COMMONWEALTH GAMES—FRIENDLY GAMES
Suresh
Kumar Lau
History of Friendship
The Commonwealth is a unique family of 53 members which
promotes respect, encourages trust and works towards economic prosperity for
its members. It’s 2 billions people account for 30 per cent of the world’s
population and are many languages, races, faith, traditions and cultures. It is
an association of independent countries and other political units that have
lived under British law and government.
The Commonwealth evolved from United Kingdom’s imperial past,
through decolonization, two world wars and change in international relations.
In 1867, Canada was the
first colony to get self-governing “Dominion” status, which implies equality
with the UK.
In 1884, British politician Lord Rosebery described the changing empire as a “Commonwealth of Nations”. Australia
joined in 1900 and New Zealand
(1907), South Africa
(1910) and the Irish Free States (1921) followed. At the 1926 Imperial
conference, the attending prime ministers adopted the Balfour Report defining
Dominions as autonomous communities within the British
Empire, equal in status, united by common allegiance to the crown
and associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
World War-II changed the British
Commonwealth’s nature. It became a multiracial association after India and Pakistan achieved independence.
With India’s
wish to become a republic and still remain in Commonwealth membership had to be
rethought.
The modern Commonwealth was born in 1949. With the London
Declaration of 1949, Commonwealth prime ministers welcomed India as Commonwealth’s first
republican member. The word “British” was dropped to reflect Commonwealth’s new
reality. The Commonwealth’s opposition to apartheid led to South Africa’s withdrawal in 1961.
(In 1994 after the end of apartheid it rejoined the association). In 1972 Pakistan left the Commonwealth when other
Commonwealth members recognised the independence of Bangladesh
(formerly East Pakistan). Bangladesh was admitted as a member and Pakistan
rejoined in 1989. From a club of former colonies, the Commonwealth
of Nations has grown into contemporary international association
in tune with times without losing its history of friendship. In 1970, Queen
Elizabeth II wrote about the Commonwealth as “… rather a special family, a
family of nations …”.
Festival of Empire
The Commonwealth Games developed from the earlier Empire
Games. The Empire Games were designed specifically to bring together the
nations of the British Empire in a friendly
competition. The British Empire Games was brainwork to be inspired by the
Reverend Astley Cooper (1858-1930). In July 1891 he wrote in “Great Britain”
magazine and later on October 31, 1891 in ‘The Times’ with a plan for festival “to draw closer the ties
between Nations of the Empire.” Yorkshireman, the Reverend Cooper became
involved in Olympic movement in Britain,
but his notion generated a great deal of interest in Britain and the British Colonies.
The idea took a shape when a Festival of Empire was held at the Crystal Place, London
on June 24, 1911
as a part of the coronation celebrations of His Majesty King George V
(1865-1936), second son of Edward VII. As part of the festival an Inter-Empire
Championship was held in which teams from Australasia (Australia, New Zealand,
Tasmania), Canada, South Africa, United Kingdom competed in events such as
Athletics (5 events), Swimming (2 events), Boxing (1 event) and Wrestling (1
event). Canada was declared
the overall winner by achieving one point more than the United Kingdom.
The Friendly Games
It was the initiative of Norton Hervey Crow which brought
British Empire Games dreams to reality on September 25, 1924 at the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg. N. Hervey Crow,
in his concluding address to the Amateur Athletic Union after 19 years as
Secretary said ‘you could consider the advisability of taking the initiative in
all-British Empire Games to be held in between Olympic Games.’ On 27th September, 1924
the AAU Committee Unanimously passed
crow’s idea. The first city to resolve it could handle the games and their
organization was Hamilton, Ontario, then with population of some
15,5,000. Their viability study was approved. The principle was that the games
were to be less rigorous — the Friendly Games was to be the motto.
In 1928, Melville Mark (Bobby) Robinson of Canada was
asked to organise the first British Empire Games. The first games, called the
British Empire Games took place in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada.
From 1930 to 1950 (no games were held in 1942 and 1946), the games were known
as the British Empire Games; from 1954 to 1962 as the British Empire and
Commonwealth Games, from 1966 to 1974 as the British Commonwealth Games and
since 1978 as the Commonwealth Games. The festival of sports has undergone name
changes that reflects the growing political maturity of fellow member
countries.
These name changes reflected the transformation of the British Empire, since nearly all colonies had become
independent nations by the 1960s.
The Commonwealth Games, like the Olympic Games have
suffered from the effects of world politics. Black
African Commonwealth
countries have boycotted the games several occasions in protest against other
Commonwealth countries having sporting links with South Africa. Between 1930 and
1958, white South Africans won 190 medals (72 gold, 60 silver and 58 bronzes)
in the British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
The games have suffered from boycotts, especially that of 1986, but these have
never been on the scale of those that have affected the Olympics.
The Games are held every four years midway between the
Olympic Games with competing nations being part of the British
Commonwealth. It is often referred to as the “Friendly Games.”
Only six teams have attended every Commonwealth Games: Australia, Canada,
England, New Zealand, Scotland
and Wales.
There are 53 Commonwealth countries represented by 71 Commonwealth Games
Association (CGA) that can enter a team in the Commonwealth Games because some
Commonwealth countries have more than one CGA. Although the United Kingdom is one member of the
Commonwealth, the seven CGA’s namely, England,
Scotland, Wales, Northern
Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey
compete separately in the Commonwealth Games. It has been held in Britain in five occasions: London 1934, Cadriff 1958, Edingburgh 1970
and 1986 and Manchester 2002. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) is the
organization that is responsible for the direction and control of the
Commonwealth Games. The three core values of the Commonwealth Games movement
are Humanity, Equality and Destiny, which were adopted by the Games movement in
2000.
The host city of each Commonwealth Games is chosen by the
CGF seven years in advance. The 19th Commonwealth Games are
scheduled to be held in Delhi
from October 3 to 14, 2010.
For the first time an international sporting event of this magnitude is being
held in India.
The last major multi-sport event held was the Asian Games in 1982. In 2014, the
Games will be held in Glasgow,
Scotland.
The Commonwealth Games were inaugurated as the British
Empire Games in Hamilton, Ontario,
Canada in 1930 as a sports
competition for athletes from Great
Britain. The policy statement of the first
British Empire Games “The Commonwealth Games will be designed on the Olympic
model, both in general construction and its stern definition of the amateur.
But the game will be very different – free from both the excessive stimulus and
the babel of the international stadium. They should be merrier and less stern
and will substitute the stimulus of novel adventure for the pressure of
international rivalry”. Reverend Astley may be relatively undistinguished when
compared to Barron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937) who visualized the Olympics,
but it was the British paster who game shape to the Empire Games, 39 years
after it was mooted in 1891. His pipe dream accomplished in 1930 at Hamilton, Ontario.
At the first British Empire Games, the facilities were somewhat Spartan. The
400-odd competitors were put up in the Prince of Wales school just over the
road from the main stadium, with up to 24 athletes sharing each classroom. The
only depressed moment about the Games was that the man whose idea began the
whole movement was not there to see the culmination of his initiative. Norton
Hervey Crow died on Sept.
14, 1929, precisely eleven months before the Games kick off.
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