Ulster Banner row: Former UK sports minister says time may have come to replace Conal Heatley as Team NI leader
A former UK sports minister has criticised the chief executive of Northern Ireland’s Commonwealth Games team, saying that this week’s row over the squad’s flag shows it may be a time for a change in leadership.
Kate Hoey, who was Labour’s minister for sport from 1999 to 2001, was among those reacting to the news today that Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland Ltd (or CGNI, which organises Team NI’s participation in the 2026 Glasgow games) will not be changing the flag under which its athletes compete after all.
Its leader Conal Heatley had indicated on Monday that, unless directed otherwise by politicians, he planned to replace the Ulster Banner at the upcoming games with a more “inclusive” flag (possibly the logo of Team NI).
But after DUP sports minister Gordon Lyons responded by issuing “clear and unequivocal guidance” that the flag should stay, a scheduled meeting of the CGNI board last night decided that the flag will be kept.
Baroness Hoey (a former Labour MP who has sat as a non-affiliated peer since 2020) told the News Letter: “I welcome the announcement from the CGNI that the Ulster Banner will remain the flag for Commonwealth athletes participating in Glasgow.
"However the handling of this issue by the chief executive calls into question his judgement.
"The Commonwealth Games is a sporting event for Commonwealth countries and the head of the Commonwealth is King Charles.
"The Ulster Banner is a flag traditionally used to represent Northern Ireland not just in sport but in many other ways.
"The decision of Conal Heatley, the chief executive of CGNI, was totally unnecessary and would have distracted from their real purpose to prepare a well-organised and successful team for Glasgow.
"I have yet to meet one athlete in Northern Ireland who has refused to be part of the team because of the banner.
"Indeed the pictures over the years show medal-winners from all backgrounds with the flag wrapped around them.
"It is a shame that as chief executive he allowed such a wonderful event to be trivialised by this nonsense, and the board should hold him to account.
"Maybe it is time for a new broom at the CGNI who is interested in promoting sport rather than trying to politicise and divide our community.
"The sports minister was quite right to reject his proposal.”
Following its meeting on Tuesday night, the CGNI board issued the following statement: “The CGNI board and member sports are representative of the wider Northern Ireland community.
"We will continue to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in all we do, in line with our motto ‘One Community, One Team’.
"Since November 2020, CGNI has been asking the Northern Ireland government for guidance regarding which flag should be flown at the Commonwealth Games.
"Following extensive media coverage on Monday, January 12, 2026, Mr Gordon Lyons MLA provided such guidance.
"The minister for communities, who holds the portfolio for sport, offered ‘clear and unequivocal guidance’ and stated ‘for the avoidance of doubt, and to reiterate on the guidance which you have sought, the Ulster Banner should be used as the flag for Northern Ireland athletes at the Commonwealth Games’.
"We note this guidance which will be implemented.”
When criticism of his stance was put to Mr Heatley, he reiterated that there will be no comment beyond the statement above.
Following the CGNI statement, minister Lyons told the News Letter: “I do not support any change to the use of the Ulster Banner for athletes from Northern Ireland competing at the Commonwealth Games.
"I have written to CGNI to make this position clear.
"As witnessed at the Olympic Games in Paris, our athletes were proud to represent Northern Ireland and I believe they are proud to represent Northern Ireland on the Commonwealth stage too.
"Our focus should be on providing athletes with the support they need to be successful, rather than seeking to change the long standing and widely accepted status quo.”
A day earlier, TUV MP Jim Allister had said that he did not believe the CGNI’s Articles of Association (basically its founding charter) gave it the authority to change the flag, saying that its powers were limited to sporting matters only.
Mr Heatley had responded: “Many people are saying many things with zero knowledge of who we are, or what we do.
"For clarity, CGNI is a private company, and private companies manage their own affairs.
"No-one is trying to make constitutional change!
“Strangely, we’ve never been inundated with emails from Mr Allister to enquire how he could potentially help the team or our athletes!”