Victoria 2026 - Commonwealth Games

[RooBlu]

3 minutes ago, AustralianFan said:

It would be a cracker of a match 

More like the word's greatest crisis of confidence, or alternatively the most watched game of "hot potato" in history 

[Victorian]

I wonder what sports we have chosen?

[2018]

I wonder if disciplines like Diving that fall under Aquatics are considered as a sport in the 19-22 number

[AustralianFan]

3 hours ago, Victorian said:

I wonder what sports we have chosen?

I think as a guide the sports in the 2018 com games would be a good guide plus a couple of newies

40 minutes ago, 2018 said:

I wonder if disciplines like Diving that fall under Aquatics are considered as a sport in the 19-22 number

Good question. Yes diving falls under the aquatics umbrella but I would think it would be considered a sport in it’s own right I would think for venue purposes. 
 

Kardinia Aquatic Centre in Geelong has a diving pool along with the two FINA and Olympic swimming pools (Olympic for warm-up and FINA for competition).

[AustralianFan]

AFL Canada are asking why not Aussie Rules as a sport at #Victoria2026 ?

 

[Victorian]

32 minutes ago, AustralianFan said:

AFL Canada are asking why not Aussie Rules as a sport at #Victoria2026 ?

 

Correct.

 

The Australian team could be made up of players from the state leagues or amateurs too to make it fair.

Commonwealth countries in the last three AFL International Cups (closest to World Cup in AFL)

2017 Men's: PNG, New Zealand, Nauru, Great Britain, Canada, Fiji, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India

2017 Women's: Canada, Fiji, Great Britain, Papua New Guinea

 

2014 Men's: New Zealand, South Africa, PNG, Canada, Tonga, Nauru, Fiji, Great Britain, Pakistan, India

2014 Women's: Canada, Fiji, Tonga

 

2011 Men's: PNG, New Zealand, South Africa, Nauru, Great Britain, Tonga, Canada, Fiji, India, Timor-Leste

2011 Women's: Canada, PNG, Australia

 

My suggestion would be this:

MEN'S: 1 American Team (Canada), 1 African Team (South Africa), 2 Asian Teams (India, Pakistan), 2 European Teams (England, Scotland), 4 Oceania Teams (Australia, New Zealand, PNG, Fiji)

2 pools of five then top two advance to the Semi Finals

WOMEN'S: 1 American Team (Canada), 1 African Team (South Africa?), 1 Asian Team (India?), 2 European Teams (England, Scotland?), 3 Oceania Teams (Australia, New Zealand, PNG)

2 pools of four then top two advance to the Semi Finals

[AustralianFan]

15 hours ago, AustralianFan said:

Kardinia Aquatic Centre in Geelong has a diving pool along with the two FINA and Olympic swimming pools (Olympic for warm-up and FINA for competition).

@RooBlu what would be your assessment of Kardinia Aquatics Centre as a 2026 swimming/diving Venue?   Can it be done?

[RooBlu]

33 minutes ago, AustralianFan said:

@RooBlu what would be your assessment of Kardinia Aquatics Centre as a 2026 swimming/diving Venue?   Can it be done?

As long as it has a FINA standard competition and diving pool, for the sake of building either permanent or temporary amenities to support the athletes, administrators and media the rest seems quite easy. Temporary stands to seat 10-12000, entrances and catering/merchandise areas and a plan to re-landscape and beutify the area after the Games. I can'tsee a problem. The local council will have at least 9 months after the games to replant lawns, replace trees that were lost with suitable native species and of course locals will benefit for years after with modern facilities and change rooms. Seems like it would be a good win for Geelong if that's what eventuates.

[RooBlu]

I must admit to being a little surprised that it was leaked yesterday that the MCG would likely host the opening ceremony. In 2006 the capacity during the opening Ceremony was cut to 80,000 because of all of the staging equipment and areas that were reserved for media and officials. It is more central than Geelong and would allow for easier dispersement of the athletes back to their villages around regional Victoria after the ceremony. 

Interesingly, yesterday the CGF Chief said that there were "a few sticking points" to be resolved and I imagine that to Opening Ceremony venue was perhaps one of them. We may possibly see a couple of venue shocks/surprises as well as some sport surprises next month at the official announcement.

At this stage I am not willing to rule out KP in Geelong as the athletics venue, and rowing on either Lake Nagambie or Lake Wendouree (as an outside chance). My money would be on Nagabie as it is a perfect stop over point between Melbourne and Shepparton and it has a good holiday park next to the lake where new cabins would house the rowers.

