S E M A G Y L D N E I R THE F The Commonwealth Games evoke a cordial spirit that the much larger Olympics can never hope to match. Mike Rowbottom takes us through the history of The Friendly Games, a sporting event like no other.
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he Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary political association of 54 member states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. Currently, 15 of them recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state, while five have their own monarchs and the rest are republics. Member states have no legal obligations to one another, but are largely connected through their use of the English language and historical ties. The Commonwealth Charter defines their shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, as promoted by the quadrennial Commonwealth Games. This unique event began as the British Empire Games in 1930, before becoming the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954. From 1970, it was the British Commonwealth Games, before the name Commonwealth Games was settled upon in 1978.
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The Olympic Games’ smaller and homelier relation - self-styled as the Friendly Games - is about to take place in England for the third time after the 1934 edition in London and the 2002 event in Manchester. This time, Birmingham is preparing itself to host. The Pierre de Coubertin figure for the Commonwealth Games was, fittingly, a more down-to-earth character. His name was Bobby Robinson, and he was the manager of the Canadian athletics team at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Robinson was also sports editor of the local newspaper in Hamilton, Ontario, and enabled the first Games to take place there after persuading the local authorities to contribute towards the teams’ travelling expenses. Staggeringly, in a time of worldwide economic recession, he persuaded the powers that be to shell out $30,000. After earning a reputation as a hard bargainer on behalf of local fruit and vegetable growers in the face of attempts at price-cutting from
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