Hockey among major sports scrapped in slimmed-down Commonwealth Games

A scaled-back Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will feature just 10 events, with several prominent sports being culled.

Games organisers confirmed on Tuesday the event list for the 2026 event, which will be held in Scotland from Thursday, July 23 to Sunday, August 2.

The slimmed-down program has axed diving, badminton, beach volleyball, cricket, road cycling and mountain biking, rhythmic gymnastics, hockey, rugby sevens, squash, table tennis and para table tennis, triathlon and para triathlon, and wrestling from the Birmingham 2022 Games.

In 2026, Glasgow will host athletics and para athletics, swimming and para swimming, artistic gymnastics, track cycling and para track cycling, netball, weightlifting and para powerlifting, boxing, judo, lawn bowls and para bowls, 3×3 basketball and 3×3 wheelchair basketball.

Field hockey has been on every program since Kuala Lumpur in 1998, and Australia’s Kookaburras and Hockeyroos have won a combined 14 medals, including seven straight golds for the men’s team.

Diving had been at every edition dating back to the 1930 Empire Games, and road cycling had featured since 1938.

Wrestling featured at the 1911 Festival of Empire and all but three — 1990, 1998 and 2006 — Commonwealth Games since then.

Glasgow, which hosted the Games in 2014, stepped in late after the Victorian government withdrew its pledge to host the event.

Organisers have said the want for a financially sustainable event, developed in a short timeframe, was a catalyst for the trimmed-down program.

“When we started pulling this concept together just under a year ago, our focus was on creating a Games that was different,” Commonwealth Games Scotland CEO Jon Doig said.

“Glasgow 2026 will have all the drama, passion and joy that we know the Commonwealth Games delivers, even if it is to be lighter and leaner than some previous editions.”

The future of the Commonwealth Games was thrown into disarray in July of 2023 when then-premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews axed the event, citing financial constraints.

Glasgow stepped in to host the Games and earmarked early on its ambition to have a trimmed-down version of the event.