Building and Re-building a City through Sport: Hamilton, Ontario and the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, 1930–2003

Abstract

Hamilton Spectator sports editor Melville Marks ‘Bobby’ Robinson was a proud British imperialist who wanted to create a new large sporting event to showcase the Empire's athletes when he helped create the British Empire Games. But when he sought financial support from Hamilton, Ontario's city council for the 1930 hosting of those Games, he used symbols that were less about the Empire and more about what was important to that city's local government officials, urban boosters, and citizens; he promised that the event would pay for itself, that it would promote the city abroad, and that it would leave Hamilton with sports facilities that would be ‘the envy of Canada’. Seventy years later another person from the Hamilton Spectator, its publisher Jagoda Pike, evoked Robinson's story when she led Hamilton's bid to once again host those games, now called the Commonwealth Games. That bid relied on themes similar to those used in the past – civic pride, unity, sport infrastructure legacy and economic development. Using urban regime theory as a conceptual framework, we argue that despite the difference in generations, the City of Hamilton has continued to use the Commonwealth Games for the same purpose – city building – and called upon high profile citizens from similar spheres of influence to further the bid.

Notes

1. The term ‘mega-event’ seems to originate from the 1980s as scholars began to look more closely at the public policy choice of hosting large sporting events. On mega-events see for example, M.J. Burbank, G.D. Andranovich and C.H. Heying, Olympic Dreams, the Impact of Mega-Events on Local Politics (Boulder/London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001); C.M. Hall, ‘Imaging, Tourism and Sports Event Fever: The Sydney Olympics and the Need for a Social Charter for Mega-events’, in Sport in the City: The Role of Sport in Economic and Social Regeneration, ed. C. Gratton and I.P. Henry (London: Routledge, 2001), 166–83; C. Jones, ‘Mega-events and Host Region Impacts: Determining the true worth of the 1999 Rugby World Cup’, International Journal of Tourism Research 3 (2001): 241–51.

2. Critics argue the strategy disregards the social and environmental impacts. See Burbank, Andranovich, and Heying, Olympic Dreams; Jones, ‘Mega-event and Host Region Impacts’; P.R. Emery, ‘Bidding to Host a Major Sports Event: Strategic Investment or Complete Lottery?’ in Gratton and Henry, Sport in the City, 90–148; Helen Lenskyj, The Best Olympics Ever?: Social Impacts of Sydney 2000 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002); K.S. Schimmel, ‘Sport Matters: Urban Regime Theory and Urban Regeneration in the Late Capitalist Era’, in Gratton and Henry, Sport in the City, 259–77; David Whitson, ‘Olympic Hosting in Canada: Promotional Ambitions, Political Challenges’, Olympika: The International Journal of Olympic Studies VXIV (2001): 29–46.

3. Since then, the Canadian cities of Vancouver (1954), Edmonton (1978) and Victoria (1994) have hosted the Commonwealth Games and the cities of Montreal (1976), Calgary (1988) and Vancouver (2010) have each hosted an Olympic Games.

4. On the 1920s we take this notion from John Weaver's assessment in, ‘Hamilton Ontario: The Industrial City Triumphant’, in John C. Weaver, Hamilton: An Illustrated History (Toronto: James Lorimer, 1982), 79–128; on late twenty-first century de-industrialization see, for example, June Corman, Meg Luxton, D.W. Livingstone, and Wally Seccombe, Recasting Steel Labour: The Stelco Story (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 1993).

5. That is, elected government officials and the private individuals who influence governments. Burbank, Andranovich, and Heying, Olympic Dreams.

6. For a closer look at urban regime theory, see Burbank, Andranovich, and Heying, Olympic Dreams; C. Stone, ‘Looking Back to Look Forward: Reflections on Urban Regime Analysis’, Urban Affairs Review 40, no. 3 (2005): 309–41; C. Stone, Regime Politics: Governing Atlanta, 1946–1988 (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1989); C.N. Stone and H.T. Sanders, The Politics of Urban Development (Lawrence Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1987); K. Mossberger and G. Stoker, ‘The Evolution of Urban Regime Theory’, Urban Affairs Review 36, no. 6 (2001): 810–35; Schimmel, ‘Sport Matters’.

7. Mossberger and Stoker, ‘Evolution’.

8. Canada. Federal Policy for hosting International Sport Events (1 January 2008), http://www.pch.gc.ca/eng/1358347824597/1358348020029 (accessed 22 April2014).

