EMPIRE GAMES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 268, 12 November 1935, Page 17

EMPIRE GAMES.

SYDNEY'S CHANCE.

ENTHUSIASM IN AUSTRALIA.

COUNTRY'S 15OTH BIRTHDAY.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY,'November 7. Last Tuesday a cable message reached Sydney from London conveying the glad news that the British Empire Games Federation had decided by a unanimous 1 vote that the next Empire Games shall be held in Sydney in January, 1938. The delegates were thoroughly representative of all parts of the Empire that take an active interest in athletics, and this unanimous vote must be taken as a sympathetic and cordial invitation to the Commonwealth to do its best in this worthy cause. Everybody who has had occasion to speak publicly on this subject has referred to the interesting fact that the idea of the Empire Games was suggested first by the late Richard Coombes, "the grand old man of amateur athletics in Australia," who was primarily responsible for their first celebration at the Festival of Empire held in honour of the Eoyal Coronation in 1911. There is therefore something singularly appropriate in the compliment now paid to Sydney by the Empire Games Federation. After the war the idea was taken up again, chiefly at the instance of Canada, during the course of the Olympic Games at Amsterdam in 1928. Canada celebrated what was formally the first series of games and it was then decided to hold them in rotation at various Empire centres every four years between the Olympic Games. They were held last year in London, 16 countries participating; and though our team was small, Australia on the basis of percentage of wins to number of competitors was easily first.

The programme for 1938 will probably be much the same as at London, including track and field events, swimming and diving, cycling, boxing, wrestling and rowing and women competitors are invited. Such a programme must be very expensive to carry out satisfactorily; and for this reason a public guarantee of £10,000 is always expected as a preliminary condition. Three months ago our State Government agreed to provide this guarantee; and though from 100 to 150 competitors are expected, no one doubts that the required finance will be forthcoming. The passages to Australia alone will cost at least £6000, and our visitors will be here for at least a month, including the two weeks needed to acclimatise and finish training before the games start. But it is confidently anticipated that the receipts will far more than cover the guarantee, and on the financial side everybody epeme to take an optimistic view of the situation. Of course, all the sporting authorities hero are extremely enthusiastic about the games, though they are still more than two years away. Mr. Dun-ningha-m, our Minister of Labour, who has just come back from a trip to England, is also president of the N.S.W. Amateur Athletic Association, and he has already expressed his appreciation of the good work done by Mr. Bruce and other Australians at Home in securing the games for Sydney. Alderman Marks, chairman of the Australian committee for the British Empire Games, in turn hae paid a tribute to the efforts made on our behalf by Mr. Dunningham while in London, and the event so far has been largely an occasion for mutual congratulations. But Mr. Stevens, who promptly expressed his satisfaction at the good news, immediately pointed out Empire Gamee will provide one of the greatest attractions at the celebration of Australia's 150 th birthday, which is to take place in January, 1938. This sesqui-centenary festival is to eclipse anything of the kind yet organised in Australia, and the Premier has already taken care to emphasise the great value of the Empire Games, not only as a means of promoting the success of our national festival but as a means of concentrating international interest and attention upon us and attracting visitors to our shores. As a contrast to this somewhat utilitarian and materialistic view of the celebrations, it .is something of a relief to be reminded by the "Sydney Morning Herald" that the games "will have much more than a sporting significance," that we should reerard them as promoting in a healthy and vigorous way "the spirit of comradeship and co-operation between the members of the British Empire," and thus helping to diffuse more widely that spirit of' friendship and good will which, while it 5s the firmest basis of out national life, is also the one solid foundation for international peace.