A SIDEWAYS GLANCE: Is esports any more bonkers than luge or dressage?

Right, tin hat time. So now we know that esports could become a fully fledged event by the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

On one hand, it grows increasingly tough to sympathise with sport’s bumbling governing bodies — they hardly help themselves, do they?

On the other, it is hard not to admire organisers’ refusal to be cowed by the avalanche of outrage that was always going to follow.

This was, after all, fodder for the red-face brigade. VIDEO GAMES! SPORT! SO THE NEXT SUPER SATURDAY WILL FEATURE A GAME OF PRO EVO, WILL IT? EH?

Baron De Coubertin is no doubt turning (off the console) in his grave.

These critics have a point, of course. Even for those of us brought up on a diet of Brian Lara Cricket this leaves an odd taste. This story serves only to reinforce the key lesson of any Olympic or Commonwealth Games: tradition really is sport’s most forgiving mistress.

Nothing warps perspective like the passing of time. How else to explain the events we accept without a blink — and those which turn once-every-four-year fans into tutting snobs?

‘Is that really a sport?’ It’s tough to imagine anything could raise temperatures like video games.

The obvious quibble here is that elite ‘athletes’ should endure at least some physical exertion. Except that is not true. Have you never watched darts, chess or Manchester United press?

And have you ever considered how ludicrous some existing sport seems?

Imagine proposing that competitors dress up as slim-fit bee-keepers and poke each other with a bendy sword.

How about nations train a horse to prance and hop around a giant sand pit? Or two athletes lying on top of one another and sliding down an ice track?

I have nothing against fencing, dressage or doubles luge. But who wants to play them on