Branded as “the games for everyone,” Birmingham 2022 is set to be one of the biggest sporting events in Midlands history.
With an estimated 100,000 people across Birmingham, the Black Country and Coventry thought to have lost their jobs since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the games organisers say it will create around 35,000 new jobs and skills opportunities, including volunteering roles and training opportunities, which could be just what the Midlands needs to get back on it’s feet and show what they have to offer.
The Birmingham Games will take place across the West Midlands from 28 July to 8 August next year and is set to be the most expensive sports event staged in Britain since the London 2012 Olympics, costing an estimated £800 million.
The event will be the 18th consecutive games to be broadcast by the BBC, which will see the first major multi-sports event to award more medals to female athletes and also the largest Commonwealth Para-sport programme.
Another key part in making the Birmingham Games unique and sustainable for future generations, is the partnership with Severn Trent who will become the Official Nature and Carbon-Neutral Supporter of Birmingham 2022. Outlined in its newly published sustainability pledge, Ian Reid, Games chief executive, said he wanted the event to be “the most sustainable to date,” adding Severn Trent will help “with a significant and credible local offsetting programme.”
Dame Louise Martin, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, described the plans as a historic moment for Commonwealth sport.
“It reinforces our commitment to ensure that the Games leaves a positive social and environmental legacy for generations to come,” she said.
Even the mascot (named by 10 year old Emma Lou) is named Perry after the Perry Barr area of Birmingham, where the Alexander Stadium will host athletics events as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.
Reid, said: “Perry is everything I hoped our mascot would be and more: bright, colourful, energetic and totally representative of modern Birmingham and the West Midlands. Perry celebrates diversity, community and our region’s heritage as well as its future.”
Bumps in the road
There have been a few setbacks with plans for a £500m athletes’ village in Perry Barr abandoned last year due to delays in construction caused by Covid-19.
There has also been disruption with the High Speed 2 Railway (HS2) with residents unhappy they may be forced to leave their homes to make way for the new line, and, one of the other biggest arguments being how it might impact on the country’s green spaces and countryside. The Wildlife Trust claimed in a recent report that “the deep cut HS2 will make across the landscape could stop nature’s recovery in its tracks.”
Another big problem which has since been rectified but still shouldn’t have happened in the first place, was when a few board members stepped down over diversity concerns and “poor functioning of the board.” This included Commonwealth Games Federation president Dame Louise Martin who stepped down from the board to help improve representation, a move welcomed by the government, which pledged “more changes”.
Birmingham 2022 found itself in the middle of controversy last year when it emerged that just one of the 20 members of its board of directors and executive management team was not white. Last year, research showed BAME people accounted for just 5.2% of board members across 130 UK Sport and Sport England-funded organisations. Barbados-based Sandra Osborne QC took Martin’s place on the board and civil servant Hiren Dhimar then became a third BAME director.
A coronavirus free games
Despite all the negatives, athletics journalist Alex Seftel believes the return of international sport will far outweigh any negatives.
“Firstly, there is a lot of excitement in terms of all upcoming selection opportunities across international sport, including the 2022 Commonwealth Games,” he said.
“It isn’t clear how much of an impact covid-19 will have going forward, but it is clear that people missed out in 2020, and that the pandemic isn’t over yet,” he added.
Seftel explained the potential consequences this may have on athletes and other events in the future.
“One positive will be the rush to fill up competitions. That is happening in track and field for instance, which is great to see, especially so far as the mental and physical health boost athletes at all levels get from being able to do what they love best,” he said.
“From an athletics point of view, the renovation of the Alexander Stadium, which has hosted many national championships and international meetings, is incredibly exciting. It’s the home of Birchfield Harriers, one of – if not the most – successful clubs in British history.
“As well as being constant high-achievers at grassroots level, they have been represented at every summer Olympics bar one since 1908 and have harnessed the athletic talent of the Midlands region for generations.
“Shiny new facilities will give them a greater standing to do this for the next generation of aspiring sportspeople, not forgetting that many who start off in athletics go onto other sports,” he added.
“On the other hand, we have already seen people test positive prior to competitions which they then have to miss, and quarantine after coming back from travelling stopping people from competing,” Seftel said.
“This could mean fewer opportunities to perform and qualify and therefore appear at major international competitions like the Commonwealth Games.”
Tokyo 2020
Seftel then spoke about whether the Tokyo olympics will go ahead this summer, and what lessons Birmingham 2022 could learn from it if it does.
“I’ve heard some news coming out in Japan about members of the public being uncertain how to feel about the Olympic Games now that the Torch Relay is ongoing with a sort of ‘keep calm and carry on’ attitude in the face of some scientific advice being against hosting this summer’s Games,” he said.
“There is pressure on governing bodies in sport to keep up pace with interpreting government guidance and taking on feedback from organisers of competitions and athletes. But, credit to them and every confidence they can do it because they’ve at times almost had to reinvent the wheel to keep sport going and volunteers and athletes engaged in the process.
He added, “We might see a rather strange Olympics without the same energy it would usually provide. That said, the excitement I mentioned to get international sport back should confidently outweigh that.”
Brexit
Another issue Seftel spoke about was that of Brexit and he explained how it could affect Britain’s chances of hosting international events in the future.
“We will know more after this summer I would imagine. The post-Brexit era has been dominated by Covid-19 rules, so there aren’t really test cases yet,” he said.
“I have read some articles that mention Britain could be less likely to be picked as a host of future events (so not relevant to those it’s already picked as a host country for) but that’s got to be somewhat speculation. Obviously very few athletes will be coming to Birmingham 2022 from EU countries – only Cyprus and Malta,” he added.
So Birmingham, the second largest city in the UK, looks set to show what it has to offer next year. Whatever happens, on a personal level living in the midlands, I can’t wait for the games to be here. There will be more challenges ahead of course, but if Birmingham and the surrounding areas does pull off what it’s planning and fingers crossed they do, like I said at the beginning of this piece, they truly will live up to their message of being “the games for everyone.”
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