“It’s easy to attack the Commonwealth because it ultimately stems from the countries who were part of the British Empire, but it’s been quite resilient. It’s been able to reinvent itself,” said Associate Professor Kevin Blackburn, a sports history expert with NTU.
For one, the Commonwealth Games is more inclusive than the Olympics, with non-disabled athletes and para athletes competing under the same umbrella, in the same arena and at the same time, he noted.
At the Commonwealth Games, athletes with a disability have been included as full members of their national teams since 2002, and they attend ceremonies as one contingent.
“I often think, why aren’t the SEA Games and the Asian Games doing the same thing? Because you’re sending out a message that there’s the ‘real’ Games and then there’s other Games that are somehow not real (and) just for all the people who are disabled,” said Assoc Prof Blackburn.
NUS’ Dr Brunero described it as a “conscious recasting” of the Commonwealth and the types of messages it wants to emphasise, with one of them being inclusivity.
The organisation is “quite aware” of its long history, she said, adding that there is still “value” in what its modern incarnation – which is not focused on British Empire origins – does for small states and in advocating for environmental and human rights.
NTU’s Dr Prosperetti said it could be argued that the Commonwealth Games has more staying power than its other initiatives such as the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ meetings, due to sports being a “phenomenally sticky” and enduring legacy of empires.
If the Games can find a way to acknowledge the complexity of the history that produced it, such as by taking on an educational slant, it would carry even more meaning and relevance that other organisations in the Commonwealth don’t have, she said.
The current name of the Games, its history and the context it was used in is problematic, she added.
“If they want to survive, to justly be an institution that acknowledges a complicated global history, I think it makes sense to rename it.”
But all this will be difficult without political will.
And in any case, cancelling the Commonwealth Games and even the Commonwealth itself could utlimately be detrimental in other ways, the historian added.
“It’s problematic to say ‘colonial history was bad, and therefore we erased it’,” she said. “Because then you erase also a tremendous swath of human experience.”
