The 2030 Commonwealth Games will be held in India.
This was a welcome development considering that in the build-up to the recently concluded ones in Glasgow, questions about their relevance were resoundingly loud. Remember, before the 2026 edition was moved to Glasgow, Scotland, these games had been scheduled to take place in the City of Victoria, Australia.
But Victoria opted out, sighting the lack of resources to host the games successfully. However, while that occurrence created doubt on the long-term existence of the Commonwealth Games, a solution has now been found to ensure that they continue beyond their 100-year anniversary, in 2030.
According to Don Rukare, the president of the Commonwealth Sports, they have realized that the Games have been so expensive to host. This has largely been as a result of the extended facilities needed to hold different sports disciplines.
But going forward, Rukare said: “We are now going to engage with our members, who show intentions to host the games, and ask them what they have in place. For example, the recent games practically had 10 or so competitions, breaking away from the old model where we had over 20 different sporting competitions.”
In fact, in the recent games, some major events like rugby, marathon, squash, hockey, and beach volleyball among others were not competed in. This helped reduce on the costs and logistical pressure that the hosting nation has to endure.
And therefore, that is the plan going forward. Essentially, Rukare noted that as Commonwealth Sports, they would like to ensure that there is flexibility. But at the same time, try and relieve hosting countries of a heavy burden, because in the end, if that continues, then nations will avoid hosting, yet it is a highly prestigious honour to.
FLEXIBILITY
In addition, with the new direction that Commonwealth Sports is taking, the chances of the Commonwealth Games being hosted in Africa for the first time brighten. Already, it has been muted that South Africa may be interested in doing so in the near future.
This will be aided by the plan that Rukare and company are working on: “You see, we are going to invite nations to bid for hosting rights. But this is a process that will entail us asking them what they have and what they can do. For example, a country can tell us that it can afford to have athletics both inside the stadium and on track. But then add that they can also afford to have 7s rugby. More importantly, we intend to work with the countries basing on what they can afford to run.”
However, some critics feel that such flexibility from the Commonwealth Sports body will water down the standards of the games. But far from it, Rukare noted, they are not going to compromise on the standards especially when it comes to the safety of athletes and the level of competition.
Helping to bring the hosting costs down is intended to ensure that hosting rights go to those that will ensure that whatever they promise to provide in terms of sports discipline, remains at the required level from infrastructure and equipment used.
It is against that background that events, which were competed in during the 2022 Birmingham games dropped from the 20s to the 10 this time. But those 10 were still played at a good level in top class facilities. With this plan in motion, the Commonwealth Games can continue for many years