Reflections - Home Nations claim a wealth of silverware at the Games

Reflections - The common wealth of 23 medals in Glasgow

GBN's Caledonian columnist, Donald C Stewart, reflects on Team GB's extraordinary haul in Scotland

As the sun sets on the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, George Bowie the DJ and Bits and Pieces drifts off into the sunset along with the fireworks that marked the end, our Home Nations have got plenty to celebrate.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland comprising England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have come back from the boxing with a haul of over 20 medals.

If there was ever an example of why it is that the games should continue, there is plenty in boxing to give, weight to that discussion.

For the Republic of Vanuatu, it provided their very first ever medal in any competition. One of the smallest countries in the world (population 335,000), they use sport and platforms like his to highlight the very real problems they face through climate change. It is slowly eroding their country whilst their athletes train on the airport runway and have to disappear when the planes come in and out!

Their boxer, Tarona Taafaki, does walk away with a bronze medal, as a testimony to the power of sport.

As for the Home Nations, England came out very much on top. The best ever performance at a Commonwealth Games saw them with seven finalists out of the fourteen finals.

Bronze medals were picked up by Lucy King-Wheatley, Mary Kate Smith and Lauren Mackie.

Of course, once we got to the finals, a Games with boxing and judges involved, there were a few controversies. The worst was the final in which Dimeji Shittu lost to his Indian opponent 4-1 in what was described by Ritchie Woodhall as a disgrace and so it was. The grace he showed afterwards contrasts with the Michael Conlan flip the bird from the Olympics a few years ago, but Shittu is a prospect. Chantelle Reed and Ruby White also took silver.

Golds came to Sacha Hickey Isaac Okoh, Patris Mughalzai and Damar Thomas. Catching the eye was Damar Thomas who looks as though he's going to be a handful coming for the Olympics.

As well as the controversy around Shittu's final, it also saw teenage sensation 19-year-old Chantelle Reid lose her very first competitive contest as she came up against a highly experienced competitor from India in her final, meaning that she walked away with silver but with no disgrace. If you have lost count – England came away with 10 medals.

As for the Welsh team, they also managed to claim 2 bronzes and 2 silvers.

Their high hope for gold was Rosie Eccles, who after a split decision defeat in the semi-final, had to settle for bronze. It was not the fact that she lost, but her comments after the contest, which caught the headlines. It was well known that Eccles was going to retire after this Games, however, she made reference to awful people who were trying to end her career. The heart's full but the tank is empty, she said in an interview with S4C. Just exactly who it was that had stopped this very impressive amateur who represented the UK in Paris in 2024 and missed out in Tokyo 2020 due to horrendous nerve damage but claimed gold at Birmingham in 2022 in the Commonwealth Games, is unsaid.

And so, Owain Harris-Allan was the other bronze medallist whilst it was silver for Connor Williams and Orlando Holley-Sotomi.

For Northern Ireland, Michaela Walsh, Kaci Rock and John McConnell got through to the finals. Jude Gallacher, Garyn McAllister and Willie John McCartan however, left with a bronze. Of the three Northern Irish finalists, only McConnell left with a gold medal. Six medals is a remarkable haul – better than both Wales and Scotland.

It was, however, a disappointing Games for Scotland. Not this time round was the hype around the likes of Charlie Flynn and Joe Ham, but we ended up with only bronzes. For the men, Robert McNulty and Sonny Kerr brought them home whilst Caitlin Rainey, made history by claiming Scotland's very first medal in the boxing ring in the Commonwealth Games.

For the Home Nations, however, all of their fighters must be either in the Team GB squad or hanging about the periphery. Exactly who's going to make it into the Olympics is still to be settled. However, judging by the strength of what we have seen, we're in a good place – of 44 boxers, 23 medalled.

Not as good a place however as India. They topped the able with 7 gold (half of what was on offer, 5 from the women’s competition) and 3 silver! They may be a nation that's under the radar in terms of their global appeal in the professional stage but in terms of their amateurs there are some decent

Fighters in their ranks. It certainly augurs well for their Olympic but let's see how many of this lot end up in Los Angeles in 2028 and a professional ring thereafter…