The Glasgow Commonwealth Games must use their once-in-a-generation chance to create real change

Monday 17 September 2012

THE parades and plaudits continue for Scotland's Olympic and Paralympic athletes but a quite remarkable chapter of sport in Britain, one unlikely to be repeated this century, is over after seven years of anticipation and enjoyment.

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Susan Egelstaff

For Glasgow, however, the journey is just beginning.

In just under two years the city hosts the Commonwealth Games, which has the potential to be the biggest event – sporting or otherwise – that this country has ever seen. This represents a unique opportunity for Scotland to not only change the sporting landscape but in some ways revolutionise the attitudes of the Scottish public.

The Glasgow 2014 organising committee and the Scottish Government are lucky to be able to use the bounce generated from the London Olympics this summer – it was an event which galvanised Britain in a way nobody thought possible. Glasgow needs very little groundwork to be done to create a buzz around the Commonwealth Games – the Olympics have done that for them. All Glasgow needs to do now is maintain it. I say all, but achieving this will be no mean feat. The challenge Scotland faces is to produce a spectacular sporting event in July 2014, and to actually change the city and the country for the better. It is widely acknowledged that there are few, if any, major sporting events which have succeeded in raising participation levels in the host country in the long term but that does not mean it is impossible. Glasgow is inheriting a public enthused about sport to levels that the city would have struggled to generate on its own. This, however, is merely the springboard. Glasgow must grasp the opportunity – starting today – because when it's gone it will be irretrievable. For me, the major purpose of hosting an event such as the Commonwealth Games is not the 11 days of elite sport which will happen in a couple of years' time. It is the chance to change people's mindset about health and active living and, perhaps most significantly, to inspire children to engage with sport and with athletes in a way which is not possible while watching it on television. Of the 17 sports which will make up the Commonwealth Games programme, the majority would be classed as minority, with rugby being the only notable exception. This means that sports which barely see the light of day in a normal sporting year – such as badminton, my own sport – will have a platform from which to showcase themselves to a whole new audience, and potentially tear children's attention away from the dirge that is Scottish football. There are suggestions that the presence of the US 'dream team' in the basketball competition in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics sparked Spain's interest in the sport and in the last 20 years their national team has gone from almost nothing to winning the silver medal in the Beijing and London Olympics.Glasgow will have an array of world-class facilities as a result of the Commonwealth Games and these must be utilised to their maximum to render a success the hosting of the event. The velodrome in Manchester was used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and has provided a base for the GB team, and a few not bad cyclists have come out of there in the past decade.There is undoubtedly potential for Scotland to capitalise on the benefits of hosting such a major event. The Scottish Government must act now to seize this chance by ensuring there is sufficient funding provided for grass-roots sport – for facilities and for coaching. Children will have been inspired by the Olympics and by the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in a way that no government initiative could ever achieve and this is the time to create Scotland's next generation of champions. The legacy from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games must not begin on August 4, 2014, upon conclusion of the event. It must begin today.

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The Glasgow Commonwealth Games must use their once-in-a-generation chance to create real change

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