The Commonwealth Games Just Became a Political Rally

From Starting Blocks to Soapbox: The Commonwealth Games’ Identity Crisis

I always thought the Commonwealth Games was a fairly simple arrangement.

Shall I explain it?

• Athletes train for years.

• Athletes fly halfway around the world.

• Athletes try to run faster than people they’ve never met.

• Athletes take part in medal ceremony.

• Athletes fly home and appear in Corn Flakes commercials.

I know, I know. It’s a charmingly old-fashioned concept.

We used to call it “sport”.

But those days, apparently, are as outdated as wooden tennis racquets.

Commonwealth Games to Push LGBT+

Organisers of the 2026 Commonwealth Games — in Glasgow, not Melbourne — have spent part of their budget backing a campaign to target competing nations where homosexuality is criminalised.

So much for sport.

The Commonwealth Games were supposed to be about competition, not condemnation.

Athletes — who spend years preparing for their moment on the track — probably assumed the biggest challenge would be beating their opponents, not explaining their government’s views on sexual etiquette.

“How did you run a world record time? Also, do you think men having sex with other men is wrong? And if so, how do you run so quick whilst carrying all that bigotry?”

It’s silly.

And it’s hypocritical.

Western nations demand the right to kill huge numbers of babies in the womb while berating African nations for frowning on homosexuality?

Really?

We want to play that game?

Western nations insist that sex is fluid while also insisting that sexual orientation is fixed.

But it’s the Africans who are backwards because they think men are men and that men having sex with men is all sorts of ick.

Western nations preached Christianity to Africa, but now preach woke and complain that the Africans won’t convert.

Games Should Not Be about Politics

Here’s another thing…

When did buying a ticket to watch a 100-metre sprint become an invitation to attend a political rally?

The Commonwealth Games was created to bring together diverse countries with different histories, cultures, religions and traditions.

Now the organisers complain that participants don’t all think alike when it comes to sex.

Seriously?

And what about the question of money.

The Commonwealth Games are not exactly enjoying a golden age.

The event has struggled with costs, cancelled hosting arrangements (hello Melbourne) and value for taxpayers.

That last question is even more pertinent now that we discover funding is being used not to build athletics tracks but to campaign… for sexual diversity.

Sport has a remarkable ability to bring people together.

It would be a shame to turn it into just another place where people come to argue.

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Republished with thanks to The James Macpherson Report.

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ODM Daily Commentary

Let’s be honest: the Commonwealth Games have lost the plot. What was once a celebration of athletic excellence has become a political soapbox, with organisers using the event to lecture competing nations about sexual ethics. And the athletes? They are just the pawns in this game.

The article from The James Macpherson Report skewers this absurdity with surgical precision. The Games were supposed to be about competition, not condemnation. Athletes train for years to run faster, jump higher, and throw further. They didn’t sign up to defend their government’s views on sexual etiquette.

The hypocrisy is staggering. Western nations demand the right to kill babies in the womb while berating African nations for holding traditional views on homosexuality. Western nations insist that sex is fluid while also insisting that sexual orientation is fixed. Yet it is the Africans who are labelled backwards. The West preached Christianity to Africa, and now it complains that the Africans won’t convert to woke.

The article raises a crucial question: when did buying a ticket to watch a 100-metre sprint become an invitation to attend a political rally? The Commonwealth Games were created to bring together diverse countries with different histories, cultures, religions, and traditions. Now organisers complain that participants don’t all think alike. Seriously?

And then there is the money. The Games are struggling with costs, cancelled hosting arrangements, and value for taxpayers. Now we discover that funding is being used not to build athletics tracks but to campaign for sexual diversity. It is a scandal.

Sport has a remarkable ability to bring people together. It transcends politics, religion, and culture. It is a place where human achievement is celebrated. But when organisers turn it into a vehicle for political activism, they destroy that magic. They turn a unifying event into a divisive one.

So here is the challenge: let sport be sport. Let athletes be athletes. And let the Commonwealth Games return to what it was supposed to be—a celebration of human excellence, not a platform for political grandstanding.

The starting blocks are not a soapbox. And the athletes are not your political pawns.

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Keywords: Commonwealth Games, LGBT activism, political rally, sport vs politics, hypocrisy, Western double standards, African nations, homosexuality, religious values, woke ideology, athlete exploitation, taxpayer funding, Glasgow 2026