Are The Commonwealth Games No Longer Viable

[baron-pierreIV]

I may not be as bad as the Baron in that I don't disdain the sports elements

What?? I don't disdain them...I just disparage them!!

But if a city puts up a smashing Opening ceremony, then they have the dispensation to henceforth proceed with the sports programme.

[adrianme17]

Indeed, I am really enthusiastic about Glasgow in 4 years time, I think it will have that Manchester 2002 feel about it.

Oh, Adrian, can you clear your private message inbox or e mail me please (singwithshakey@hotmail.com) cheers .

Natty - you can pm me now!

[mattygs]

Thanks mate, have done so.

I think tonights mega mega mega epic NZ-OZ Netball final is yet more proof that the Commonwealth Games *can* still have the x factor when it comes to top sport. You could see how much both bunch of girls wanted that Commonwealth Games Gold.

Very much still relevant. Granted, you would probably get that anytime the Silver Ferns meet the Diamonds, but still, if there was an advertisement for the Com Games, that would be perfect.

As I mentioned before, thanks to the NZ and OZ teams for bringing our great rivalry to the Commonwealth Games forum to ignite the end of Delhi 2010 - the hockey, the sevens, the netball - awesome.

[Sir Rols]

What a sizzler of a closing event. Indeed Matty, you get a game like that netball final (and hey, netball's usually the last think I'd even consider watching, but I was on the edge of my seat right through the final quarter and extra time), and you've got that perfect comeback for all those who've been grumbling (for decades) that the CWGs "aren't relevant".

I missed just about all of Melbourne (I was in Germany - and I have since watched about half of the OC from 2006 only), but I gotta say, Delhi has really re-sparked my enthusiasm for the CWGs. Sure, they weren't perfect by a long way, but tremendous entertainment. Really looking forward to Glasgow!

[LuigiVercotti]

Problem with citing Netball as the perfect comeback is that it is one sport out of 17 at the CGs, was poorly attended by crowds at these games until the final matches, saw blow outs in the scores between anyone who played the top 3 or 4 countries, and there is a rival and regular world championship between Australia and NZ.

I don't want to take away from the brilliance on display in the final but you can't validate the CG expense, social dislocation and increasing irrelevance on the back of one very tight and very high standard Netball game.

[Sir Rols]

Problem with citing Netball as the perfect comeback is that it is one sport out of 17 at the CGs, was poorly attended by crowds at these games until the final matches, saw blow outs in the scores between anyone who played the top 3 or 4 countries, and there is a rival and regular world championship between Australia and NZ.

I don't want to take away from the brilliance on display in the final but you can't validate the CG expense, social dislocation and increasing irrelevance on the back of one very tight and very high standard Netball game.

Oh Seb, I love our debates, immensely, but can't you get your grumpy pants off. It wasn't just the one final match, or sport, that set competition alight. I can't speak much of the first week - as I mentioned elsewhere, I was too busy to watch much - but the final week was a feast of highlights. The netball final was the icing on the cake, for example, after some equally sizzling semi-finals (watching the Oz V England semi in an enthusiastic pub with the crowd cheering on every point the other night was right up there with many of my Sydney 2000 memories), Rugby 7s produced a typically spectacular tournament with a stunning grudge duel with a come-from-behind climax. It would be hard to find a more gripping hockey final than the women's gold medal match (equal in quality with the netyball final, and the men's match, while not in the same class as a pure sporting contest, still managed to produce a great final setpiece of crowd enthusiasm). Diving brought out some true stars of the sport - Mitcham, Despatie and Daley - and a scintilating 10m platform final duel between the world champ and the reigning Olympic champ. You can grumble about mis-matches, but you'll fins such cases in every international event - the Olympics, the FIFA and IRB WCs, the Pan-Ams, the Asians etc etc. But that's what they're about - giving both the haves and have-nots a sptlight. Sport truly rescued these games and did more to validate the CWGs worth than if the organisation had been sub-contracted out to Aussie, Brit or even Swiss experts and had gone flawlesly.

[Alexjc]

Now the ND games are behind us...Let the CGF begin it's enquiries on the good the bad and the just plain ugly. Calling them successful just doesn't cut it.

Glasgow is going to be a totally different beast. Hopefully for the best.

