They were ‘more cheerful and less strict’ than the Olympics! A look back at a bygone era when the Commonwealth Games had a VERY different name…
When the Australian state of Victoria pulled out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games over escalating costs, it was a blow not only to the athletes expecting to compete, but also to the status of the entire enterprise.
The Commonwealth Games were already in turbulent waters.
Last year’s event only went ahead because the city of Birmingham and the British government agreed to intervene after Durban, which should have hosted the games, pulled out.
They have only been canceled twice – in the war-ravaged years of 1942 and 1946 – since their inception in 1930
Now, however, with an increasingly busy sports calendar and shifting geopolitics, some believe the Commonwealth Games are losing their relevance.
Others, of course, argue that the Commonwealth itself, with the king at its head, has little place in the modern world.
It will not escape the attention of critics that the event began as The British Empire Games – George VI was our last emperor, of course – and remained the Empire and Commonwealth Games until 1966.
But as these photos show, there was no lack of drama or joy, even though times were quite different.
1930 – THE BRITISH EMPIRE GAMES, HAMILTON, CANADA
Rower Henry Robert ‘Bobby’ Pearce at the very first British Empire Games in 1930, held in Hamilton, Ontario. Pearce won gold in the single scull. Two years earlier he had been banned from participating in Henley because he worked with his hands as a carpenter
1934 – THE BRITISH EMPIRE GAMES, LONDON
Gladys Lunn of England wins gold in the women’s half mile race at the 1934 Empire Games in White City. She also won gold in the javelin throw
The women’s 80 meters hurdles at the 1934 British Empire Games
Australian swimmer Claire Dennis, dressed in her national blazer, leaves for the White City Games in London
By Ian Lloyd
The games were founded in 1930 by Melville Marks ‘Bobby’ Robinson, a Canadian journalist and sports executive, at a time when the empire, like the Commonwealth today, was in troubled waters. Ireland had seceded from the UK in 1922 and formed the Irish Free State. Twelve months after the first games, the Statute of Westminster authorized the dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to govern themselves.
Robinson had little support for his idea until he managed to persuade King George V to become a patron of the young games, and this of course opened many other doors. After watching the Russian, German and Austrian empires collapse like a house of cards at the end of World War I, George was happy to support any initiative that would stabilize the British Empire.
Robinson wanted a less intense version of the Olympics, stating that they “should be more joyful and less strict.” They were soon dubbed ‘the Friendly Games’ and were based on the British ideal of ‘fair play’. It always helped that all participants spoke English and were able to socialize and compete together. They were the first games to honor athletes with a podium presentation and medals.
Instead of being held in one of the Empire’s capitals, the 1930 Games were held in the working-class town of Hamilton, Ontario. Messages were read from the King and Prince of Wales and four hundred men and women from eleven countries took part in just six events. Then, as now, money was an issue. The timing was terrible, less than twelve months after the Wall Street crash and the start of the Great Depression. The Empire Games (which became the Commonwealth Games in 1978) never received the support or sponsorship that the Olympic Games enjoyed.
However, it has always had popular appeal, attracting much more newspaper coverage across the Empire in 1930 than the FIFA World Cup which also started that year, but to which Britain would not send a team until 1950.
Royal support promoted the games. In 1954, Prince Philip flew to Vancouver to watch Roger Bannister and John Landy, the first two athletes to break the four-minute mile, battle it out together for the first time and Bannister won. Philip became president of the Commonwealth Games Federation and opened six games. The Queen became a patron of the Federation, opening six more from Edmonton in 1978 to Glasgow in 2014. She would have been very sad if less than twelve months after her death the future of the games she supported for most of her reign , is in danger. .
- Ian Lloyd’s latest book is The Throne: 1000 years of British Coronations, published by History Press
1938 – THE BRITISH EMPIRE GAMES, SYDNEY
The first round of the 80m hurdles at the British Empire Games in Sydney. Pictured from left to right: Ethel Raby of England, Barbara Burke of South Africa and Nell Gould of Australia
Decima Norman (centre of picture) was the star of the 1938 Sydney Empire Games, here she collects one of her three athletics individual winning medals
1949 – THE BRITISH EMPIRE GAMES, NEW ZEALAND
Athletes from the British Isles pictured leaving Southampton aboard the liner Tamarda for the 1948 British Empire Games in New Zealand
1958 – THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH GAMES, CARDIFF
The South African team arrives at London Airport (now Heathrow) for the newly renamed British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff. Queen Elizabeth, now enthroned, had not been crowned Empress
Thirty-five countries sent a total of 1,130 athletes and 228 officials to the Cardiff Games, including cyclist Tom Simpson, a pioneer of British cycling and the country’s first road world champion
1962 – THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH GAMES, PERTH
England swimmer Linda Ludgrove emerges victorious after breaking the world record in the women’s 220m backstroke at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth
1966 – BRITISH EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH GAMES, KINGSTON, JAMAICA
Prince Philip and Princess Anne at London Airport in 1966 before flying to Jamaica for the Commonwealth Games
English swimmer Linda Ludgrove with her three gold medals from the Kingston Games
Charles, Prince of Wales and Princess Anne in Kingston for the British Empire and Commonwealth Games