I would remind readersto not count the chickens before the eggs hatch, and once the official announcements are made by the CGF and the State government in April, then discussion can begin in earnest about venues, sports and the pros and cons of each.

[AustralianFan]

1 hour ago, RooBlu said:

I must admit to being a little surprised that it was leaked yesterday that the MCG would likely host the opening ceremony. In 2006 the capacity during the opening Ceremony was cut to 80,000 because of all of the staging equipment and areas that were reserved for media and officials. It is more central than Geelong and would allow for easier dispersement of the athletes back to their villages around regional Victoria after the ceremony. 

Interesingly, yesterday the CGF Chief said that there were "a few sticking points" to be resolved and I imagine that to Opening Ceremony venue was perhaps one of them. We may possibly see a couple of venue shocks/surprises as well as some sport surprises next month at the official announcement.

At this stage I am not willing to rule out KP in Geelong as the athletics venue, and rowing on either Lake Nagambie or Lake Wendouree (as an outside chance). My money would be on Nagabie as it is a perfect stop over point between Melbourne and Shepparton and it has a good holiday park next to the lake where new cabins would house the rowers.

I would remind readersto not count the chickens before the eggs hatch, and once the official announcements are made by the CGF and the State government in April, then discussion can begin in earnest about venues, sports and the pros and cons of each.

Agreed.

Not long to wait for the final list of sports and venues as announced by the Commonwealth Games Federation.

[Victorian]

5 hours ago, RooBlu said:

I must admit to being a little surprised that it was leaked yesterday that the MCG would likely host the opening ceremony. In 2006 the capacity during the opening Ceremony was cut to 80,000 because of all of the staging equipment and areas that were reserved for media and officials. It is more central than Geelong and would allow for easier dispersement of the athletes back to their villages around regional Victoria after the ceremony. 

Interesingly, yesterday the CGF Chief said that there were "a few sticking points" to be resolved and I imagine that to Opening Ceremony venue was perhaps one of them. We may possibly see a couple of venue shocks/surprises as well as some sport surprises next month at the official announcement.

At this stage I am not willing to rule out KP in Geelong as the athletics venue, and rowing on either Lake Nagambie or Lake Wendouree (as an outside chance). My money would be on Nagabie as it is a perfect stop over point between Melbourne and Shepparton and it has a good holiday park next to the lake where new cabins would house the rowers.

I would remind readersto not count the chickens before the eggs hatch, and once the official announcements are made by the CGF and the State government in April, then discussion can begin in earnest about venues, sports and the pros and cons of each.

If 100,000 got reduced to 80,000 in 2006, then we would only be looking at 20,000 spectators for an Opening Ceremony at GMHBA Stadium. I would rather have it at the MCG where everyone that wishes to attend will be able to attend than people missing out in Geelong!

[RooBlu]

2 hours ago, Victorian said:

If 100,000 got reduced to 80,000 in 2006, then we would only be looking at 20,000 spectators for an Opening Ceremony at GMHBA Stadium. I would rather have it at the MCG where everyone that wishes to attend will be able to attend than people missing out in Geelong!

Yep. that could have been a determining factor as to why they would lean toward the "G". Also during the 2006 Opening Ceremony they had a peculiar huge dome shaped centre stage in the middle of the stadium which limited the view of the first several rows in the outer. There was that large bridge that extended down from the first tier of the Ponsford Stand which the athletes entered the stadium from where they lost another whole two bays of seats. They also lost 1000 seats by the extension of the athletic track into the Eastern portion of the ground and another 1000 behind the orchestra. And of course they reserved sections of the ground for the placement of cameras and lighting etc. It was a very complex show, but after the ceremony they got back some 15,000 seats for the competition proper.

They did not have that issue at Carrara in 2018 because the Opening Ceremony did not feature all of that complex staging that Melbourne had, and most of the available 40,000 seats at the Gold Coast Stadium were available.

I'm only guessing but I reckon that it might have more to do with accessibility and dispersement of athletes before and after the Opening Ceremony, especially if they have to travel back to the villages in the Latrobe Valley, Ballarat, Shepparton and Bendigo. Some of those places can be a two hour drive from Melbourne and late at night you need to get the athletes back resting as soon as possible before competition. Put simply the MCG is more central.

