The republican movement’s long announced plans to politicize the Games was a predictable failure. Australians don’t like politics intruding into their sport. Now republican Fairfax and ABC writer Domenic Knight has revealed his deep dislike for both the Crown and the Commonwealth Games. In a piece entitled “The empire slides back” in The Sydney Morning Herald on 15 March, 2006, page 3R, he writes:
“It seems that an anachronism such as the Games should be opened by one…The tabloid media’s intrusiveness will bring down an ancient monarchy and a good thing too.
It’s time we pulled out of the one-sided debacle that is the Commonwealth Games and let minnows such as Samoa, Namibia and England fight it out. “
The page on which this diatribe appeared had unfortunately caught my eye because of the attractive photograph of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh. Mr. Knight’s piece is neither persuasive nor amusing but just abusive and out of touch. His final paragraph is coarse and insulting, and you really have to wonder at the decision to publish this.