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Is the Commonwealth Games on its last legs? · The Morning Edition

• 0:07
  S1: The Victorian government made headlines for all the wrong reasons
• 0:10
  S1: in 2023, when it pulled out of hosting the Commonwealth
• 0:14
  S1: Games on the grounds that it was too expensive. Now
• 0:18
  S1: the games are on in Glasgow, with many locals barely
• 0:21
  S1: registering that it's even taking place in their city. According
• 0:25
  S1: to our reporter on the ground, I'm Samantha Selinger Morris,
• 0:29
  S1: and you're listening to The Morning Edition from The Age
• 0:32
  S1: and The Sydney Morning Herald today. Senior sports writer Michael
• 0:36
  S1: Gleeson on whether the competition, which started in 1930 as
• 0:40
  S1: a means for the colonies to unite and honour the monarchy,
• 0:44
  S1: is on its last legs. It's July the 29th. Welcome, Michael,
• 0:55
  S1: to the podcast.
• 0:56
  S2: Thanks very much for having me. All the way from Scotland.
• 0:59
  S1: Exactly. Well, we can't wait to get stuck into this
• 1:01
  S1: with you because I think I might be like many listeners.
• 1:04
  S1: You know, I'm not a massive follower of the Commonwealth Games.
• 1:07
  S1: I don't actually know so much about why it matters.
• 1:11
  S1: But now you are in Glasgow and like you've said,
• 1:13
  S1: you're there for the games. And it's been widely reported
• 1:15
  S1: that this has been severely stripped back. Right. Less sports,
• 1:19
  S1: fewer athletes. So talk to us, I guess, a bit
• 1:21
  S1: about why this matters and why has it been stripped
• 1:23
  S1: back this year?
• 1:25
  S2: Well, it matters to Australia because we win a lot.
• 1:27
  S2: So we like to we like a sport. We like
• 1:30
  S2: a competition where we dominate. And certainly that's true here.
• 1:34
  S2: The Commonwealth Games are one of the few multi-sport carnivals
• 1:37
  S2: like an Olympics, and they were always a mini Olympics,
• 1:41
  S2: but they just became too too expensive. Now this games
• 1:46
  S2: is particularly interesting because the games look like they were
• 1:50
  S2: dead after Victoria pulled the pin on hosting them.
• 1:54
  S3: The games will not proceed in Victoria in 2026.
• 2:00
  S2: With what was always a folly.
• 2:02
  S3: Frankly, 6 to $7 billion for a 12 day sporting event.
• 2:06
  S3: We are not doing that.
• 2:08
  S2: It was a crazy idea to have a rural games,
• 2:11
  S2: a country games in Victoria that you just it was
• 2:15
  S2: inconceivable that it would go ahead to anyone that had
• 2:18
  S2: actually been to a games and seen the size of them,
• 2:20
  S2: seen the infrastructure. Needed to think that you would have a.
• 2:24
  S2: Games in Victoria in only rural areas was was crazy.
• 2:28
  S2: So in the breach Glasgow jumped in. They said, well,
• 2:32
  S2: we'll do it. But you know, being here now and
• 2:36
  S2: having been here for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which were fantastic,
• 2:41
  S2: they built the city up, they polished the city up.
• 2:44
  S2: It was looking schmick, it looked fantastic. Everyone bought in.
• 2:48
  S2: It was a full Commonwealth Games. There was bus services,
• 2:52
  S2: heaps of tourists here. The whole city was buzzing with
• 2:55
  S2: it here. Now it's a bit like being told at
• 2:58
  S2: the last minute that you're the one that of your
• 3:00
  S2: friends that's got to host the dinner party and you say,
• 3:03
  S2: all right, well, well, you you bring all the. You
• 3:05
  S2: all bring the food and. And don't bring your kids
• 3:09
  S2: because you know, I'm sick of them. And there's too
• 3:11
  S2: many of them. And and, and I've got to work
• 3:14
  S2: in the morning. So you're all going to leave early.
• 3:17
  S2: And honestly, they're holding their nose through it. That's how
• 3:19
  S2: it feels.
• 3:20
  S1: Okay, so a bit of a political question here, because
• 3:22
  S1: obviously Scotland has had a bit of a separatist movement
• 3:25
  S1: from the Empire. So is part of it a sort
• 3:29
  S1: of British Empire vibes, like a bit on the nose
• 3:32
  S1: there is that part of the reason why perhaps the.
• 3:34
  S2: Scottish.
• 3:34
  S1: Are a little bit.
