Australia hopes pared-back Glasgow Commonwealth Games will lure other hosts
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The Commonwealth Games evolved out of the British Empire Games and is still made up mainly of countries once subject to British imperial rule.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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MELBOURNE – Australia hopes that its support for a scaled-back Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2026 will “reset” the multi-sport event’s brand and entice more nations into hosting.
The Scottish government has backed the city’s bid for the Games, which were originally to be hosted by Australia’s Victoria state before it pulled out, citing cost concerns.
Glasgow’s proposal includes competition for 10 sports at four different venues, 12 years after the Scottish city had 18 sports at the 2014 Games.
The costs will be almost entirely funded by compensation – reportedly A$380 million (S$333 million) – paid to the global Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) by Victoria.
Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) has further agreed to pump in £2.3 million (S$3.9 million) to help cover Glasgow’s security costs.
While Glasgow is yet to be confirmed, CGA boss Craig Phillips is confident it will go ahead, and that the Games have a future beyond 2026.
“I’m not concerned about that at all. This is a reset for the Games. I’m very optimistic about the future of the Games, and we will get to our centenary Games in 2030. Where it is in the Commonwealth, I don’t know,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Sept 18.
He added: “What we’ll see with this revised version of the Games, (a) more sustainable version, it will actually create more opportunities for more countries in the Commonwealth to actually host the Games.”
Australia has long been one of the Games’ greatest champions, but no other state offered to step in and host 2026 when Victoria pulled out.
In March, Malaysia rejected an offer to hold it also decided against staging the Games
Victoria was the second successive host to renege on its commitment to stage the Games, after citing a projected cost of more than A$6 billion.
In 2015, Durban was named as 2022 host but 17 months later, the South African city was stripped of the Games amid financial problems before Birmingham stepped in – the fifth time in the last six editions the event has been staged in either Britain or Australia.
The Commonwealth Games, held every four years, evolved out of the British Empire Games and is still made up mainly of countries once subject to British imperial rule.
Its relevance, in an age where regional events such as Asian or European championships have assumed greater importance, has long been questioned. But its supporters argue it gives athletes valuable experience of a multi-sport event, leaving them better prepared to compete at a pinnacle event, such as the Olympic Games.
That said, however, recent Games have suffered from a lack of world-class talent, with top athletes often electing to skip them as they probably felt that the event was not worth their time and effort.
Australian athletes are generally enthusiastic, though, with the country topping the medal table at the last Games in Birmingham in 2022 and on the Gold Coast in 2018.
Phillips also said that Australia’s national athletics and swimming federations had already thrown their support behind Glasgow for the only two sports confirmed in the proposal to date.
“Both have backed (the event) in (having) athletes going to the Games,” he said.
“We know how important it is to our swimmers and we know how important it is to our track-and-field athletes. We know they’ll turn up in force, Australian athletes always do.
“(As for) the 10 sports on the programme, that’s still being worked through between Commonwealth Games Scotland and the CGF as to what that finally looks like.”
REUTERS, AFP
