A kind of magic typically descends on Scotland when it hosts world sporting events.
I am a veteran of several Open championships at St Andrews and, at each one, I’ve fallen under the spell.
Seve Ballesteros holing his 12ft putt on the 18th to clinch the title in1984? I was greenside, watching the ball hesitate on the lip of the cup and then finally drop, prompting ecstasy from the Spaniard.
He later described it as happiest moment of his life. It was one of the most unforgettable in mine.
Some moaned about the road closures but it’s the magic I remember about the UCI Cycling World Championships when they hit Glasgow two summers ago.
In the 160mile men’s road race Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel hurtled into a crash barrier in the Merchant City after opening up a commanding lead.
‘Someone call an ambulance’ was my first thought. His first one was getting back on his damaged bike and hanging on for victory. Bewitching viewing.
So were the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 11 years ago. I was among the 60,000 at the opening ceremony at Celtic Park – a delightfully bonkers spectacle of dancing tea cakes and Scottie dogs in tartan coats leading out the teams from each participating nation.
A 3D installation is unveiled ahead of the 2014 Glasgow Games
The late Queen at the opening ceremony of the Games in 2014
The closing ceremony of the 2014 Glasgow Games
The late Queen was there; the Red Arrows too. Rod Stewart and Amy Macdonald duetted on Rhythm of My Heart together. Susan Boyle, bless her, did Mull of Kintyre.
I was too caught in the moment to consider how all this was playing elsewhere, but I gather a UK audience of nine million tuned in for the BBC’s coverage, while the estimated worldwide audience was one billion.
On the streets of Glasgow the games were inescapable. A volunteer army of more than 12,000 helpers – known as Clyde-siders – saw to that. Fine by me. In a few weeks it would be the independence referendum that was inescapable.
Here was a welcome chance for the city to stand as one before facing the sorry task of dividing itself in two.
I struggle to think of a single occasion in the past when Scotland has not been enriched by the arrival of elite sports men and women on its shores. Why then, does the return of the Commonwealth Games to Glasgow next summer feel like a terrible mistake?
Why does it bring groans rather than tingles of anticipation?
And why does the same sense of listlessness seem to afflict the BBC which, last time around, cleared its schedules for such unpromising spectacles as weightlifting from the Armadillo and bowling from Kelvingrove Park?
A year out from the Games, the Beeb has not yet committed to showing anything at all.
And, I’m sorry to say, I kind of get it.
In 2014 the athletics were hosted by Hampden Park, our national stadium. Twelve years later they are heading for Scotstoun stadium which, even with added temporary seating, will have a quarter of Hampden’s capacity.
There will be just 10 core sports and a total of four venues. In 2014 there were 17 sports and 16 venues.
Yes, these are a scaled down version of the Games, everyone involved has readily admitted ever since Glasgow contrived to find itself the only candidate for staging them – but they will still be magic.
Really? They are beginning to sound like a school sports day.
I wonder if attending them won’t feel rather like showing up for a wake and swapping wistful memories of the deceased. Remember 2014 when the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt stood in the rain in the east end and – allegedly – delivered the verdict that whole shebang was ‘a bit sh*t’?
How fervently we took issue at the time. Sure, it may have lacked the wallop of the Olympics or the World Cup Finals but it was a sporting feast nonetheless. Our stadiums were filled. Our hearts were full, our voices hoarse.
This time around? I cannot imagine being in any position to disagree with the sprinter’s original assessment.
You may remember that the Australian state of Victoria was slated to host the 2026 Games until it pulled out in July 2023.
State premier Daniel Andrews – a republican – said he was not prepared to spend up to £3.6 billion on a ‘12 day sporting event’.
‘I’ve made a lot of difficult decisions in this job,’ he added: ‘This is not one of them.’
The 2022 Games were held in Birmingham after Durban in South Africa – the only bidder for the event – was ruled out due to financial constraints.
The opening ceremony of the 2014 Glasgow Games was viewed by millions
The 2030 Games? They were supposed to be heading for Alberta in Canada but, a month after Victoria ditched plans to host next year’s games, Alberta got its cancellation in early for following edition.
Are we getting a pattern here? Is every Commonwealth country but Britain waking up to the fact the games are past their sell-by date?
I’m lukewarm at best about the return of the Games not only because, by financial necessity, they will be a pale imitation of the 2014 version. It’s also the fact no-one else on the planet wanted them. Victoria was prepared to hand over £100 million to Glasgow just to be shot of them.
How deafening the silence from potential hosts when Mr Andrews delivered his bombshell in 2023. All around, great Commonwealth nations sitting on their hands, avoiding gazes, waiting for some muggins UK city to blink.
As a sports lover, it depresses me to say it, but I wish Glasgow had sat on its hands too.
If these games are to survive – and I doubt they will – then the least they require is a level of desire among nations beyond our shores to host them.
That’s a big ask in the 21st century. Don’t forget this is an event which began life in 1930 as the British Empire Games and did not drop the word ‘empire’ from its name until 1970.
Queen Elizabeth II may not have seen it this way – she treasured the Commonwealth – but the competing nations in this quadrennial fixture owe their right to participate to history which not all of their populations now celebrate.
It’s because of this history that Canadian athletes compete but USA ones do not, that practically the whole of Europe is a no show.
Here in the UK our attachment to the Games is, I suspect, of a different nature to that of other Commonwealth nations – and not simply because we are the daddy. We enjoy the fact that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete as separate nations rather than Team GB as they do in the Olympics. For those of a Nationalist, republican bent, it may be the one thing the Games have going for them.
But I wonder if the time has come for us to worry less about keeping the Games on life support and focus more on their reputation outside the UK. Are they a thing of value or a diplomatic chore? Do top-flight athletes in Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Jamaica still see them as relevant to their careers or might they have come round to Mr Bolt’s way of thinking?
I don’t say it should be the latter but, if it is, it’s time to let go.