• 3:35
  S2: No, I don't think it is because like, actually the
• 3:39
  S2: last time the games were on here was in 2014,
• 3:42
  S2: and it was right at the time of the referendum,
• 3:45
  S2: which they then voted to remain within the, you know,
• 3:48
  S2: the UK. So I don't think it's that. I think
• 3:51
  S2: it's just this was foisted on them. They've agreed to
• 3:54
  S2: have it. And so it's really interesting. I think that they've,
• 3:57
  S2: I think the whole Commonwealth Games concept here fumbled it
• 3:59
  S2: a bit because they, they thought that this would salvage
• 4:04
  S2: something from the games that was going to die. So
• 4:07
  S2: they just said, whatever form you can put it on,
• 4:10
  S2: we don't want a mini Olympics. Just do it. So
• 4:13
  S2: there's a winnowed back number of sports. There's obviously swimming
• 4:16
  S2: and there's athletics. They're the two big ones. But then
• 4:18
  S2: they've got you know um they've got gymnastics and weightlifting and,
• 4:21
  S2: and bowls, indoor bowls, but there's no road races, there's
• 4:25
  S2: no marathon, there's no, you know, there will be cycling,
• 4:28
  S2: but there's no, um, you know, other key sports, like
• 4:32
  S2: there's no, there's no hockey massive in India, there's no
• 4:36
  S2: rugby sevens, which is big throughout all the, all the
• 4:39
  S2: other Pacific countries and, and, and the rest of the Commonwealth,
• 4:43
  S2: you know, there's no rowing, which is really big in
• 4:45
  S2: the UK. They didn't have those because they're team sports
• 4:48
  S2: that you would have had to bring in much bigger
• 4:50
  S2: teams for much more infrastructure. You would have had more
• 4:53
  S2: venues required. They didn't have it. Now, why I say
• 4:56
  S2: that was a mistake is because at the time they
• 4:59
  S2: made those decisions, they didn't have anyone else putting their
• 5:02
  S2: hand up to have any more Commonwealth Games. They couldn't
• 5:05
  S2: find any other venue other than Perth, I think wanted
• 5:08
  S2: to hold this one. Um they didn't have another city
• 5:12
  S2: saying we'll we'll fill the breach, let alone do the
• 5:15
  S2: one in a few years time. Since then though India
• 5:18
  S2: has said we will we will take the next games
• 5:21
  S2: in four years time because India wants to bid for
• 5:24
  S2: the 2036 Olympics, and they want to show the world
• 5:28
  S2: and the IOC that they can actually host an event
• 5:32
  S2: of this type because they stuffed it up so badly
• 5:34
  S2: when they held the Delhi Commonwealth Games that no one
• 5:37
  S2: was ever going to send, you know, a major event
• 5:40
  S2: there again, because it was just so badly handled. But
• 5:43
  S2: on top of that, when they had the games here
• 5:45
  S2: last time, the Athletics was on at Hampden Park. It
• 5:48
  S2: held 4000 people. They've got it on a track now
• 5:52
  S2: in Scotstounhill, which is which holds well really only about
• 5:57
  S2: 8000 punters that are getting in. That's tiny and it's
• 6:02
  S2: just not as a consequence doesn't have that buzz. And
• 6:05
  S2: further to that, it hasn't brought in the tourists the
• 6:08
  S2: way another one would when you've got big volumes of
• 6:11
  S2: sports and you've got lots of teams and things, lots
• 6:15
  S2: of things that you can get access to, even free
• 6:17
  S2: things like, you know, the, the, the walks and the
• 6:19
  S2: road races and, and that sort of thing. So there's
• 6:22
  S2: a lot of people you go into, you know, places,
• 6:23
  S2: restaurants and bars, and they say, what are you here
• 6:25
  S2: for the Commonwealth Games? Oh that's right. That's on. Yeah.
• 6:28
  S4: And so you mentioned.
• 6:29
  S1: There before that Glasgow went into this. Obviously it was
• 6:32
  S1: a sort of last minute arrangement. And they were not
• 6:34
  S1: going to look at this as being a bit of
• 6:36
  S1: a mini Olympics. But as a layperson, like the Commonwealth
• 6:39
  S1: Games sort of strikes me as the poor cousin of
• 6:41
  S1: the Olympics. I don't know if that's fair, but I
• 6:43
  S1: guess talk to me about the relevance. Yeah, right. Okay.
• 6:47
  S1: So talk to me, I guess, about the relevance of
• 6:49
  S1: relevance of the Commonwealth Games to the athletes and particular sports.