9. See, for example, Richard Cashman, The Bitter-Sweet Awakening: The Legacy of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games (Sydney: Walla Walla Press, 2006); Jean-Loup Chappelet, ‘Mega Sporting Event Legacies: A Multi-faceted Concept’, Papeles de Europa 25 (2012): 76–85; Chris Gratton, Simon Shibli and Richard Coleman, ‘Sport and Economic Regeneration in Cities’, Urban Studies 42, no. 5–6 (2005): 985–99; Larissa E. Davies, ‘Sport and Economic Regeneration: A Winning Combination?’ Sport in Society 13, no. 10 (2010): 1438–57; Juliet Davis and Andy Thornley, ‘Urban Regeneration for the London 2012 Olympics: Issues of Land Acquisition and Legacy’, City, Culture and Society 1, no. 2 (2010): 89–98; Andrew Smith and Tim Fox, ‘From “Event-led” to “Event-themed” Regeneration: the 2002 Commonwealth Games Legacy Programme’, Urban Studies 44, no. 5–6 (2007): 1125–43; Holger Preuss, ‘The Conceptualisation and Measurement of Mega Sport Event Legacies’, Journal of Sport and Tourism 12, no. 3–4 (2007): 207–28; Gerry McCartney, Sian Thomas, Hilary Thomson, John Scott, Val Hamilton, Phil Hanlon, David S. Morrison and Lyndal Bond, ‘The Health and Socioeconomic Impacts of Major Multi-sport Events: Systematic Review (1978–2008)’, BMJ: British Medical Journal 340 (2010); Scarlett Cornelissen, ‘A Delicate Balance: Major Sport Events and Development’, Sport and International Development (2009): 76–97.

10. ‘Table VII: Birthplace of Hamilton's Population, 1921–1971’ and ‘Table VIII: Major Religious of Hamilton's Population, 1852–1971’ in Weaver, ‘Hamilton’, 198–9.

11. C.W. Kirkwood, Hamilton Canada: The City of Opportunity (Hamilton: Department of Industries and Publicity, 1928), 12–17; J.W. Watson, ‘Industrial and Commercial Development’, in The Hamilton Centennial, 1846–1946, ed. Alexander H. Wingfield, (Hamilton: Hamilton Centennial, Committee, 1946), 21–39.

12. Robert S. Hunter, Rowing in Canada since 1848 (Hamilton: Davis-Lisson, 1933); Weaver, Hamilton, 118; Ivan Miller, ed., Centennial Sports Review Sports over the Century: Hamilton Canada (Hamilton: 1967).

13. British Empire Games Association of Hamilton, The Official Program Aug. 16–23, 1930 (Hamilton: Robert Duncan & Company, 1930), 6; British Empire Games, Hamilton, 1930 Scrapbook, Hamilton Public Library Local History & Archives 796.4 BRI.

14. See, for example, Ken Peters, ‘2010 Games Bid Includes Plans for Renovation or New Stadium’, Spectator, 1 November 2002; John Kernaghan, ‘An Ambitious Games Plan; Hamilton's Bid for the 2010 Commonwealth Games Calls for $186m in New and Upgraded Facilities for a City that Loves its Sports’, Spectator, 2 November 2002; Jagoda Pike, ‘Crusade to Bring Games Home’, Spectator, 14 December 2002.

15. Bill Freeman, Hamilton: A People's History (Toronto: James Lorimer & Company Publishers, 2001), 176–8.

16. It has recently been demolished and another stadium is being rebuilt on the same site in preparation for the 2015 PanAm Games.

17. Copps Coliseum, built in 1985, was renamed the First Ontario Centre in 2014. Jeff McMahon, “High Hopes” and “Near Misses”: The Long Road to Copps Coliseum and Hamilton's Pursuit of a National Hockey League Franchise (1925–1990)’ (Master's Research Project, Dept. of History, McMaster University, 2012).

18. Murray V. Jones Ltd., North End Urban Renewal Scheme (Hamilton: Urban Renewal Committee, 1968); Margaret Rockwell, Modernist Destruction for the Ambitious City (Master's thesis, McMaster University, 2003), 61–95; Idem, ‘Modernism and the Functional City: Urban Renewal in Hamilton, Ontario and Buffalo, New York (1949–74)’ (PhD diss., McMaster University, 2013).

19. Carol Phillips, ‘Municipalities and the Mega-Event: A Comparative Urban Analysis’ (PhD diss., McMaster University, 2012).

20. Katherine Moore, ‘A Divergence of Interests: Canada's Role in the Politics and Sport of the British Empire During the 1920s’, Canadian Journal of History of Sport 21, no. 1 (1990): 21–9; Idem, ‘The Concept of British Empire Games: An Analysis of its Origin and Evolution from 1891 to 1930’ (PhD diss., University of Queensland, 1986); Daniel Gorman, ‘Amateurism, Imperialism, Internationalism and the First British Empire Games’, International Journal of the History of Sport 27, no. 4 (2010): 611–34; and Glynn A. Leyshon, ‘The Friendly Games: Hamilton Hosts the First British Empire Games’, The Beaver 74, no. 4 (August-September, 1994): 15–21; Richard Baka, and David Hoy, ‘Political Aspects of Canadian Participation in the Commonwealth Games: 1930–1978’, CAHPER Journal 44, no. 4 (March/April 1978): 6–14, 24.

