A SOUTH African-raised campaign adviser and filmmaker who has worked on 13 bids for major sports events around the world, says Durban 2022 has a strong bid to host the Commonwealth Games.

Caroline Rowland, whose official film of the 2012 London Olympics received an Emmy nomination, flies into South Africa on Thursday hoping to work on the Durban 2022 bid.

"It's a great city and it's fundamentally a really good bid; it's a strong, solid wellthought-out plan," she said in a telephone interview from Lausanne, Switzerland.

"I would love to help Durban tell their story in a way that I believe works within the Commonwealth Games environment.

"I've been talking to them [Durban] for quite some time now ... I grew up in South Africa and although I decamped in 1989, I still feel so strongly about the opportunities that exist in South Africa."
Rowland warned it was common for hopeful hosts to take flak from their own citizens.

"I don't think bid cities are prepared for how much they have to constantly defend themselves against their own people."

While she is upbeat about Durban staging a successful 2022 Commonwealth Games, she cautioned against a South African Olympic bid in the near future.

"While the [2010] Fifa World Cup was incredibly well managed and staged, it's not really an indication of how a city can host an Olympic Games.

"Economically I don't think it makes sense for any city in South Africa. "The impact on infrastructure - there are in excess of 10 000 athletes descending on a single city for 17 days of sport - one has to do something with that infrastructure afterwards."

The Commonwealth Games has 17 sports compared to 28 at the Olympics, and has about 7 000 athletes.

Rowland, who grew up in Welkom and studied at Rhodes University, said it was critical to focus on the legacy.

"Glasgow's was so very clear from the outset. The reason that they were going to host the Commonwealth Games was because they wanted to regenerate the east end [of the city].

"So everything they did was about the social and economic impact on that particular community."

Rowland said Glasgow had reinforced trade opportunities during the Games.

"Glasgow was effectively selling itself as a destination worthy of investment.

"When you look at the nations of the Commonwealth and how many of them are developing nations, if Durban plays its cards right I think it could become a powerful trade indaba."

Article source: Daily Dispatch

Article by: David Isaacson