008

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A BAGPIPE player from York missed his train home after he was "kidnapped" by hundreds of partying Rangers fans as they travelled to the UEFA Cup Final.

Talented piper Steven Roughley, 46, was returning from a business meeting when he bumped into hordes of the supporters in high spirits heading to their team's UEFA Cup Final on Wednesday morning.

Proud Scotsman Steven, who has played in a pipe band for six years, spotted a set of pipes among the flags and banners on the train platform in Leeds.

When the owner of the pipes admitted he did not really know how to play them, Steven seized his opportunity and performed perfect versions of Scotland The Brave and Flower of Scotland to the delight of the dancing fans.

However, when social worker Steven pleaded with the supporters to let him go, they "kidnapped" him and forced him to play repeatedly.

He finally managed to escape the fans' clutches by fleeing across a railway bridge.

The married dad-of-three said: "I was coming back from a business meeting in Leeds and went to the station to get back to work in York. There were hundreds of Rangers fans there in kilts, shirts and waving banners and flags.

"I saw something wrapped up in a flag and recognised the shape as a set of pipes.

"I said I was a piper so I quickly tuned them up and struck up Scotland The Brave and Flower Of Scotland. They loved and it were going absolutely mental, dancing and singing on the platform, and twirling me round as I played. After the first song hundreds of fans gathered round me, and after about 20 minutes of playing I told them I had a train to catch. They just said "no wee man, you're coming with us to Manchester" and said they were going to kidnap me."

For the next half an hour, blushing Steven, of Lawrence Street, York, was applauded and serenaded by the happy fans with bemused commuters and chuckling cops looking on.

In his spare time Steven, whose father hails from Balloch, near Loch Lomond, plays in the City of York Pipe Band.

The Scottish club, currently second in the Scottish Premier League, took an estimated travelling army of 120,000 to the game at the City of Manchester Stadium, which their side lost 2-0 to Russian team Zenit St Petersburg.

More than 40 fans were later arrested after rioting in the streets.