21. Katharine Moore, ‘The Warmth of Comradeship: The First British Empire Games and Imperial Solidarity’, International Journal of the History of Sport 6, no. 2 (1989): 242–51.

22. Robb MacDonald, ‘The Battle of Port Arthur: A War of Words and Ideologies within the Canadian Olympic Committee’, in Proceedings First International Symposium for Olympic Research, ed. Robert K. Barney and Klaus V. Meier (1992), 135–52.

23. Moore (1987), 127ff; Amateur Athletic Union of Canada [hereafter AAU of C], Minutes, 1928, 93ff.

24. Moore, ‘Warmth of Comradeship’, 244; Doug Gilbert, ‘The Friendly Games’, in The XI Commonwealth Games, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, August 3–12, 1978: An Official History: The Friendly Games (Edmonton: Koala Books of Canada, 1980), 23–5; Leyshon, ‘The Friendly Games’.

25. Moore, ‘A Divergence of Interests’, 23; ‘British Empire Games’, in AAU of C, Minutes, 1928, 93–5; G. Van Rossem, Ed., Official Report of the Olympic Games of 1928 (Netherlands Olympic Committee: J.H. De Bussy, Ltd., 1928).

26. The Official Program (1930), 6; ‘Sir Edward Wentworth Beatty’, Canadian Encyclopedia online http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/sir-edward-wentworth-beatty/ (accessed 2 May 2014); Donald Hughes Miller-Barstow, Beatty of the C.P.R.: A Biography (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1951); Thomas Richardson Louden, who headed U of T's Aeronautical Department, coached rowing in the 1924 Paris Olympics and also designed the U of T's Varsity Stadium, see: ‘Varsity Stadium’, http://football.ballparks.com/CFL/Toronto/veryoldindex.htm (accessed 2 May 2014); ‘Blue Wonder – 1920–1940’, in Patrick Okens, ‘Blues before sunrise: Rowing at the University of Toronto’ (master's thesis, University of Toronto, 1999), 28–69.

27. The Official Program (1930), 3. Gorman, ‘Amateurism, Imperialism, Internationalism’, 629; Moore, ‘A Divergence of Interests’, 23, identifies Robinson's influence and access to leading administrators of other countries; on the various individuals see, Peter E. Rider, ‘Sir Charles Blair Gordon’, Canadian Encyclopedia, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/sir-charles-blair-gordon/; T.D. Regehr, ‘Sir Herbert Samuel Holt’, Canadian Encyclopedia, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sir-herbert-samuel-holt/; ‘The Right Hon. Sir William Thomas White, P.C., K.C.M.G.’ PARLINFO Online http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=a10e65bf-4275-4011-8604-14dde37cf065&Language=E&Section=ALL; Henry Cockshutt, Chancellor of the University of Western Ontario, oversaw the opening of its J.W. Little Stadium in 1929 ‘J.W. Little Stadium: The Final Season’, Western News Online (November 1, 1999) http://communications.uwo.ca/com/alumni_gazette/alumni_stories/j.w._little_stadium:_the_final_season_19991101438244/; A.B. McKillop, ‘Sir Robert Falconer’, Canadian Encyclopedia Online http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/sir-robert-falconer/; A.M.J. Hyatt, ‘Sir Arthur Currie’, Canadian Encyclopedia Online http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/sir-arthur-currie/.

28. The term ‘spheres of influence’ comes from Stone, Regime Politics, 185.

29. ‘Aldermen Behind Athletic Proposal’, Spectator, 12 January 1929; ‘British Empire Games Outlined to Members of Council Last Night’, Spectator, January 12 1929; ‘British Empire Games Committee Conference was Quite Enthusiastic’, Hamilton Herald, 19 December 1929.

30. ‘British Empire Games Outlined to Members of Council Last Night’, Hamilton Herald, January 12, 1929; Hamilton. ‘Bylaw 3728 For borrowing $150,000 by the Issue of Debentures, for the Northwestern Highway Entrance Development, York Street, and the Construction of Swimming Pool, With Dressing Rooms, at Scott Park’, Hamilton City Council Minutes (1928), 863–4. Of this amount, the pool construction would receive $100,000. This by-law had been ratified in the December 1928 municipal election, something required for money by-laws; Hamilton. Memo of Agreement between the Corporation of the City of Hamilton, the Board of Park Management, and British Empire Games Committee. Hamilton City Council Minutes (1930), 365–6.

