Games need to become more people- friendly

Somehow, it’s the oddest anachronisms that Aotearoa inherited from Great Britain which have lasted the longest. Their flag owning the prime real estate on our own. Their anthem listed as a backup tune for our own. Their begrudgingly accepted Head of State sitting in the role and signing the documents that might otherwise be the purview of one of our own.

But few of these oddities are as strange and as out of time as the idea that the Commonwealth Games is a major event, one worthy of serious investment and support.

The latest blow to the credibility of the “Friendly Games” came this week with news the Gold Coast was withdrawing from its effort to host the event in 2026/ 27. Its decision followed Victoria’s call in July to withdraw from hosting the same Games, a move that cost the state government a $ 409 million fee.

The Australians’ lack of interest is understandable. Four days before the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the World Athletics Championships took place in Eugene, Oregon. It’s tough for topflight sportspeople to peak twice in quick succession, and there’s little doubt the World Champs — where the very best were on show — was the more prestigious stage. That’s why many of our top performers focused on Oregon.

Usain Bolt, possibly the greatest athlete the world has seen, bagged eight Olympic gold medals in his remarkable career. The fact he only stood atop the Commonwealth dais once says more about his lack of interest in the event than the standard of competition he was running against. Even the most ardent fan of the Commonwealth Games would struggle to name the city in which Bolt bagged gold.

Through various government agencies ( principally Sport NZ, which operated in the 12 months to June 2022 with a budget of $ 110m), public money is invested into sport. That’s a good thing — by investing in high- performance athletes we set high goals, promote ambition and create the framework that brings us regular celebration on the global stage. As a nation, we’re very good at sport and should celebrate that fact

Through Sport NZ, we also invest in grassroots community sport, helping kids and the many of us who will never stand on top of an Olympic dais to work up a sweat and get some of the good buzz that sport brings.

The Commonwealth Games falls awkwardly between the pillars of high- end sport and community engagement — carrying the cost of the former but lacking the publichealth benefits of the later. For every dollar of public money that goes into a Commonwealth Games campaign, that’s a dollar not being invested in junior sports — kids playing in the park. It’s also diverted away from high- end achievement on the biggest stages: world cups and the Olympian efforts that make us so proud.

If there is a place for the Commonwealth Games, it is at the same level as the Commonwealth itself: as a network for grassroots involvement between nations with a shared ( very complicated) history. The Games need to step away from the dais and get among the people.