THE Commonwealth Games Federation general assembly, which was held in Auckland, New Zealand, has produced a number of significant changes, several of which will have a direct impact on Team Scotland at future Games. Also of note was the election of Louise Martin CBE as the new President of the CGF. Martin, who is also chair of Sportscotland and was vice-president of Glasgow 2014, is the first woman to hold the position.

A strategic plan entitled “Transformation 2022” was voted through in Auckland which aspires to broaden the Federation’s focus from the four-year operational cycle of hosting Commonwealth Games to a more far-reaching role as a global movement. The most eye-catching parts of Transformation 2022 are the changes to the sport programme, some of which are of particular interest to Scotland. From 2022, the number of compulsory sports that must be included in the Games has been increased from 10 to 16 and several of the additions are sports in which Scotland excels. The original 10 core sports were swimming, athletics, badminton, men’s boxing, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, men’s rugby sevens, squash and weightlifting. The six sports which have been added are road cycling, gymnastics, judo, table tennis, triathlon and wrestling with women’s boxing and women’s rugby sevens also now compulsory. In addition, para events for swimming, athletics and weightlifting must be included. The most obvious omission from the list of core sports is track cycling, a sport which has been on the Commonwealth Games programme since 1934 and is always one of the most popular and best attended events. It is likely that the prohibitive cost to host cities of building a velodrome was instrumental in the decision not to include track cycling as a compulsory sport.

For Team Scotland, the inclusion of judo as a core sport is massively exciting. The sport was included in the programme at Manchester 2002 but was absent at the ’06 and ’10 Games only to be reinstated in Glasgow last summer. Scotland’s judo players have proved to be something of a medal factory in both 2002 and 2014 winning 10 medals in Manchester and an astonishing 13 in Glasgow last year. The guarantee that judo will be in the Games in 2022, 2026 and 2030 not only gives up-and-coming athletes a major goal to aspire to but it will also most likely increase the funding that the sport receives because, like it or not, funding is, in large part, based on Commonwealth or Olympic medal potential.

Athlete quotas have also been introduced; the maximum number of athletes now permitted to compete at a single Games is 4500. Almost 5000 athletes took part in Glasgow 2014. Criteria based on Commonwealth ranking, athlete results and protection for smaller nations will be implemented. This is a vital step if the Commonwealth Games wishes to remain relevant in a sporting calendar which is becoming increasingly crowded. If the Games wants to prevent a reputation forming that it is just a large-scale school sports day then criteria had to be introduced as a quality control measure. At Glasgow 2014, nations were able to enter whichever athletes they wanted, irrespective of standard. This resulted in the early rounds of some sports being something of a joke. For the Commonwealth Games to be taken seriously it must have a qualifying criteria just as the Olympic Games does. In a few, select cases at Glasgow 2014, spectators believed they could successfully compete with some of the poorer quality athletes on show, which did nothing for the credibility of the Games. The introduction of athlete quotas should eliminate this happening at future Games, or at the very least minimise it.

It was also confirmed that Durban, South Africa will host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The city was the only bidder for the event in seven years time following the withdrawal of Edmonton, Canada in February but Durban was still not guaranteed to be awarded the event. The South African city was voted in and the 2022 Games will see the staging of the first-ever multi-sport event on African soil. The Durban bid team called it: “an extraordinary day for Durban, a momentous day for South Africa and an historic day for the African continent.”

The one disappointing outcome of the general assembly was the announcement that Saint Lucia has withdrawn from hosting the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games. With the 2015 event due to begin in Samoa on Saturday, Saint Lucia’s withdrawal is a blow but already two nations have expressed an interest in hosting the event in two years- Canada and Scotland. With venues and infrastructure in place as a result of Glasgow 2014, last year’s Commonwealth Games hosts would be an exciting venue. While negotiations are in early stages, were Glasgow to host the Youth Games in two years, it would be another positive legacy from Glasgow 2014.