Why Commonwealth Games still matter

The Commonwealth Games will not be the elite sporting event of 2022. And that’s perfectly fine. We will still witness a string of world-class performances over the next fortnight from Birmingham, some of them from the New Zealand team.

The unfortunate timing of the world athletics championships is set to rob the Games of plenty of star power, but the Commonwealth Games has always been an appealing mix of stunning displays of athleticism mixed with stories of lesser lights showing their heart.

Given the intense examination of the ill effects of the high performance sport culture in New Zealand in recent years, maybe these Commonwealth Games can prove that excellence and its associated rewards need not be always formulated by one pressurecooker method which does not suit all.

While NZ’s team will feature superstars of their sport who earn a lucrative living from their talents and training, there’s many who have battled for years without highperformance funding and support, who have had to fit trainings around work, who are rarely in the public spotlight. Think judokas, wrestlers, weightlifters and gymnasts amid the 232-strong New Zealand team.

The Commonwealth Games was first suggested by John Astley Cooper in the late 19th century as ‘The Proposed Pan-Britannic or PanAnglican Content and Festival’.

Maybe he was never going to give up on the idea, but the first concrete signs of it coming to fruition was the Festival of Empire in London in 1911 – a celebration of the coronation of King George V.

New Zealand competed as part of Australasia, along with the UK and Canada in five athletics events, two swimming races, boxing and wrestling, before WW1 intervened.

Canada picked up the baton to organise the first British Empire Games held in Hamilton in 1930, with New Zealand given a subsidy of C$5000 to encourage them to compete.

As Sir Dave Dobbyn has pointed out, the Empire is fading by the day, but the Commonwealth Games remains persevering with.

The Birmingham edition may not end up being a big deal to the locals and the rest of the country – there’s political upheaval, rail strikes and climate change to worry about here.

That’s perfectly fine – sport can still be an enjoyable past-time without sacrificing all manner of brilliance. The Commonwealth Games have always been regarded as an event in which athletes could compete among a spirit of camaraderie.

The 1974 Christchurch event was widely known as ‘The Friendly Games’ and Join Together became NZ’s ear-worm, but it did take then Prime Minister Norm Kirk telling the NZRFU to postpone the Springbok tour of New Zealand in 1973 to pave the way.

The Games have thrown up many memorable moments in NZ’s sporting history, particularly on the athletics track.

It began with Billy Savidan having to run another lap to win the six-mile race in 1930 after an official’s mistake with the lap markers.

Dick Tayler’s win on the opening day in Christchurch in the 10,000 metres will never be forgotten by any Kiwi who witnessed him dismantle a world-class field, nor will Sylvia Potts’ fall in last few metres of the 1500m final in Edinburgh in 1970.

Eight years earlier in Perth, Dot Coleman won fencing gold in an airless army drill hall on the banks of the Swan River with the temperature over 38 degrees outside and notably hotter inside.

In Brisbane in 1982, Neroli Fairhall sat on the outer of the team photo in her wheelchair prior to the Games.

Over four days of competition, she won on a countback of bulls over Belfast teenager Janet Yates. ‘‘With the windy conditions, was it a help or a hindrance to shoot from a wheelchair?’’ a reporter asked the paraplegic since 1969.

‘‘I don’t know. I’ve never shot standing up,’’ Fairhall replied.

For the next 11 days, Games followers can revel in the simplicity of many sports to be contested – to triumph, you just have to be the fastest, the fittest, the strongest, the springiest.

There’s no three-minute consultation with on-field and television referees, there’s less likelihood of a drug controversy.

Isn’t that something we could all get behind right now?