Commonwealth Games: A look at the popular sporting event and its history

The Commonwealth Games bring a lot of excitement and joy as athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations battle it out in various sports.

As the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham approach, we take a look at the popular sporting event and its history.

The international event is often referred to as the Friendly Games with the very first edition of the event taking place in 1930.

With the exception of war times, the event has taken place every four years and involves countries from across the Commonwealth of Nations including Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom although England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete as individuals.

Athletes with a disability are included as full members of their national teams, making the Commonwealth Games the first fully inclusive international multi-sport event. In 2018, the Games became the first global multi-sport event to feature an equal number of men’s and women’s medal events.

Inspired by the Inter-Empire Championships held during the Festival of Empire in London in 1911, Canadian-born Melville Marks Robinson, a sports journalist from Ontario, Canada, officially founded what was then known as the British Empire Games.

The first-ever game’s known as “The Friendly Games” were held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1930. With around 11 participating nations and over 400 athletes competing, the games were considered a huge success and proved very popular.

During the 20th and 21st centuries, the evolution of the game’s movement has resulted in several changes to the Commonwealth Games.

Some of these adjustments include the creation of the Commonwealth Winter Games for snow and ice sports, the Commonwealth Paraplegic Games for Commonwealth athletes with a disability and the Commonwealth Youth Games for Commonwealth athletes aged 14 to 18.

Although there are currently around 54 members of the Commonwealth of Nations, 72 teams currently participate in the Commonwealth Games.

Also, a feature of the Commonwealth Games is that a number of dependent territories that do not compete separately at the Olympic Games compete in the Commonwealth Games under their own flags.

The four home nations of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland all send individual teams which have increased the games’ competitive nature especially between the home nations and is considered extremely important by some of the athletes as they push for limited Olympic places within Team GB.

Only six nations have participated in every Commonwealth Games with those being Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. Of these six, Australia, England, Canada and New Zealand have each won at least one gold medal in every edition of the Games.

Australia have been the highest achieving team in 13 editions of the Games with England highest achievers on seven occasions and Canada being the most successful country once. These three countries also top the all-time Commonwealth Games medal table in that order.

The games have not been without controversy and recently have seen boycotts from participating nations and complaints regarding the Commonwealth Games Federation and its handling of humanitarian issues, civil rights and in the past apartheid.

It was only recently that the CGF stripped Durban of their host city status and reopened the bidding which was won by Birmingham who will stage the event in the summer of 2022.

“This is the biggest thing that’s going to happen in the UK so people want to get involved,” says Ian Reid, the event’s chief executive.

Looking at the 2022 games being held in Birmingham from July 28th to August 8th, what can we expect?

It is expected that at least 72 nations will compete including South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and of course the host nation, England with over 5,000 of the world’s best athletes set to arrive in the West Midlands.

With events such as netball, swimming, cycling, hockey, badminton and boxing to name a few, there is definitely something for everyone and it is expected to be a sell-out as many will be excited to see mainstream sports competitions return to England, who have competed at every edition of the Games since they were formed in 1930, with this being the third time they have been the host nation.

“It’s so exciting to think about having a major championship in England, with spectators, fingers crossed. Hopefully, for a couple of weeks, it can just enthral us all.” – Layla Guscoth, England netball player.

Whatever the controversy the Commonwealth Games are considered, it is an important stepping stone in the career of athletes all over the world as they aim for Olympic success and a place in Paris 2024.

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