It’s hilarious hearing pontificators reflexively saying “Melbourne is no longer the sporting capital of the world”.
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Or more realistically, a pedestrian crossing these days… With tolls.
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Fush n chups bro?
Christchurch is a major city??
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West Australia seems triggered (and not even a Murdoch paper)
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Probably belongs in the what amuses me thread but here it is:
The monarchists are distraught after the cancellation of the 2026 Victorian Commonwealth Games.
“It is truly a sad day for this country,” the Australian Monarchist League say in a statement.
It says the “hopes” of boys and girls “dreaming of a chance to compete” have been “dashed,” alongside Australia’s international reputation – which “lies today in tatters”.
“Just because the Victorian government got it wrong,” the league says “is no excuse to let the entire Commonwealth of Nations down”.
From now on Australia – and not just Victoria, will be known as a country that does not keep its word, a nation that breaks its agreements, a country never to be trusted ever again.
People are now asking “was it the cost, or are there deeper motives behind this fiasco?” Was it because the King may attend his first Commonwealth Games? Would this have happened had it been the Chinese Games, if there was such a thing? These are all questions that must be asked and must be answered.
From a pure sporting and athlete development point of view canning a home comm games 6 years out from a home Olympics is ■■■■■■■ dumb
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Now there’s a question people want answered! 
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Maybe a Commonwealth Games medal is worth little in terms of athletes international development. PanPac is worth more because it’s a more competitive environment. As to cycling it’s peanuts. To come among the top ten in a GC tour or other top level European event does more for recognition of the achievement of Australian cyclists at the international level, despite not getting a medal or a podium finish.
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I think Victoria dodged a bullet. The 2018 Commonwealth games up here on the Gold Coast were embarrassing. Ahead of it, Peter Beattie and others overhyped potential traffic problems to the extent they basically told locals they had better keep off the roads for 11 days. So a lot of locals left for the duration and a lot of tourists stayed away because of the hype and prices. So the city ended up basically dead. A lot of local businesses in the hospitality and tourism sector actually lost money. The closing ceremony was a debacle. It was pointless.
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Who needs Murdoch when the media in WA is dominated by the Kerry Stokes empire.?
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Sydney was fantastic in 2000. Everyone fled, there were bus lanes on all major roads, and in NSW cyclists can use bus lanes. It was cycling paradise for two weeks.
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and yet still made a small profit
nah not really. apart from lawn bowls and netball the comm games sits a pretty distant third in terms of priorities for most athletes behind olympics and world cup/world champs
even more so if they’re a professional athlete (eg: cycling as bigallan mentioned, basketball, cricket)
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Probably on State government spreadsheets because of direct capital injections of taxpayer money but for local restaurants and others it was a very disappointing and they were loudly complaining after it had finished.
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Crowd looks accurate, though.
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I suspect the irony of having a crowd of two people will be lost.
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