The Commonwealth Games Keeps Rolling — But Who's It Really For?

The Commonwealth Games is back, and so is the argument that’s followed it for decades. Scotland — twice a host in 12 years — is once again staging what critics describe as a celebration of British imperial legacy at a time when calls to reckon with that history have never been louder.

Scotland’s Complicated Position

It’s a strange irony. Scotland, a nation that has spent the better part of this century debating its own independence from Westminster, keeps finding itself as the backdrop for a competition born out of empire. Glasgow hosted in 2014. And here we are again.

Scotland isn’t the villain here — it’s a willing host, not a colonial architect. But the optics are hard to ignore. The Commonwealth Games carries its origins in its original name: the British Empire Games. That name changed. The structure, largely, didn’t.

The Decolonisation Argument Isn’t Going Away

Across sport and culture, the push to examine colonial legacies has reshaped conversations from museum collections to cricket governance. The Commonwealth Games, somehow, keeps sidestepping the same scrutiny.

Participation numbers remain strong. Television deals get signed. Athletes compete. And yet the foundational question — why is this organisation structured around a former empire, and who does it serve? — doesn’t get answered between opening ceremonies.

The Games aren’t collapsing. Nations still send teams, still chase medals, still celebrate on the podium. But “it still exists” and “it still makes sense” are two very different arguments. Right now, defenders of the Commonwealth Games are making the first one and hoping nobody notices it isn’t the second.

LF — Breaking news correspondent, australiafootball.com