However I still stand by my belief that the CWGs are doomed in it's current form.

[LuigiVercotti]

Let's cut to the chase; can the Commonwealth Games continue along the model and the modus operandi as established within the last three to four games? No. Can the CGF muster the political and economic strength to revise the games structures, finances, oversight, administration, sporting excellence? Probably not. Was the standard of the sport on the whole at the CGs in 2010 lower than previous games? Yes (e.g. no world records set in swimming nor in athletics). Is the international market for sporting festivals and major championships more crowded than during the period 1950-1998? Yes. Will athletes continue to be willing to attend CGs at the expense of or as an alternate to world or regional championships? Too hard to say.

For all the feel good stories that came out of a small and narrow section of the sports contested at the Delhi 2010 games the overall problems inherent in the lead up to these games as well as the general oversight and finally the actual raison d'etre for the CGs are like termites eating away at the games as a competitive international multi-sport festival. If the CGF wants to continue allowing a drastically uneven and expensive games to cycle through the same types of cities as has been dominant in the past (and would appear at least when considering the 2018 race a pattern to continue) then they will struggle for relevance, for permanence, for financial stability and for the attention of the key audience members and participants.

Glasgow may be a solid games and perhaps things will improve in terms of athletic standards, broadcasting revenue, crowd figures and overall organisational efficiency. However just as the IOC found itself in the 1970s the CGF has a tainted and limited product on its hands now that will be harder and harder to sell to the appropriate hosts. There are probably as many theoretical solutions as there are reasons to boo Kalmadi, however the first best option I believe the CGF must take is make sure the Gold Coast wins the 2018 vote. The next 8 years will either see the CGF turn the problems of the Delhi games into opportunities, or they will lapse back into self-satisfied amateurish management with a product and a brand that will continue to marginalise what should be its greatest supporters.

[Brekkie Boy]

Note with the swimming though World Records are not really happening now the suits have been scrapped.

In a way now Delhi is out of the way the future looks brighter than it did a fortnight ago, but the CGF need to be completely honest with themselves and firstly axe Mike Fennell, and then give the orgainsation the overhaul it requires. They certainly need to review the bidding and inspection process.

[Alexjc]

Glasgow may be a solid games and perhaps things will improve in terms of athletic standards, broadcasting revenue, crowd figures and overall organisational efficiency. However just as the IOC found itself in the 1970s the CGF has a tainted and limited product on its hands now that will be harder and harder to sell to the appropriate hosts. There are probably as many theoretical solutions as there are reasons to boo Kalmadi, however the first best option I believe the CGF must take is make sure the Gold Coast wins the 2018 vote. The next 8 years will either see the CGF turn the problems of the Delhi games into opportunities, or they will lapse back into self-satisfied amateurish management with a product and a brand that will continue to marginalise what should be its greatest supporters.

Yes good point.

Unless the CGF be so misguided to allow Hambantota even a tiny look in, Gold Coast should be used as a fresh start...Glasgow is pretty much set in stone and guarenteed a successful games... But the future is still uncertain, the Queen can't live forever and we are about to enter uncharted territory. The current Prince of Wales has hinted great changes to the monarchy and it's function when or if he acends. The CGF needs to get serious about it and encourage top level athletes back to the track...This should ALWAYS be the focus of any CWGs. Manchester got that one right, the Sevens program fitted perfectly into the main stadium thus giving it more focus.

[LuigiVercotti]

Note with the swimming though World Records are not really happening now the suits have been scrapped.

In a way now Delhi is out of the way the future looks brighter than it did a fortnight ago, but the CGF need to be completely honest with themselves and firstly axe Mike Fennell, and then give the orgainsation the overhaul it requires. They certainly need to review the bidding and inspection process.

Fair point re the suits, and of course the various incidents of illness (which supposedly were not directly attributable to the local Delhi environment) had an impact as well. It would have however lifted the standard of the Delhi games into similar levels experienced at say KL, Manchester or Melbourne if at least one swimmer had done something more than nailed a few CG records.

