When Glasgow decided to bid for the Commonwealth Games in 2002, we knew the research showed elite games don’t inspire inactive people to take up sport – in fact they can put people off. For everyone who thinks: "I want to be Usain Bolt", many more will think: "No way."
There is a brief "bounce" but those who begin exercising may take on too much, too quickly and revert to previous levels of inactivity, while clubs and other facilities may not be prepared for an influx of new members. We also knew research on Glasgow’s year as European City of Culture in 1990 showed that we and Lille were the only cities that derived lasting benefits, because they were part of a long-term plan. How did the Games support Glasgow’s long-term plan?
We know people are more likely to use sports centres near where they live. Glasgow University research in 2008 found no one in Glasgow was excluded from sport or physical activity because of lack of access to facilities – in fact people in deprived areas had more facilities than more affluent areas, reflecting Glasgow’s commitment to fair access.
Between 1995 and 2011 Glasgow invested more than £200 million in upgrading or replacing Victorian and 1960s facilities and adding new ones. This is separate from the £144m spent on the five Games venues, most of which was already committed to meet Scotland’s and Glasgow’s strategic requirements.
The largest - Emirates – is the National Indoor Sports Arena, and the Velodrome and the National Hockey Centre meet other long-term needs. The Emirates is not just a national facility, but includes Glasgow Club fitness facilities for local people. The extended Tollcross functions as the national swimming centre without compromising local use.
All this means that Glasgow has 12 swimming pools, 22 gyms and more than 70 open air pitches for a wide range of sports. In 2008 the average walking distance in Glasgow to a public sports centre was 15 minutes and 22 minutes to a swimming pool. It also means that between 1995 and 2015 attendances at Glasgow’s sports activities increased from 2,000,000 to over 6,000,000 a year.
The total membership of the Glasgow Club is 66,443, 43 per cent of whom live in deprived areas. Of 286,000 Glaswegians who live in the 20 per cent most deprived areas in Scotland, 9 per cent are members of the Glasgow Club. Unlike surveys of self-reported levels of activity, these are real people, using our gyms an average of two to three times a week. Given that Games venues were open a year before the event, they achieved their legacy of increased participation before the Games.
Developing clubs, coaching and volunteering was already a long-term goal. The Games helped accelerate that work, inspiring clubs to be more ambitious and inclusive. Between March 2009 and March 2015, the number of quality-marked clubs increased from 23 to 119; their number of junior members from 4,165 to 16,541. The number of qualified coaches, active volunteers, school-club links and school sports leaders have similarly increased.
To capture the brief inspirational effect of the Games for inactive people, we brought all our programmes (GP exercise referral, classes for people with cancer, walking and jogging networks) together under a single accessible brand, with a single phone line, launched in September 2015. There are now 5,400 Glaswegians taking part in Good Move. These are amongst the people who most need to be more active – and include between 2 and 3 per cent of the city’s over-50s.
In a society where poverty and consumerism foster inactivity and obesity, even maintaining current levels of physical activity is difficult – it has declined in England since 2012. Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games succeeded in their main aim – of helping the city compete in the global economy. Though we know there is much more to do, we believe they also leave a legacy of increased physical activity in the long term.
The city’s sports infrastructure and services – gyms and pools, programmes for the inactive, voluntary clubs, coaches and volunteers, school programmes – have all been strengthened. Participant numbers, including large numbers in deprived areas, continue to increase. Partnerships across sport, health, housing, education and the private sector have been strengthened. And there is also a legacy for world sport. We created a new model for global sports events, one which is more affordable and more rooted in the long-term needs and aspirations of the people of the host city.
Dr Bridget McConnell is Chief Executive of Glasgow Life.
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