• 6:53
  S1: Is this like an important jumping off point during the
• 6:55
  S1: year for our athletes to train for the Olympics? Or
• 6:58
  S1: what's what's the relevance here?
• 7:00
  S2: No. It's huge. Well, the whole multi-sport thing, Carnival is
• 7:05
  S2: really important. They really enjoy it. They really do peg
• 7:08
  S2: themselves for it. I mean, but like we, um, they
• 7:12
  S2: also have it in its perspective. Like gout. Gout, the
• 7:15
  S2: biggest name in athletics was not going to compete. It
• 7:18
  S2: hasn't competed here and wasn't going to compete here because
• 7:20
  S2: he planned to compete at the World Juniors, which are
• 7:23
  S2: on next week. But look what it does is it
• 7:27
  S2: really varies here. So Rose Davies won gold in the
• 7:31
  S2: 10,000m in the Athletics. Davies beat two African runners who
• 7:36
  S2: were one and two in just one, the African. They
• 7:40
  S2: were gold and silver in the African Championships and the
• 7:42
  S2: African runners have dominated the 10,000m. No Australian's ever won
• 7:46
  S2: and no Australian woman has ever won over that distance
• 7:48
  S2: at Commonwealth level. So that's a phenomenal performance. You know,
• 7:51
  S2: in the men's 1500, which were the mile. Sorry, which
• 7:54
  S2: will be the event of the of the athletics and
• 7:57
  S2: probably of the games is you've got Josh Kerr who
• 8:00
  S2: just broke the world record for the marathon running against
• 8:04
  S2: Cam Myers, who's the who just broke the Australian record
• 8:06
  S2: over 1500m. He's only 20. He's the rising star of
• 8:09
  S2: the whole sport. Then you've got Jake Wightman who's the reigning,
• 8:12
  S2: who's a world champion. So you've got these world champions
• 8:15
  S2: and you've got the two chariots um from from Kenya
• 8:18
  S2: who are just stars of the sport. It is an
• 8:21
  S2: absolute world class field. So it matters because it's also
• 8:25
  S2: that sort of championship level running is really different to
• 8:29
  S2: even Diamond Leagues or to, to the swimming. And athletes
• 8:35
  S2: really like it too, because they know that the public
• 8:37
  S2: likes it, particularly in Australia and low profile sports. They
• 8:41
  S2: don't get their moment in the sun. They're squeezed of
• 8:44
  S2: oxygen by, you know, both football, all the football codes.
• 8:48
  S2: And you know, they get their little windows every, you know,
• 8:51
  S2: every 2 or 4 years, well, every two years because
• 8:54
  S2: you get an Olympics and then a Commonwealth Games in between.
• 8:56
  S2: You have the worlds and that sort of thing. But
• 8:58
  S2: because they don't get that moment, that's their chance to
• 9:01
  S2: really be on, be on telly, be become a public,
• 9:04
  S2: you know, um, a household name.
• 9:07
  S5: After the break.
• 9:09
  S2: In the scale of things that Victoria has wasted money
• 9:11
  S2: on from the big build and the corruption in that.
• 9:13
  S2: All right. You know, this just adds to the list.
• 9:15
  S2: People have almost forgotten that they'd committed this and wasted
• 9:18
  S2: the money on it.
• 9:25
  S1: Tell us, I guess, a bit about how expensive these
• 9:28
  S1: games are, because obviously it made huge news here that
• 9:31
  S1: the Victorian state government had announced in January 2022 it
• 9:34
  S1: was in serious consideration to host the games. And then,
• 9:38
  S1: you know, a month later, Premier of Victoria at the time,
• 9:41
  S1: Daniel Andrews, confirmed that, you know, he was in exclusive
• 9:44
  S1: negotiations to host this. And then, of course, next year,
• 9:48
  S1: state government pulls out saying it's way too expensive. So
• 9:51
  S1: how expensive are they?
• 9:53
  S2: Oh, look, I wish I knew. I wish I could
• 9:56
  S2: answer that accurately because the Victorian government was just making
• 9:59
  S2: numbers up on the fly at the time. It's going
• 10:01
  S2: to cost $6 billion. Did I say six? I might
• 10:03
  S2: have meant seven. Seven. Maybe it was.
• 10:05
  S3: Eight. In fact, at least $6 billion and could be
• 10:09
  S3: as high as $7 billion. And I cannot stand here
• 10:13
  S3: and say to you that I have any confidence that
• 10:15
  S3: that even $7 billion number would appropriately and adequately fund
• 10:21
  S3: these games. I think it could be more than that.
