It Wasn't Rugby And It Was A Difficult Watch

OLD RUDYARD KIPLING had a way with words: including - “What do they know of England, who only England knows”. That line was written at the height of Empire, but, it didn't half land on the executives from TNT Sports, who were in charge of that channel's coverage of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, which ended on Sunday night.

Like a lot of my fellow Baby Boomers, I have occasional struggles with technology – I simply could not get my entitlement to HBO Max to work. One of my fellow Boomers, more technologically adept than I assures me that was the best way to watch the Games. Any way, stuck with the normal TNT service, I was less than whelmed.

Now, TNT does a good job of making the creakingly heavy play in a lot of the Gallacher Prem Rugby coverage they supply appear interesting. However, the underlying message is: “This is English Rugby, therefore it is the best”.

It isn't, in fact, if you were to rate the three major European Rugby Union Leagues, the pecking order would be:

1. France's Top 14

2. The United Rugby Championship

3. The Gallagher Prem

If you had to select a Best XV from the Prem, and the selectors weren't English, there would hardly be a home-grown English player in that XV. But that would not stop TNT's talking heads from picking English players as the majority of the team.

That unconscious, institutionalised, pro-English bias was all too obvious in the TV coverage from Glasgow. Of course, it's the price we pay for being an English colony. Yes, one or two Scottish accents were noted in the coverage, but, these talented locals had to adapt to the House Jock attitude which London demands of its TV talking heads: be polite Scots and remember to big-up the English competitors.

The TV coverage attracted a lot of criticism from viewers – mainly around the fact the Games were not covered by BBC. Now decisions made inside the BBC Headquarters are way above my pay grade, but, the mortal remains of some of the great broadcasting names of the past must be burlin' in their graves at what BBC Sports coverage has been allowed to become.

That said, I still think, had an English city: Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds or Newcastle say, picked up the baton when Victoria dropped it, then I am certain we would have had wall-to-wall Clare Balding and Gabby Logan; we would have had Steve Cram and Andy Cotter calling the athletics and everything would have been wonderful – while we Jocks would still be upset at the in-built pro-English bias.

Personal highlights:

• Melanie Woods being named Athlete of the Games, after winning her two gold medals in the wheelchair events. That moment when the Mauritian athlete pulled alongside her in the 400 metres and Mel immediately lit the afterburners to pull clear and win her second gold, that was a WOW! Moment.

• Josh Kerr winning the Mile. OK, he was the favourite, but, if every favourite won, the bookmakers would not be as rich as they are. The way Josh simply burst clear down the back straight on the last lap was pure class.

• Duncan Scott winning another gold – the boy is class, but, given the training load of swimmers, how does he keep motivating himself to go out there and do it again?

• Emma Finucane – Welsh sport has been in a bit of a slump of late, but her success, while it owes much to the excellent GB Clycling programme, will surely light a spark in the valleys. With Laura Kenny, Sarah Storey and Katie Archibald all retiring, we need an outstanding female cyclist, Emma is in pole position to carry the torch forward.

• Rosie Davies's track double. We seem to treat the 5K and 10K races as African events, with Eilish McColgan switching to the Marathon, there is a place for a Caucasian to get into the mix and Davies could be that woman. She was one of the leaders in a terrific effort by the Australians, just think what they might have won had the Games been in Victoria.

• Kyle Jiminez's buzzer beater in the 3x3 Basketball. I got into basketball watching lunch-time 3x3 games in the Cumnock Academy Games Hall, so, I appreciate this short form of the game and that basket was just about the ultimate Hail Mary!

• Zoe Hobbs winning the women's 100 metres. The commentators had this one nailed-on as an English gold medal but the little Kiwi, in the outside lane, pulled it off, brilliantly.

• Neil Fachie's performance. They never come back is a boxing maxim but the wee man proved it wrong with a gritty medal double. To get up after that crash and win, outstanding.

• Sir Chris Hoy's presence. The man is dying, we don't know how much longer we will have him, but, if Glasgow 2026 was the last we see of him in public, he went out where he has been all his public life – on top.

• Ellie Simmonds – wee Ellie is already a National Treasure, her sheer enthusiasm, allied to her deep knowledge of swimming, enhanced the coverage.

Those are my ten highlights – now for the lowlights:

• TNT's editorial decisions. At times they had two different TNT channels covering the same event – that's amateurish in the extreme.

• The pro-England cheer-leading of the commentators, again, amateurish, but, hardly surprising.

• On their day, Alec “Tattie” Marshall and Paul Foster are unbeatable. This was a nailed-on Scottish gold medal; in the end they didn't even medal, proving, even the best can be beaten.

• The absence of so many so-called track superstars. OK, the European Championships start in a week's time, in BIRMINGHAM, and, surprise, surprise, the BBC will be throwing everything at that. But, if Josh Kerr can double-up, what was stopping some of our so-called stars who run shorter distances, from also competing in Glasgow?

• I'm old enough to remember Raymond Glendinning and W Barrington Dalby getting it totally wrong when commentating on boxing bouts between an American champion and a gutsy British challenger – in Glasgow, Richie Woodhall, at times, reached their level of getting it wrong jingoism.

• The dimming of the light for the likes of Jemma Reekie, Laura Muir and Jake Wightman. These games were one too far for these Scottish talents, but, just about every sporting career wanes.

• OK, with Scotstoun handling the Athletics, there was no venue, but, that lack of Rugby Sevens and the chance to see the Fijian VII in action was a loss.

• No Shazza Davies at the swimming, Big Shaz is the only reason we gentlemen of a certain age watch these events.

• Delta Goodrem – ok, she's pleasant to look at, but why was she on? If the Aussie's had to send us an act for the closing ceremony, why couldn't they have conscripted Kylie?

• You were in Glasgow – Jim Kerr and Simple Minds!!! Why not Deacon Blue, finishing off with Dignity? That would have lifted the Hydro roof.

Good luck to Amdavad in 2030. If their contribution to the hand-over element of Sunday night is any guide, they will do it well. Mind you, such a pity the Centenary event isn't going to Canada, where it all started; and that is no reflection on India.