Of all the sporting quotes which have become immortalised over the years, Bill Shankly’s is up there with the best known.
“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that,” the Scot said 45 years ago.
This assertion is, of course, objectively, untrue. Yes, sport can feel like the most important issue on the planet just at that moment but take a step back and it quickly become apparent that, in the grand scheme of things, sport isn’t really important at all.
Kicking a ball about a pitch or chasing a small yellow tennis ball around a court or running in circles is, in comparison to truly life or death things, entirely frivolous. And the fact that many of those chasing the ball get paid millions to do so makes the whole thing even more ridiculous.
But just occasionally, a tale pops up and make you realise that actually, sport does matter.
The example that illustrates just how important sport can be amongst the much more important issues in life is Archie Goodburn’s story.
Goodburn has long been a very, very good swimmer - a world junior medallist in his teens and British champion in his early 20s are testament to that.
In 2024, though, Goodburn was diagnosed with brain cancer.
Three tumours were found, with Goodburn’s cancer, oligodendroglioma, affecting the brain and spinal cord. His tumours were found to be inoperable and, given how they had spread through his brain, unable to be removed.
Brain cancer is the biggest cancer killer of those under the age of 40 and so it’s hardly surprising that Goodburn was, upon being diagnosed, shocked and utterly devastated.
No individual has ever competed at an elite level in sport with brain cancer. So it would, then, have been entirely understandable had Goodburn chosen to forget about swimming in the aftermath of his diagnosis just over two years ago.
The now 25-year-old did entirely there opposite, though. And, as it’s turned out, Goodburn has become a faster swimmer with brain cancer than he ever was without it. Indeed, earlier this year, he became the fastest 50m breaststroke swimmer Scotland has ever produced when he set a new Scottish record over the distance.
This achievement alone makes Goodburn remarkable. But he’s far from finished upsetting the odds.
Next week, Goodburn will swim in his second Commonwealth Games. The Edinburgh man’s Scottish record, plus third place at the British Championships in April, were enough to secure selection in Scotland’s 25-strong swimming team for Glasgow 2026.
That he’ll be donning Scottish colours later this month is quite the achievement in itself given that, just ten days before the British Championships, he had the worst seizure he’s had since his cancer diagnosis and which resulted in a hospital stay and the possibility that his Commonwealth Games dream was over.
And so Goodburn’s inclusion in Team Scotland for this summer’s Commonwealth Games, given the monumental amount he’s been through over the past two-and-a-half years, is a reminder that actually, sport can, sometimes, mean far more than happiness about winning and disappointment about losing.
Goodburn is in Glasgow with his sights set far higher than merely picking up a tracksuit. He’s hoping for a medal in his specialist event, the 50m breaststroke, although he’s under no illusions as to how mammoth an effort this will require. Goodburn’s Scottish record time that he set earlier this year would have won him a medal at every Commonwealth Games in which the event has been contested, which is every Games since the 50m breaststroke was introduced to the Commonwealth Games programme in 2002.
This Games, however, his best time is far from a guarantee that he’ll be on the podium. The Scot’s primary obstacle is Adam Ramsay-Peaty, with the Englishman the best sprint breaststroker who has ever lived. And with several other truly world class breaststroke swimmers due to be lining up in Glasgow, Goodburn knows he’s far from a shoo-in for a medal, even if he swims faster than he ever has before.
It’s pointless to talk about any athlete “deserving” a medal because in sport, no one is awarded anything just because they appear to “deserve it”. Indeed the beauty of sport is that it’s entirely the opposite - it’s the most meritocratic pursuit on the planet in that success is determined by the seconds or minutes of the event on the day rather than anything that happens in the lead-up or the aftermath of it.
But it’s impossible to have followed Goodburn’s story even on a surface level and not believe deeply that he deserves a medal at Glasgow 2026. When I spoke with him last month, he talked about what exactly a medal would mean to him - that having a piece of metal hanging around his neck wouldn’t be pleasing in itself but rather, it would be a tangible signifier of everything he’s been through.
Goodburn pointed out to me that he doesn’t know the medical history of the men he’ll be swimming against and suggested that perhaps they have been fighting their own battles in the lead-up to this Games in the same way he has. But it’s impossible to believe that any of those men will have been faced with such a monumentally life-changing event as being diagnosed, and then having to live with, brain cancer.
It’s not only the physical challenges that Goodburn has overcome since his diagnosis that makes him such a unique individual, it’s the mental and emotional toll that he must live with that makes it all the more impressive that he’s performing at an elite level.
Life, as we all know, isn’t fair, and that’s illustrated in the most stark way possible with Goodburn’s plight. It’s just not fair that a young, intelligent, super-fit, supremely-healthy, good-looking, highly-talented and charismatic guy should have brain cancer. But, he does.
And while a medal at this Commonwealth Games will not change that, it will be proof not only to Goodburn but also to every observer looking-on of just what is possible.
Whatever happened at Tollcross International Swimming Centre later this month, Goodburn is, by all estimations, a remarkable individual. But were he to win a medal at Glsagow 2026, there will, I’d suggest, be no more popular result across the entirety of the Games.
