When Edinburgh was twice in the Commonwealth Games spotlight

Scotland could host 2026 Commonwealth Games after Victoria exit

It comes after First Minister Humza Yousaf said it would be exciting for the country to host the games for a fourth time, though he warned it would come at a cost.

The most recent Games north of the border was in 2014, when Glasgow acted as host.

The very first time was in 1970, when Edinburgh staged the Games - the first to be dubbed 'the Friendly Games'.

Mystery mascot from Scotland's first Commonwealth Games stars alongside Glasgow 2014's Clyde

It was the first time that metric distances and electronic photo-finish technology were employed at the Games. 

As the Glasgow Herald reported on July 27 that year, the Games were "voted the best yet by athletes, spectators, and officials". The organisation, accommodation and food all found favour. "We have been living like lords for 10 days", said one Kenyan athlete.

Princess Anne and the Queen pictured in the royal box at Murrayfield (Image: Newsquest)

The Herald added: "The atmosphere that has pervaded the Games reached a climax at the closing ceremony. Instead of keeping to the traditional march-past, athletes broke ranks and danced round the track, staged wheelbarrow races, and threw flowers into the crowd".

One Welsh competitor did a lap of honour on a child's bicycle amid applause from the 30,000-strong crowd at Meadowbank.

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Scotland won 25 medals: six gold, eight silver and 11 bronze. The athletics team alone won four gold, two silvers and two bronze medals. 

Fencer Sandy Leckie was Scotland’s top athlete of the Games, taking gold in the Individual Sabre contest and silver alongside Gordon Wiles and Alexander Mitchell in the Sabre Team event.

Team Scotland page on the 1970 Games

The 1970 Games climaxed with Scots runners Ian Stewart and Ian McCafferty finishing first and second in the men's 5,000m, just ahead of Kenya's Kip Keino. Cheering them on from the royal box were the Queen and Princess Anne.

The Herald's Games reporter, Ron Marshall, wrote: "That 5,000 metres, watched by a frenzied 30,000 at Meadowbank, by millions on television, is without the shadow of a doubt the finest performance by this country in the field of athletics.

The opening ceremony at the 1970 Commonwealth Games (Image: PA)

"Ian Stewart, even if his appearance in a Scottish vest was largely the result of a contretemps between himself and England's Midlands Counties A.A.A. earlier this season, became, as he said after the race, 'as Scottish as anyone' as he thrust his way up the home straight urged on by a crowd that understandably came close to dementia in the final stages".

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Scotland's other medal winners in 1970 included Rosemary Stirling (gold in the women's 800m), Rosemary Payne (gold in the women's discus) and Moira Wells (bronze in the women's high jump). Thomas Imrie won gold in the light middleweight boxing category.

Rosemary Stewart, Ian Stewart and Ian McCafferty pictured at the 1970 Games (Image: Newsquest)

Scotland's highly creditable performance at Edinburgh saw them finish in fourth place behind England (84 medals), Australia (82) and Canada (66).

The Games returned to the Scottish capital sixteen years later, but were, for various reasons, quite a different story.

The Team Scotland website sums it up neatly. "After nearly two decades successfully averting political stay-aways and protests because of apartheid, the XIII Games, the second to be staged in Edinburgh, was to become known as ‘the Boycott Games’. Sadly, despite there being so many fond memories of the Scottish hospitality offered in 1970, 32 Commonwealth nations decided that they could not attend, because of their opposition to apartheid in sport".

The 1986 Games were also beset by financial problems. The Mirror Group publisher Robert Maxwell stepped in, on what had appeared the eve of cancellation.

"Characteristically, within hours of declaring his interest he had taken over the show, lock, stock and barrel", Derek Douglas wrote in the Glasgow Herald's sports pages in 1991. "The Games chairman, former Edinburgh Lord Provost Kenneth Borthwick, was asked by Maxwell whether they could work together.

"They could. But Maxwell assumed the ringmaster's role and for a month his name was rarely off the nation's front pages. It was never explained publicly just what form his role as financial saviour would take but with Maxwell and his Mirror Group staff installed in suites at Edinburgh's Sheraton Hotel his was to be a very hands-on chairmanship".

Robert Maxwell steps into the spotlight at the closing ceremony (Image: Jim Galloway)

Maxwell's moment in the spotlight came during the closing ceremony. "The Scottish team, headed by weight-lifter Albert Patrick", writes Douglas, "were immediately in front of the saluting dias and a gust of wind ripped the saltire from the flagstaff in Patrick's hands.

"Immediately Maxwell dashed from the Queen's side and, with the parade still progressing down the tartan track, he made valiant attempts to re-unite flag and staff. That vainglorious but ultimately shambolic attempt to salvage Scotland's honour seemed somehow symbolic".

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Maxwell's involvement in the 1986 Games is touched upon by his latest biographer, John Preston, in his book, Fall, which was published a couple of years ago. Maxwell, he says, promised £2 million of his own money. As the Queen arrived to open the games, Maxwell gave her a set of commemorative coins, saying: 'Permit me to present you with a token of this great event which I have orchestrated'.

Adds Preston: "But once the games were over and the dust had settled, the organizers complained that, of the £2m Maxwell had promised, only £250,000 ever materialised".

Scotland's tally of 33 medals, three of which were gold, was the country's highest ever medal performance at the Games.

Liz McColgan celebrates her triumph in the 10,000 metres (Image: Getty)

Liz McColgan memorably took gold in the 10,000 metres, while badminton stars Dan Travers and Billy Gilliland won gold in the men’s doubles. In Lawn Bowls, George Adrain and Grant Knox winning gold in the men’s pairs.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis were booed by anti-apartheid protesters and their car pelted with eggs and tomatoes as they arrived at Meadowbank Stadium on an official visit to the Games, which had been marred by a boycott over South Africa sanctions.

Demonstrators outside Meadowbank stadium greet Margaret Thatcher (Image: Arthur Kinloch)

Earlier she had been snubbed by competitors as she toured the athletes’ village. “I did not disagree with Denis”, she later wrote in her memoirs, “when he remarked that this was ‘one of the most poisonous visits’ we had ever made”.