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28 October 2014

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Your views

It may only seem like yesterday - but - it's a year since the Commonwealth Games began.

They were, without a doubt, a roaring success - but three months on, what are the lasting benefits?

We want to hear from you. What impressed you about the Games? How can Manchester build on the spirit of the Games? What is the sporting legacy for Manchester?

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I was a voluter at the games. For me it was working with the other people on Mag & Bag Security. Also seeing the diferent national dress of each country and just to be there when histroy was made by Pauler Radcilff, and all the other partisans. Well done Pauler.
Graham.E.Fuller
The games brought love and joy to the city of Manchester. It also brought for once a international world class event out of London. This has given not only just Manchester a opotunity but citys outside of London a inscentive to try for the running of such advents.
Tom Smith
Juno is right, although the games may have been a big sucess in the eyes of the visitors for residents this was just a publicity stunt. The regeneration of Manchester was purley for the games period and now they are over and all eyes are off the city all the regeneration plans have vertually come to a complete stand still. The Commonwealth Games was called 'The Friendley Games'. I don't think that making somewhere look temporarily nice for the benefit of the reputation of the city is friendly do you?
Kimberly
I had tears on my eyes when I saw my old haunt at rivington on the telly in new zealand . gosh I am so proud of Manchester, I saw no nicer sights in Sydney during the olympics!! Lancashire and Manchseter are great
John
near and during the time of the games i witnessed how a lot of the oldham road landscape was disguised, and partly hidden, obviously to pretend that everything about manchester is just fine. it was like banner city, and still is, but in decay. the fields where the scally kids play were hidden from view by a wall banner, which was removed afterwards. the pretty flower banners still stand on the side of the road as we go north up oldham road. something about works on those fields following shortly. when is shortly? what works? i'm sorry if this is sort of off topic, but it was the only fact that impacted on my life at the time of the games, as i wasn't really interest in the games at all. i think the whole thing was a big publicity stunt to attract people to come live in manchester and occupy the 10 million expensive trendy lofts and offices that are appearing everywhere. obviously once they kick out the simple normal folk out of neighbourhoods like ancoats! t! hey wish to fullfil their plans, hence all the showing off these games have allowed.
juno
Just wanted to say congratulations to Manchester on an amazing job well done,what a games.
Lee Emberson
London
My wife and I were lucky enough to see the netball, Australia - Fiji and England - Wales which had a fantastic atmosphere but the best part of the games in which I will remember for years to come was the mens 50k walk. it was not that Nathan Deakes won but that everyone stayed and cheered on Gareth Brown. the medal presentation was delayed till he completed the race and the suport that he got from everyone was just something special to see. it showed that there is a lot more to the commonwealth games that just getting medals.
Colin Cook
Moe, Victoria, Australia
Well done womens gymnastics team for getting gold. GO AUSSIE!!!!!
Gena Campbell
Melbourne,Victoria,Australia
Doin a great job with the games guys.
Martin
ex-Newmarket UK/ Now Australia
To Steve Mooning. You are obviously one of the Southerners who were so sure that Manchester would fail to put on these games successfully. Well you are all having to eat humble pie. Pickets Lock ?, Wembley ? Oh dear. Want us to organise things for you ?
Jay Kerr
Manchester
Totally impressed by everything. And good to see people finally getting the point about the stadium being used by Manchester City. The whole Sport City project is looking good.
Bess
Oldham
Firstly I loved the baton carriers, then I was amazed by the Opening Ceremony. We've had tickets for a few events and been impressed by the venues. The CoMS is top notch and I'm pleased it is going to be used as a football stadium later. Much as I enjoy watching the athletics I feel it is better for the stadium to be used on a regular basis by Manchester City with money going to the other sports development projects. Well done to those concerned for getting everything sorted before now instead of thinking in August 'What shall we do with it now?'. I've also enjoyed the bbc coverage of the Games
Lancashire Rose
Lancashire
Why did your panel of experts give so much of their time about why Anthony Wightman did not win the 1500 metres rather than giving Michael East the accolades he so richly deserved for actually winning the Gold Medal.He ran a brilliant race whereas Wightman didn't appear to have any belief in himself.An excellent result for Michael East!He's a winner.
