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Peter Corrigan: Games that should be ahead of their time

Sunday 28 July 2002 00:00 BST
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One of the main problems of the Commonwealth Games is that they always seem to arrive when we don't need them. It is in no way a criticism of Manchester, which has worked tirelessly to create an event that seems likely to heap great credit on the city, to suggest that there may be a more advantageous time for these Games to descend upon us.

We emerged from a long and exhausting World Cup only four weeks ago and since then we have had two weeks of a fairly riveting Wimbledon and an Open Championship that wouldn't let us alone until the final putt dropped last Sunday evening.

Those of us lucky enough to have access to ITV 2 spent last week pedalling very hard to keep up with the compelling dramas of the Tour de France, while the First Test between England and India at Lord's is proving to be one of the most irresistible cricket battles we've had for years.

It is nothing personal, but our attention is already suffering from severe over-loading, and those of us not off on holiday could have done with a short break from sports-watching before the football season starts.

Manchester has to contend with the fact that the climax of six years of planning, work, worry, financial scares and the mobilisation of the biggest volunteer army since Kitchener has to be enacted before an audience already sated with the best sport can offer.

Within Man-chester there is not a problem. They have made that obvious. The entire environs of the city are geared up to make the most of the extravaganza, come what may. No doubt the rest of us will attempt to watch with interest as the multitudinous events unfold this week, but it will be with a jaded appetite for anything but the very best.

The sporting calendar is so crowded these days that such clashes seem unavoidable, but if this event has a long-term future some effort has to be made to steer it into quieter waters. The Commonwealth Games won't come Manchester's way again but, in a way, it doesn't matter where it is held; this somewhat anachronistic sporting festival is losing the battle for relevance, and the only way to save it for posterity is to relocate it in time.

I suppose it once made sense for these Games to take place in between Olympics. While it is true that this avoided a clash of priorities back in the amateur days, it doesn't any longer. The football World Cup is also held between Olympics, but this is because it would be ridiculous for the two biggest events in sport to be staged any closer together.

The smart move is to avoid both of them. The staging of big sporting events is so dependent on commercial and television support that you have to market yourself at the most beneficial time.

These Games are fortunate because they have the undying support of the BBC; being a national and loyal institution, the Corporation hasn't much choice. If it was a commercial channel, they probably wouldn't touch it with a vaulting pole.

But I imagine they don't pay a massive sum for it and they do try to get their money's worth. The hours they devote to it are exhaustive. As they say – the sun never sets on the BBC Commonwealth Games coverage.

The best direction for the Games to be moved is forward, so that they take place in the year before the Olympics. That would get them away from the World Cup and might even serve a useful purpose for those with the Olympics in mind. There would still be clashes. The rugby World Cup is always held in the year before the Olympics, but that wouldn't matter so much – the rugby World Cup is a Commonwealth affair, anyhow – and the new date would provide extra time to give greater consideration to the future shape of the event.

The hosts of the next Games have already been nominated. Melbourne will stage it in 2006, and it sounds as if they are already well ahead with their organisation. There's not much fear, either, that they won't do a successful job.

The following Games, however, should be moved to 2011, the extra fallow year being devoted to a realistic assessment of the existing trends. For all of Man-chester's efforts, they can't escape the constant reminders that the shadow of superior performers who had the misfortune not to be born in a Commonwealth country will inevitably fall over much of the competition.

There is discomfort, too, in the thought of those who could have competed but didn't turn up. Usually, it's the gaps in the crowd that glare at you on most big athletic occasions, but when the Games began on Friday the empty spaces were among the competitors.

The stands were packed to an extent rarely seen on the first day of a major athletics meet but, as our sister paper The Independent revealed, the entrants did not match this eagerness to be present. Over 5,000 were expected and the official roll-call at the start showed that the actual figure was 3,864 and falling. Heats had to be cancelled and some teams are being forced to withdraw because they can't make up the numbers.

There is so much charm and refreshing innocence on display. The thought of cyclists from Gambia arriving without any bikes, and others from Kenya having a training spin down the M61, is a welcome antidote to the antics of overpaid performers in other sports.

But there are anomalies that need to be addressed. Giving Sir Steven Redgrave a leading role at the opening ceremony when rowing isn't even included was bizarre. And why isn't sailing a part of it? It was via the sea that we roped them all into the Empire in the first place. Captain Cook and all our other sea- faring heroes would be distraught to know that sailing wasn't part of the celebration of their handiwork.

Manchester deserves great success this week. It is a matter for more profound debate why only sport seems able to bring a sense of achievement and togetherness to a city or a region in this land of ours. It would help if those who are eager to share the applause on an occasion like this would realise that all this is despite the measure of their support, not because of it.

Gold worth its weight

Most of us have our own Games memories. My first one dates back to 1958 when the Empire Games, as they were then known, were held in Cardiff. I was on a weekend pass from the army and I was making my way from the station to the bus stop when I heard this great cheer from the Arms Park, where the Games were being held. I thought it signalled some great Welsh success, but I found out later that it was the Queen announcing that she was making Charles the Prince of Wales.

The other big memory comes from the 1986 Games held in Edinburgh, which were a disaster. Not only did the intervention of the fat fraudster Robert Maxwell add considerably to the cringe factor, 32 countries withdrew in a protest over South Africa.

I was sports editor of another Sunday newspaper at the time, and my antipathy to the event was well-known to our athletics correspondent, who loved the occasion. Among their better ideas, the Edinburgh organisers had created a new whisky called Gold Medal and made a special offer to the press. The athletics writer and sports editor of the paper they considered to have given the best coverage of the Games would receive their weight in this special whisky.

I would never let my personal views stand in the way of doing a good job, and our coverage won the prize. To this day the writer has never forgiven me. While he, the enthusiast, was nine-and-a-half stone, I, the cynic, weighed just over 13. It took me a year to drink my share.

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