No, They're Not Out for Shooting
Glasgow have been confirmed as the hosts of a stripped down Commonwealth Games in 2026. The Games will feature just 10 sports, and even the survivors have been picked bare. For the first time there will be no marathon (which traditionally showcased the host city and guaranteed a free event for local spectators). Likewise, cycling will be track-only. No road racing or MTB.
This is sad, but not surprising. As I previously wrote, western governments are broken (not broke, just broken), labouring under the Thatcherite/Reagonomic delusion that government finances should work the same as household finances. It’s like they’ve forgotten the Bank of England even exists. John Maynard Keynes is turning in his grave.
In any case, the inevitable then happened in shooting social circles. The perennial wailing and gnashing of teeth about “the antis” and “trying to get rid of shooting”. The same happened around the 2022 Birmingham Games, and it’s going on now.
Speaking as someone who has participated in a High Performance programme, and also been involved in funding bids from Sport England, let me say this:
Shooting is an Olympic sport. One amongst many. The bods at Sport England, UK Sport and Games Organising Committees do not have an axe to grind (nor the time to grind one). They are not playing out some (imagined) vendetta against shooting or target sports. Get a grip.
A few comments on Facebook are truly facepalm-worthy.
This is disappointing but unsurprising - there is no desire from CG to have shooting represented.
The first bit is correct. The second is a weird take. It is particularly disappointing that shooting is missing two Games on the trot. But when you get in the weeds, you can see where it went wrong. Birmingham was a weird one - done in a rush, limited budget and genuine lack of extant shooting facilities around Birmingham. And the contribution of British Shooting and the ISSF was “We’d like you to spend £15m on a logistically complex site in Surrey.” No. I’d have voted against that. Come on.
Glasgow 2026 hasn’t specifically “excluded Shooting”. They’ve selected a small subset of sports, to the exclusion of Squash, Triathlon, the Marathon, Road Cycling, Badminton, Hockey and yes… Shooting. This is deeply disappointing. But it’s not some nebulous plot by “the antis” (whoever they are). It’s a cherry-picking of data - “No shooting, therefore must be against shooting”.
There are no ranges within distance which would meet the necessary requirements? That, or sports halls which could have temporary ranges installed for airguns at least? Seems like a deliberate effort to nudge shooting out of the games, in furtherance of a particular agenda
Despite claims to the contrary, Scotland and Glasgow don’t have extant facilities for the full Shooting programme - and certainly not on the same site. People perhaps think “well here’s a range, let them shoot”. But haven’t considered the practicalities of accommodating spectators, press, a media centre, etc. Or accommodating Section 5 pistols. If you want to include fullbore rifle then that relocates the whole event to a 1,000yard range in the middle of nowhere (Barry Buddon or Blair Atholl). 50metre ranges are marginally easier to come by, but not with the firing point or spectator capacity required. We could drop fullbore and just do airgun in a sports hall. Or dump any rifle and pistol and just have clay pigeon. These would be fairly easy to do - just throw up some temporary seating and you’re set. But people will then accuse you of throwing their discipline under the bus.
The shooting organisations will generally oppose a cherry-picking of disciplines and want to see all disciplines represented, which is not unreasonable. But an all-or-nothing approach does mean that sometimes you get nothing.
who organised it ? Channel 4 ? Labour will have a gun ban within no time, and this was known about Scotland they put air guns on licence!! Fun fact is lefty folk don’t like guns .
This is just foaming-at-the-mouth incoherent rambling.
We know who’s organising it - the organisers (ask a stupid question…). As for Channel 4 - they have been perfectly supportive of shooting, as much as they’re supportive of any small sport. The same is true of the BBC - the Shooting page on BBC Sport is far better maintained than that of Archery or Fencing. Those that pay attention will know that Alex Brooker (of “The Last Leg” fame) has participated in para air rifle himself, is friends with Matt Skelhon and has featured Matt and Shooting on The Superhuman Show (a Channel 4 commission).
Truth be told, Channel 4 have done as much for Shooting Para-sport in their coverage as some Governing bodies. And no, it’s not wall-to-wall, but then neither is coverage for anything that isn’t swimming or athletics.
And the “lefty folk” bit? Goodness, you’d be surprised how many Green, Lib Dem and Labour voting shooters there are about…
Anyway
I’m am bitterly disappointed both at the lack of shooting, and at the direction of the CWG in general. We are at risk of losing something quite special and meaningful.
But this is not a result of a vendetta against target sports. This is the victim-mentality of British target sports taking any perceived slight as a considered and deliberate attack. Fact is, we’re terrible at promoting ourselves, lots of clubs have no website or social media presence. The idea that you might court media coverage by sending press releases or news to your local press is actively laughed at. But then people complain that their local press don’t know they exist 🤔 Yeah, it’s a mystery alright.
If you want Shooting to be better represented, then stand up and be counted - you, your club, your county. (Edit: Be like Rugeley Rifle Club). Get yourselves in the press, do outreach to Scouts, Cadets and adult groups. If you’re in an urban area, consider running Warm Spaces. Become a civic amenity (and say “Hey, wanna try a bit of air rifle whilst you’re here?”). If your club doesn’t have a space that gets warm… then might that be indicative of your more general recruitment difficulties? This doesn’t apply everywhere of course. Some clubs are in the middle of nowhere, or strictly outdoor-only. But it’s worth thinking about.
The difficulty shooting faces is far more often indifference than hostility. Could we try fixing that?