Delya Sutton
Cramlington
- I have just returned from spending the last 5 days at the games in Manchester,amazing is the only word I can think of to describe what I saw and experienced. On arriving we found the city to look colourful,clean and generally buzzing. The volunteers had big smiles and were so friendly as were all the people in Manchester, we felt so welcome. The venues were superbly equipped and also looked fantastic and we could not believe how well the games were organised. I have had the most unbelievable time in Manchester and despite being an East Londoner I can say that Manchester has shown itself to be a stronger contender than London for any future olympic bid. Pat yourselves on the back Manchester, the best commonwealth games I have ever known.
Lee Emberson
London,England
The stadium plans could easily be adapted, if the will existed, by developing the ends of the stadium to house 48,000 Man City Fans and still retain the track. To dig it up is nothing short of a national scandal and slap in the face to the north of England. A different outcome would have been certain if the stadium was in London. Mr. Cabon should take note that ALL the public of Gt. Britain deserves top class sporting facilities and a chance to experience World class events more than once in a lifetime. Why couldn't the World championships have been moved to a wonderful new venue at the City of Manchester stadium? Man City deserve to be the main users of the stadium and shouldn't be expected to lose out in any way but Sport England should be turning cartwheels to support ways of retaining the track in revised plans. The fiasco of Londons Pickets Lock is hardly an advert for British Sport? Well done Manchester a first class event and atmosphere. Manchester could easily stage an Olympics and why shouldn't we? Superb games, superb coverage. Well done to everyone involved.
Nick Froggatt
Oldham
One thing these Games have done is illustrate what a total shambles the whole Wembley and Picketts Lock thing has been. The truth is that major events can be staged north of Watford and yet everyone is still obsessed with London and national facilties. Lots of people knocked Manchester for putting in for the Olympics in the 1990s, but at least they had a vision and the bottle to go for it. The Commonwealth Games is definitely a big event and was been a massive success for the city. There has been talk of London going for the Olympics and even piggy-backing on the success of Manchester, but it will be interesting to see if London can get itself together to mount a serious bid. All that's happening so far is just making everyone involved a joke
Russ Bowden
Warrington
My favourite part of the games is the awards ceremony, where the medals are held by people in cloth caps and waistcoats. Have they got clogs on as well ? Would it be possible for one of them to have a whippet ?
Steve Mooning
Stourbridge
Out of 12 Gold medals so far, 2 are for shooting. Out of 11 silvers 4 are for shooting (2 in women's events) and out of 11 Bronze medals, over 50 %, 6 medals are for shooting (again 2 are in women's events). So much for the TV coverage, despite there being supposedly over 100 ´óÏó´«Ã½ technicians at Bisley, we have seen nothing! Mike Babb and Neil Day won Gold in the 50m prone pairs competition and yet the story is buried out of site on the website. Whilst Manchester coverage is great and all credit to the performances of all the athletes there, the TV coverage is always Track & Field, Swimming, Gymnastics, Boxing etc etc. If shooting is difficult to portray on TV then you could at least show some medal ceremonies and give our shooting team the great credit that they deserve!
Robert Beard
Newton Abbot, Devon
The people of Manchester should be very proud of their games, I have really enjoyed them even if it has meant at times missing out on sleep. They have done a fabulous job.
powell
Narrandera Australia
i think that they should put more mens gymnastics on at a reasinble TIME.
Sam&Zoe
Huonville Tasmania Australia
Lee Heywood is obviously a Man Utd fan and sore that a fine stadium is going to be home to the only Football team in Manchester. The games are being a huge success and being enjoyed bay all, myself included. However in order for the stadium to be viable after the games a long term tenant had to be found, that tenant is Manchester City FC. It has not been handed to them on a silver platter, half the gate reciepts on crowds above 32,000 go to Manchester City Council during the term of the lease. That is an awful lot of money given that they expect to have 40,000 crowds plus every two weeks during the football season plus any home cup ties. The council also take over the multi million pound Maine Road Stadium. Whilst people in other parts of the country may not have been aware of these facts all here in Greater Manchester were made well aware, details were published in the Manchester Evening News and broadcast on GMR Radio. Without Manchester City's involvement the Stadium could not have been built. Here is hoping the rest of the games are as successfull as the begining.
G E Booth
Manchester