• 10:25
  S3: There's a whole range of reasons for that. And today's
• 10:28
  S3: not about.
• 10:30
  S2: There is no doubt, to put them on at the
• 10:32
  S2: scale they wanted in Victoria. It was going to be
• 10:35
  S2: super expensive, but that's also because they chose this stupid
• 10:40
  S2: idea to think that they could host them all in
• 10:43
  S2: regional centres and not utilize existing infrastructure and not utilise
• 10:48
  S2: the MCG. And you know that that was completely unnecessary
• 10:52
  S2: and silly. And to think that smaller towns had the
• 10:56
  S2: capacity to host athletes and get the volunteers they want
• 11:02
  S2: and think that they were going to bring in tourists
• 11:04
  S2: and have places for them to stay, and not just
• 11:07
  S2: be commuting back and forth on the train. And staying
• 11:08
  S2: in Melbourne anyway, was was ridiculous. And anyone that had
• 11:12
  S2: been to any of the Commonwealth or Olympic Games before
• 11:14
  S2: that would knew that immediately and thought, this just isn't
• 11:17
  S2: going to happen. And eventually the government gets to the
• 11:20
  S2: point where of realization themselves. Now, they could have they
• 11:23
  S2: could have changed all of that. They could have still
• 11:26
  S2: with the Victorian government said, you know what? We overestimated
• 11:30
  S2: rather than just pull the pin on the whole thing.
• 11:32
  S2: We're going to host it, but it's going to be
• 11:34
  S2: in you know, we are going to use Victoria, we
• 11:36
  S2: are going to use Melbourne, we are going to use Geelong.
• 11:38
  S2: We're going to use the pool we have there. And
• 11:40
  S2: they could have done a much scaled back version, but
• 11:43
  S2: they basically just said, you know, we're out.
• 11:46
  S1: And we have seen reporting, though that this the total
• 11:49
  S1: cost of the games is over $589 million. So I guess,
• 11:55
  S1: is it worth the cost? I mean, how much anger
• 11:58
  S1: is there, I guess perhaps in Victoria that the taxpayers
• 12:01
  S1: are on the hook for this money, even though Victoria didn't,
• 12:04
  S1: of course, end up hosting it, get the get whatever
• 12:07
  S1: tourists they might have got from it. What can you
• 12:09
  S1: tell us about that, Michael?
• 12:11
  S2: Oh, look, in the scale of things that Victoria has
• 12:13
  S2: wasted money on from the big build and the corruption
• 12:16
  S2: in that I don't you know, this just adds to
• 12:18
  S2: the list. People have almost forgotten that they'd committed this
• 12:20
  S2: and wasted the money on it. It was, you know, like,
• 12:26
  S2: I don't want to be, you know, be Pollyanna about it.
• 12:29
  S2: But it's just. When you look at how that could
• 12:33
  S2: have still been scaled back to a better version than this.
• 12:37
  S2: And when you looked at the fact that it was
• 12:38
  S2: just never going to be what they thought it was,
• 12:41
  S2: what they were selling it to be, it's ridiculous to
• 12:44
  S2: think that it was it was conceived of in the
• 12:46
  S2: first place.
• 12:47
  S1: And when, of course, Victoria did finally announce that it
• 12:50
  S1: was pulling out of hosting the Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth
• 12:53
  S1: Games Authority certainly expressed some disappointment. You know, they said
• 12:57
  S1: that they were only given eight hours notice. I mean,
• 12:59
  S1: they were they were a bit filthy about it. It
• 13:01
  S1: sounded like from their announcement. So I guess let's just
• 13:04
  S1: talk about the reduction of the number of sports from
• 13:07
  S1: 20 in 20 22 to 10 this year. Is this
• 13:10
  S1: Victoria's fault? Did the government kill the games, Michael?
• 13:13
  S2: Yeah, well, they nearly killed the entire concept and that's.
• 13:16
  S2: And the Indians have saved it. And the Scots to
• 13:19
  S2: that degree as well. Um, certainly the Brits didn't want
• 13:24
  S2: the concept to fall. And it was they looked at
• 13:27
  S2: a whole range of options of sending it back to Birmingham,
• 13:30
  S2: spreading it between Birmingham, maybe Manchester, possibly Liverpool, you know,
• 13:34
  S2: having it in the smaller um cities and spreading it
• 13:38
  S2: through there because they, they didn't want uh England in
• 13:42
  S2: particular didn't want the concept to go. Glasgow obviously stepped
• 13:46
  S2: in and took it on and but they did so
• 13:48
  S2: on the basis that this isn't going to be costing
• 13:50
  S2: us money. And that's what they kept selling to their
• 13:52
  S2: own people. We'll do it. But it's not going to
• 13:55
  S2: cost the Scots like it's going to be funded by
• 13:58
  S2: the CGA and by um, basically the Victorian government.
