2 weeks Ago
An outcry was an inevitable consequence of kicking sports out of the Commonwealth Games programme and as expected, the reaction to which sports have made the cut and, perhaps more importantly, which have not for Glasgow 2026 has been immediate and vociferous. Only 10 sports will feature at Glasgow 2026 and this week, it was confirmed which have made it, and which have not. Athletics and swimming are in, which we always knew with them being classed as mandatory sports by the Commonwealth Games Federation.
What other sports would fill the remaining eight places was unclear, with this week’s announcement giving considerably more clarity as to what Glasgow 2026 will look like when it arrives in 21 months time. Gymnastics, track cycling, judo, weightlifting, netball, boxing, bowls and 3x3 basketball are all in. With varying degrees of controversy, rugby 7s, hockey, badminton, squash, table tennis, shooting, triathlon, diving and all road events, amongst others, are out.
The list is, clearly, heavily curtailed in comparison to the 18 sports at Glasgow 2014 and the 20 at Birmingham 2022. But the organisers were never going to be able to compile a list that would keep everybody, or even most people happy, given only ten sports could make the cut. And so cue emotions ranging from disappointment to apoplexy from sports which have been omitted and nations which feel they have been disadvantaged by the final selections.
From a country perspective, it’s India which is most disgruntled, pretty understandably when it becomes clear quite how much they’ve been done-over by the final list. Traditionally, India has been massively successful at the Commonwealth Games – in Birmingham in 2022, they finished fourth in the medal table. However, of India’s 210 athletes who competed in Birmingham, only 12 individuals are in sports which remain on the programme.
It prompted an Indian official to comment that "it feels like a conspiracy to sideline India's rising sporting potential." Australia, also, are unhappy, particularly about the omission of hockey. Within Scotland , the most vocal sports regarding their omissions have been badminton, hockey and squash but make no mistake, every sport which has previously relied on their involvement in the Commonwealth Games but now no longer can, will be devastated.
The importance of the Commonwealth Games in so many of the careers of Scottish athletes cannot be overstated. For some, the Games can be a stepping-stone to bigger and better things – most often the Olympics Games – with it giving a valuable taste of a multi-sport event and all that entails. Indeed, I competed at three Commonwealth Games before I made it to the Olympics.
But there’s also the raft of athletes who are very much elite but aren’t quite good enough to make it onto the Olympic stage . For them, the Commonwealth Games will be the pinnacle of their career. Now, that’s been taken away at least in the short-term, perhaps permanently.
There’s several major Scottish names who would have featured at Glasgow 2026 had there been a full sporting programme, but now will not. Olympic medal-winning triathlete Beth Potter won’t be there, nor will Olympic hockey medallist Sarah Robertson, former world shooting champion Seonaid McIntosh, world diving medallist Grace Reid, Commonwealth badminton medallist Kirsty Gilmour plus distance runner Eilish McColgan, who will have moved onto the roads by 2026. And there’s also the omission of rugby 7s which, for me, has been one of the best spectacles of recent Commonwealth Games’.
But this is the price that must be paid for doing a Commonwealth Games on what is basically a shoe-string budget. For perspective, Birmingham 2022 cost around £800 million whereas Glasgow 2026 will cost only £130 million. This difference is monumental and has inevitably led to some brutal decisions being taken about which sports will be in and which won’t.
As it happens, I think the organisers have done pretty well with this list of ten. Gymnastics is a must-have, as is track cycling. Both are huge crowd-pleasers and will have sell-out crowds.
Scotland excels in judo – Scottish judoka won 10 medals at Glasgow 2014 – and Scotland has similarly won multiple medals in boxing at the Commonwealth Games. And netball will be relieved to be included given the sport’s absence from the Olympics, leaving the Commonwealth Games as the biggest multi-sport event in which it can appear. I’m not convinced of the worth of including lawn bowls – for me, there’s other more attractive sports that could have been there in place of bowls – but overall, it’s a pretty decent list.
What, then, for the sports that have been dropped? The Commonwealth Games Federation has been at pains to stress missing out on Glasgow 2026 does not necessarily mean exclusion from future Commonwealth Games, assuming there is future Commonwealth Games, that is. But the damage to at least some of the sports will be significant. For so many of Scotland’s hockey players, the Commonwealth Games is, by some margin, the pinnacle of their career.
Only a handful ever make it into Olympic contention, and the same can be said for badminton. A curtailed sports programme, though, was the only viable option if these Games were to go ahead at all and in reality, once the event kicks-off in the summer of 2026, there will be no talk of what’s not there, only what is. But this is going to be the future for so many Scottish sports; waiting on tenterhooks to find out if they’ll make the cut for any given Commonwealth Games.
It’s far from ideal. But the alternative is no Commonwealth Games at all, and so these brutal cuts are better than that..