[RooBlu]

Watch this short two minute video:

For my mind the best Opening Ceremony for the Commonwealth Games ever was the 1982 games. It was done without an orchestra or fancy lighting effects. It was completely all mandraulic and it all worked. You could see the the joy and happiness on everybody's faces at staging the event. The ceremony took place on a very blustery September day in 1982. The Australian Defence Force (in uniforms) led teams into the stadium carrying the placards that announced each team, acted as ushers, provided a guard of honour for the Duke Edinburgh, there was an artillery salute as well as a flypast of F111s in formation. We'd never dream of doing those things these days. I recall back in 1999 being in the Army and we were being briefed on "Operation Gold" where the ADF was to supply 8,000 personnel to support the Olympics, but SOCOG didn't want us wearing our uniforms and we were essentially used for the most part as drivers and lacky's. Even the Flag Raising Party during the Opening Ceremony originally weren't going to wear uniforms, but the Chief of the Defence Force stood his ground on that one, and said "no uniforms, no flag parties". He at least won that battle. 

1982 Opening Ceremony - Sheer happiness and joy

[Australian Kiwi]

I'm kind of annoyed to hear of the MCG touted as a Opening Ceremony venue. No thanks. If this is the regional cities' time to shine then it should be Kardinia. And if the CGF is wanting to appeal the event to smaller hosts, then having the opening ceremony in a 100k seat Olympic Stadium is probably the most tone deaf decision they could make. 

[Australian Kiwi]

8 hours ago, RooBlu said:

Yep. that could have been a determining factor as to why they would lean toward the "G". Also during the 2006 Opening Ceremony they had a peculiar huge dome shaped centre stage in the middle of the stadium which limited the view of the first several rows in the outer. There was that large bridge that extended down from the first tier of the Ponsford Stand which the athletes entered the stadium from where they lost another whole two bays of seats. They also lost 1000 seats by the extension of the athletic track into the Eastern portion of the ground and another 1000 behind the orchestra. And of course they reserved sections of the ground for the placement of cameras and lighting etc. It was a very complex show, but after the ceremony they got back some 15,000 seats for the competition proper.

They did not have that issue at Carrara in 2018 because the Opening Ceremony did not feature all of that complex staging that Melbourne had, and most of the available 40,000 seats at the Gold Coast Stadium were available.

I'm only guessing but I reckon that it might have more to do with accessibility and dispersement of athletes before and after the Opening Ceremony, especially if they have to travel back to the villages in the Latrobe Valley, Ballarat, Shepparton and Bendigo. Some of those places can be a two hour drive from Melbourne and late at night you need to get the athletes back resting as soon as possible before competition. Put simply the MCG is more central.

This is nothing scheduling couldn't resolve. Geelong is only one hour (1 hour!) further west than the MCG from Gippsland, and closer to Ballarat and only slightly further than Bendigo. 

Its totally illogical.

[RooBlu]

33 minutes ago, Australian Kiwi said:

This is nothing scheduling couldn't resolve. Geelong is only one hour (1 hour!) further west than the MCG from Gippsland, and closer to Ballarat and only slightly further than Bendigo. 

Its totally illogical.

I'm certainly not disputing you, they'd have their reasons why. We just have to wait and see what gets announced and why?

[RooBlu]

49 minutes ago, Australian Kiwi said:

I'm kind of annoyed to hear of the MCG touted as a Opening Ceremony venue. No thanks. If this is the regional cities' time to shine then it should be Kardinia. And if the CGF is wanting to appeal the event to smaller hosts, then having the opening ceremony in a 100k seat Olympic Stadium is probably the most tone deaf decision they could make. 

100% concur.

[RooBlu]

I keep going back to the 82 Comm Games which offered an Opening Ceremony that was entirely Australian focussed. It had no Queensland or Brisbane references but drew together a 70 minute pageant full of colour and movement. It had a hard act to follow coming hot on the heels of the mind blowing spectacle of the Moscow Olympics, but in many ways it followed a similar theme and it all worked.

In Melbourne 2006 they made the entire ceremony ALL ABOUT MELBOURNE with obscure references that only Victorians or Melburnians would understand, like the flying seagull tram as a nod to the seaguls that flock to the MCG on late afternoons, the Michael Lunig Duck display completely lost everybody except The Age readers, AFL players and Ron Barrassi on the Yarra, using popular local contemporary artists who nobody had ever heard of outside Australia, and the list goes on. It was Melbourne putting its ego on show in the extreme. The Gold Coast repeated that mistake too by turning the 2018 Opening Ceremony into a SE Queensland tourism advertorial.