a few things said previously have made me react! lee heywood says: "I think that overall, the events will be a massive boost to Manchester and especially with the new 40,000 or there abouts all seater stadium which is a superb design but the only let down is that a second division football club may then be moving into it 1 year later. " for a start, it's Premiership, so if you have to say ridiculous comments, use proper facts please! secondly, jemina hall says: "I would like to know why we have to give funding an any money we have to build yet again another football club, which we have hundreds in the country, and now count all the national stadiums for athletics? " the reason there are hundreds of football stadiums is that there are hundreds of clubs! all stadiums are not like this, some are getting old, such as maine road, and need redoing or replacing. many stadiums, lower down, are not much different than your athletics stadiums, and are usually, if you looked, for both athletics AND football. if the M2002 should go to MCFC, it's because it was decided before it was to go to them afterwards, and Radcliffe etc...idea to build the stadium outwards and leave the running area would cost a fortune, a lot more than just destroying the running area, and lowering the pitch down. and all this money saved could be spent on a lovely stadium for you!
beagle
manchester

What atheletics forgets as a sport is that outside of the Olympics and World championships it is a minority sport with very little public interest. The fact is it manages to punch above its weight and get far greater coverage on TV (especially the ´óÏó´«Ã½) than it should get. There is no way a national athletics stadium can be justified as it will turn into a white elephant. The experts on the athletics are generally dull and uninteresting. I tuned into the highlights last night which listed judo and cycling to find no cycling being covered. I have as yet not seen any cycling coverage although in terms of participation week in week out it is far bigger sport than Athletics. Why does the music in the stadium have to turn the stadium into a pub disco? Other than that Manchester have done a fantastic job of showing the world there is more to England than London.
Mark Dorril
Birmingham
At the risk of making this look like a Man City board, I must agree with Anji etc. Not only is the Council / MCFC deal generating money long term, but it also means that City have part-financed the stadium in terms of relinquishing Maine Road. I've heard several people perpetrate the myth that "Athletics are letting City have the stadium", which just isn't true, what we have is a Football Stadium that is being temporarily used for an Athletics Event. Can't comment on the coverage I'm afraid, as we only get brief highlights over here
John
Singapore
How about showing some of the shooting. They have after all contributed many of the medals so far. Even if it's only a late night showing, as long as you advertise it, I, and many members of my club would certainly stay up to watch it, as I would expect many other shooters across the country to. It may not be a spectator sport to the uninitiated, but to those who partake in the sport, it would be a great way to learn more about it. If you show it that is! I went to Bisley to watch some of the events last weekend, so I know you have the cameras available. Other than the lack opf televised shooting, congrats on an otherwise well coordinated coverage.
Antony Dingle
Slough
why oh why doesnt the cameras covering the judo competition show both fights on the mats??when the fight on the first mat finishes the camera stays on the flags or the empty mat!!! it is very irratating eespecially when you can hear the other fights. the coverage is crap!!!!!!!
Susan
by e-mail
´óÏó´«Ã½ Great opening title sequence. Good Visual and soundtrack Well done
Damian Reynolds
Manchester, UK
A Discussion on ´óÏó´«Ã½ tonight was wondering why the field events were getting a higher profile. Well, after visiting the stadium tonight I can only congratulate the Stadium commentary team for focusing and informing the crowd of all the events going on in the Stadium. The presentation was first class!
Barry Allen
Manchester
As an "exiled" Manc in the North East (after travelling Europe for the past 3 years) I was amazed at the change in the City when I visited this weekend to visit the games. Superb, excellent are words that are often thrown around but in this case are soundly meant. However, I am saddened that a few people, specifically athletics commentators and participants (a minority sport in the UK with participation at lower levels than "sports" such as snooker)have questioned the fact that City will be moving into the stadium after M2002. It was THE only viable option for Manchester and City themselves, and will continue to generate money (for Manchester Council, and subsequently one would hope for the residents of the City and surrounding areas)for the next 100 years of the lease. Why should it not stay as an athletics stadium? Ask Sheffield about the Don Valley stadium and their attempts to find someone who can fill a stadium that big 26 times a year (minimum). Could athletics do this? Find 48,000 people (as it will be) every 2 weeks from August to April... I think not, I rest my case.
Alex Hurst
Middlesbrough, UK
The games coverage is very good until that logo zooms onto the screen before every replay.Obviousley the bod who thought of it has never experianced chinese water torture
Nev Cruikshank
Sydney Australia

Im getting fed up with the so called experts and presant athletes going on about letting MCFC take over the stadium......You have to realise that without MCFC there wouldnt be a stadium as we will be paying £5m a year to play there if the stadium is full every week and with 16000 fans on the waiting list for season tickets i think it will be.These so called experts dont have a clue on the planning part MCFC have had in this stadium so please SHUT THEM UP TILL THEY GET THE FULL FACT THE MAKE THEM THANK MCFC FOR LETTING THEM USE THERE STADIUM.......Its getting on my nerves and putting me of the games for good listening to them go on about it.
bryan
manchester

Editor's note
This is one of many virtually identical postings

Just a note of support to my fellow Manchester City fans... please would the ´óÏó´«Ã½ make sure of facts on the financing and origins of the stadium. I too, am fed up of having to explain them to people who have fallen for what the ignorant on TV are telling them. Once I have explained, people are happy about MCFC having the stadium after the games. Facts please, not opinion based on ignorance.
Anji
Chester, England
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