Glasgow puts on best Games face
11/06/2007 |
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The commission charged with assessing Glasgow's bid to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014 has praised the city as "wonderful and exciting". It will conclude its work on Wednesday but this was an auspicious first impression.
Glasgow faces competition from Abuja in Nigeria, with the winner to be announced in Sri Lanka on November 9 after a vote. John Tierney, the chairman of the five-member Commonwealth Games Federation Evaluation Commission, said yesterday: "We understand just how important it is to the people of Glasgow and Scotland to bring these Games to this wonderful and exciting city."
Tierney said the commission would examine legacy, political, legal and Customs issues as well as the venues and village arrangements. But he added: "We don't get involved in anything other than the technical elements of the proposal."
The commission's reports on both the Glasgow and Abuja bids to host the Games will be published on September 9.
One factor seen as being in Nigeria's favour is that Africa has never hosted the games, with Manchester staging the event in 2002 and Edinburgh in 1986.
But Mike Hooper, the Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive, said: "I think you're getting into things that are not of the realm of this commission. This is a technical evaluation and there are political issues that our constituencies may take into consideration."
The commission visited Abuja last week to evaluate its bid and said that it was a city which showed "youthful enthusiasm".
Tierney added: "It has a wide array of sports and entertainment issues, it has drive and ambition for infrastructure growth and growing domestic community. It shows great promise as a future games host."
The commission's visit to Glasgow will include up to 20 hours of presentations and a tour of the city and its main venues including visits to Hampden Park, Scotstoun, Ibrox and Celtic Park.
(Source: Guardian.co.uk)
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