I hope that if Victoria proceeds with the 26 games that we won't repeat that mistake and I fear that putting an opening ceremony back on the MCG will invite just another Melbourne centric display.

[Victorian]

On 3/18/2022 at 1:55 AM, RooBlu said:

I keep going back to the 82 Comm Games which offered an Opening Ceremony that was entirely Australian focussed. It had no Queensland or Brisbane references but drew together a 70 minute pageant full of colour and movement. It had a hard act to follow coming hot on the heels of the mind blowing spectacle of the Moscow Olympics, but in many ways it followed a similar theme and it all worked.

In Melbourne 2006 they made the entire ceremony ALL ABOUT MELBOURNE with obscure references that only Victorians or Melburnians would understand, like the flying seagull tram as a nod to the seaguls that flock to the MCG on late afternoons, the Michael Lunig Duck display completely lost everybody except The Age readers, AFL players and Ron Barrassi on the Yarra, using popular local contemporary artists who nobody had ever heard of outside Australia, and the list goes on. It was Melbourne putting its ego on show in the extreme. The Gold Coast repeated that mistake too by turning the 2018 Opening Ceremony into a SE Queensland tourism advertorial.

I hope that if Victoria proceeds with the 26 games that we won't repeat that mistake and I fear that putting an opening ceremony back on the MCG will invite just another Melbourne centric display.

We have no ego mate. it was Melbourne sharing to the world iconic things about our great city!

[ulu]

1 hour ago, Victorian said:

We have no ego mate. it was Melbourne sharing to the world iconic things about our great city!

No one brags about their city more than Melburnians.

[RooBlu]

1 hour ago, Victorian said:

We have no ego mate. it was Melbourne sharing to the world iconic things about our great city!

It seemed to be a $50 million waste of money when people who weren't Victorian (I was living in Queensland at the time) were asking WTF is that about? It was made worse at the time by Channel 9's clumsy broadcast using commentators from Sydney (both Queenslanders originally) who knew nothing about the nuances of what they were seeing to explain it all properly to the broader Australian TV audience. One lady in our group who I was in a bar having dinner with at the time and watching on the TV very bluntly summed it up, she said "typical parochial Melbourne, being its own self-licking ice cream".

After everyboy finished giggling there was general agreement and it wasn't just Queenslanders in our group, they were all Army people from all over Australia. If the show and games at the time were being entirely Melbourne funded then I'd say "fill your boots, be as parochial as you want". But these events be they the Olympics or the Comm Games are funded by the Australian and State tax payers  as a whole. The games organisers always go out of their way to stress that these events are about Australia and not just a city or region when they are trying to garner national interest, flog ticket sales, and encourage interstate visitors.

By comparison, the Sydney opening ceremony had only one obscure Sydney reference, that was in the opening sequence when a huge Ken Done banner featuring a drawing of the Harbour Bridge and the word G'day unfurled. After that the several pageantry sequences that followed told the story of "Australia". The performers came from all over Australia. Even the massed marching band came rom the US and four other countries. The orchestral music used was actually pre-recorded by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (The Sydney Symphony were only out there pretending to play). That ceremony was universally hailed as one of the best since Moscow. 

If we want people to support Victoria 2026, it should not at any stage be parochially staged or promoted. Australians as a whole will come along on the journey and cheer for Victoria after the games if they feel that it has been rightly treated as an Australian story. Victoria should just be a good and gracoius host.

[RooBlu]

1 hour ago, ulu said:

No one brags about their city more than Melburnians.

Have you ever been Perth? 

[SportLightning]

What about Sydney?

[Australian Kiwi]

6 hours ago, ulu said:

No one brags about their city more than Melburnians.

I mean, its a pretty great place - so why not show a bit of love? It's not like Queenslanders don't have a strong parochial streak. 

[RooBlu]

6 hours ago, SportLightning said:

What about Sydney?

Oh year and doesn't the harbour city like to ask "mirror, mirror on the wall... ", but the problem for Sydney is that it's so narcissistic that it hasn't yet realised that every other major capital city in the country does everything better and cheaper. At least to its credit back in 2000 it checked its ego at the door to present a wonderful display of Australia when presenting the Olympic opening ceremony 

Brisbane 1, Sydney 1, Melbourne 0. Although Melbourne's Olympic opening ceremony in 1956 was flawless for what it was at that time period, so I'll give the old girl 1 point.