• 14:01
  S1: And is that is that what. Is that what happened
• 14:03
  S1: in the end? The Scots haven't haven't been footing the bill.
• 14:05
  S2: Well okay they're saying we're not it's not costing the taxpayers.
• 14:08
  S2: That's what they keep stressing here.
• 14:10
  S1: Is that the.
• 14:10
  S2: Case? Yeah. Well, to the best of my knowledge it is. Yeah.
• 14:13
  S6: Okay. Okay. And so.
• 14:15
  S1: Michael, just to wrap up, I mean, we know that
• 14:17
  S1: the next Commonwealth Games is in India in four years time.
• 14:19
  S1: That's locked in. But talk to us, I guess, a
• 14:22
  S1: bit about the future of this event. I mean, is
• 14:24
  S1: it at risk? Is it going to keep going? I mean,
• 14:27
  S1: this is an interesting event in terms of I guess
• 14:29
  S1: it's where sport and politics also sort of merge, because
• 14:33
  S1: there's an argument that, well, traditional allies have been frayed
• 14:37
  S1: under Donald Trump. He's sort of eroded many alliances. So
• 14:41
  S1: is there an argument that perhaps the Commonwealth Games are
• 14:43
  S1: more important than ever to sort of solidify these ties
• 14:45
  S1: between countries that perhaps do see eye to eye more
• 14:49
  S1: than not in this time?
• 14:52
  S2: Well, the Canadians certainly finally found someone that's friendly to
• 14:54
  S2: them again, other than the country that wants to take
• 14:57
  S2: them over as another state. So they're very yeah, they're
• 15:01
  S2: very proudly wearing their, um, their red and their maple
• 15:03
  S2: leaves anywhere they are here to just to say, I
• 15:05
  S2: know you can hear my accent, but I'm not one
• 15:07
  S2: of those ones that you think I am. I'm a Canadian. Um,
• 15:10
  S2: I think that it's a really interesting point you make
• 15:13
  S2: about the future of it. I think it's really it's
• 15:19
  S2: been saved and a lot of it now is, only
• 15:22
  S2: is going to hinge on India and how they handle
• 15:25
  S2: it and do and what kind of games they put
• 15:27
  S2: on in four years time. But then it's also by
• 15:30
  S2: doing this with Glasgow, even though it might not be,
• 15:36
  S2: you know, it might not be this again, what they've
• 15:38
  S2: at least done is opened the idea that cities can
• 15:43
  S2: offer to post it without hosting a mini Olympics. And
• 15:47
  S2: they can say, look, we'll host it, but we'll host
• 15:49
  S2: these seven sports and there may not be the same
• 15:51
  S2: ones every time. You know, it may not be that, uh, well,
• 15:53
  S2: you're always going to have athletics and, um, and swimming
• 15:57
  S2: because they're just so they're so big in the thing. But,
• 15:59
  S2: but you could be changing around, but as the Olympics
• 16:02
  S2: has done, they've tried to say, we can't be, we
• 16:05
  S2: can't be sort of bankrupting cities by asking them to
• 16:07
  S2: host these games. So therefore, we have to be open
• 16:10
  S2: to you must utilize existing facilities, as many existing facilities
• 16:14
  S2: as you have, as you have, but also have legacy
• 16:17
  S2: facilities that if you build something there, therefore you're leaving
• 16:20
  S2: something behind. And that was the silly thing about what
• 16:22
  S2: Victoria did. They were going to build things that then
• 16:25
  S2: rip them down again, while they actually had purpose built
• 16:28
  S2: facilities that they could have used.
• 16:32
  S1: Michael, thank you so much for your time there with
• 16:34
  S1: you on the ground in Scotland.
• 16:37
  S2: Thank you. Thanks for the interest in the Commonwealth Games because, um, yeah,
• 16:41
  S2: it's good fun. I mean they are laughed at as
• 16:44
  S2: the school sports but they're better than that. Like as
• 16:46
  S2: I said, some of these events are genuine world class
• 16:49
  S2: and and they're fun. The games are fun.
• 16:58
  S5: Today's episode was produced by Kai Wong. Our executive producer
• 17:02
  S5: is Tammy Mills, and our podcasts are overseen by Lisa
• 17:05
  S5: Muxworthy and Tom McKendrick. If you like our show, follow
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