Not sure whether or not Fennell needs the axe; the problem is how can you hold the President of the CGF accountable when the actual organisational structures and associated logistics for hosting a games are effectively out of his control. We're not talking about the likes of a Rogge or Blather who have powerful, wealthy and dynamic sporting organisations to either back them up when certain decisions are made or to wield like a kosh when negotiating hosting rights etc. Fennell is stuck in a true Catch 22, insofar as he can't be part of a root and branch overhaul of the CGs without disenfranchising certain established elements whilst weakening the brand and influence of an already damaged games product, whilst to leave things as they are will continue to allow the CGs to stagnate if not decline further.

Actually as an 'out there' proposal I wonder if the CGs need to transform into a two tiered contest with the smaller countries and less powerful meeting every four years a la something along the lines of the Games of the Small States of Europe or the Arafura Games, whilst the 'big 10' (Australia, NZ, Canada, England, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Scotland, Wales, Nigeria) engage into a new quadrennial games starting in 2019 that cycle through fixed host cities (hypothetically Melbourne, Manchester, KL, Glasgow, Auckland, Cape Town, Delhi, Victoria). The standard of the sport and the more competitive nature of such a structure would hopefully improve revenue streams hence increasing the CGF's ability to become fiscally solvent, with certainty in venues giving less reason to worry about the local organisational issues or cost over runs. Then you could even institute a promotion and relegation system where if (for example) Pakistan and Singapore did very well in one second tier CGs they get promoted to the bigger model games run 1 year later. That could then nominally encourage the smaller nations of the CG movement to put more money and development into their CG teams.

Of course nothing so radical or as pie in the sky will work for now, but if Hambantota thinks it can win the 2018 rights anything's possible

[Dan_Winters]

YES - The Commonwealth Games are NO longer viable - FACT.

I think the problem (lack of participation of big named athletes) is far more extensive than “just a few.” The list of top tier athletes that are absent from the 2010 Delhi games is quite significant.

Check out this link titled: “Top 25 stars missing from the Commonwealth Games”

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/commonwealth-games-2010/top-25-stars-missing-from-the-commonwealth-games/20100929-15wsm.html

The athletics program at the commonwealth games is simply NOT to olympic or world class standard anymore (it was back in Vancouver 1954). I think you need to “care to look” at some of the times. At Delhi 2010, Lerone Clark won the 100m sprint in a time of 10.12s – such a time would not have even got him into the final of the 100m at the summer olympics. At Beijing 2008, Darvis Patton finished LAST (8th place) in the 100m sprint with a quicker time of 10.03s (the 100m was won by Usain Bolt in a world record time of 9.69s).

Similarly at Delhi 2010, the women’s 4x400m was won by in India in a time of 3:27.77s – at the Beijing 2008 olympics, such a time would have resulted in India finishing last in 8th place (the 4x400m at Beijing 2008 was won by the US team with a time of 3:18.54 – over 9 seconds faster!). These are only a few examples of the vast difference in standard between the commonwealth games and the summer olympics / world championships.

[Dan_Winters]

There is far more hosting interest in the Pan Am Games and Asian Games. More countries are interested and they are putting forward their major cities for the bidding. For the 2015 Pan American Games, there were bids from 3 major capitals/ no.1 cities in the Americas – Toronto (Canada’s largest city), Lima (Capital of Peru) and Bogota (Capital of Columbia). For the 2019/ 23 Asian Games, there is interest from Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila etc.

Compare that with the 2018 commonwealth games- 2 bids from: Gold Coast (Australia’s 6th largest city), and Hambantota (small town in Sri Lanka). Hardly a list of A grade/ world cities. What’s quite ironic is that Halifax, Canada (Halifax is the small provincial capital of Nova Scotia) submitted a bid for the 2014 commonwealth games (to be hosted by Glasgow), but then withdrew the bid as it was deemed too expensive at $1.3 billion.

The Canadians then decided to put together a $2.4 billion bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games, this time putting forward their no.1 city: Toronto. It’s clear where their priorities are – clearly the Canadians view the Pan Am Games to be more valuable/ more worth hosting than the commonwealth games (even though Canada recently hosted the Pan Am Games with Winnipeg in 1999, more recent that the Victoria 1994 CWG in Canada).

No-one out of Canada, NZ, Singapore, South Africa really wants to host the CWG , which means that Australia will be hosting again in the space of 12 years……The Gold Coast taxpayer (which includes me), will be burdened with millions of dollars of debt - DISGUSTING THOUGHT.....

[Rafa]

haha