31. On the Dundas Marsh/Cootes Paradise nature sanctuary, see Nancy B. Bouchier and Ken Cruikshank, ‘The War on the Squatters: Hamilton's Boathouse Community and the Re-creation of Recreation on Burlington Bay’, Labour/Le Travail, 51(Spring 2003): 9–46.

32. ‘History’ in Royal Canadian Henley Regatta fonds, 1948–1949, 1981–1983, Brock University Archives, St. Catharines Ontario. http://dr.library.brocku.ca/bitstream/handle/10464/3113/Royal%20Canadian%20Henley%20Regatta%20RG%2075-17.pdf?sequence=1 (accessed 5 May 2014).

33. ‘Aldermen Behind Athletic Proposal’.

34. See, John C. Best, Thomas Baker McQuesten: Public Works, Politics And Imagination (Hamilton: Corinth Press, 1991); Joan Coutu, ‘Vehicles of Nationalism: Defining Canada in the 1930s’, Journal of Canadian Studies 37, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 180–203. She writes that McQuesten's motivation was ‘a desire to promote Canada as a civilized cultured nation abroad’, 181. For another angle on the legacy of McQuesten, see Bouchier and Cruikshank, ‘The War on Squatters 1920–40’.

35. Roland Barnsley, Thomas B. McQuesten, (Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1987); and John C. Best, ‘Thomas Baker McQuesten’, Dictionary of Hamilton Biography IV (Hamilton: Griffen, 1999), 176–90.

36. The stadium site is current home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats although Ivor Wynne Stadium was demolished in 2012 and a new one is currently being rebuilt to be ready for play in late July 2014. Official Program (1930), 8; Moore, ‘Divergence of Interests’, 27; Gorman, ‘Amateurism, Imperialism, Internationalism’, 615; ‘The Hamilton Olympic Club… First and Foremost’, in Centennial Sports Review, 81; Freeman, 127–8; ‘A farewell to Ivor Wynne’; on the pool see Nancy Bouchier and Ken Cruikshank, ‘Abandoning Nature: Swimming Pools and Clean, Healthy Recreation in Hamilton, Ontario, c. 1930s-1950s’, Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 28, no. 2 (2011): 315–37.

37. British Empire Games, Hamilton, 1930 Scrapbook; ‘Foreword: British Empire Games’, in British Empire Games, Official Programme and Handbook for Events, 1934 (London: Fleetway Press, 1934), np; Gorman, ‘Amateurism, Imperialism, Internationalism’, 620–23.

38. See Gorman, 623; Moore, ‘Warmth of Comradeship’, 249 and Robert K. Barney, ‘The Great Transformation: Olympic Victory Ceremonies and the Medal Podium’, Olympika: The International Journal of Olympic Studies 7 (1998): 89–112.

39. The ambition to be considered a ‘world class’ city is often cited as a reason municipalities bid for mega-events, and it is a phrase that has often been used by Hamilton boosters through the years.

40. Phillips, ‘Municipalities and the Mega-Event’.

41. ‘A History of the Commonwealth Games Bid’, Spectator, November 13, 2003.

42. John Kernaghan, ‘Hamilton Bids for 2010 Games; Spectator Publisher Jagoda Pike to Lead Businesses in Pitch for Commonwealth Games’, Spectator, 22 May 2002.

43. John Kernaghan, ‘Taxpayers May be on the Hook over Games Bid’, Spectator, 5 June 2002. Hamilton defeated a Halifax bid for the right to continue as Canada's official bid city for the 2010 Games.

44. Jagoda Pike, ‘Crusade to bring the Games home’, Spectator, December 14, 2002; this sentiment about the birthplace of the Games was also voiced in early December 2002 by Commonwealth Games Federation chairman Michael Fennell, who compared Hamilton's role with starting the 1930 Games to Athens’ role in originating the Olympics. ‘A History of the Commonwealth Games Bid’, Spectator, November 13, 2003. John Kernaghan, ‘1930 Games Put City on World Map: Edna Robinson Believes the Time is Ripe for Hamilton to Bid for the 2010 Commonwealth Games’, Spectator, 15 March 2002.

45. Pike, ‘Crusade to bring the Games home’.

46. Hamilton, Economic Development Review 2002 (Hamilton: 2003). These benefits and legacies are repeated throughout the 2003 bid campaign.

47. Robert Robertson, David Adames and Domenic Lunardo, Committee of the Whole Report, Subject: City of Hamilton Support for the 2010 Commonwealth Games Bid - CM03015 (Hamilton: 29 April 2003).

48. Cheryl Stepan, ‘Games Spending would Transform City’, Spectator, 2 May 2003.

49. For a comprehensive list of those involved with the bid, see Hamilton. The 2010 Commonwealth Games Bid Corporation, Hamilton 2010 Commonwealth Games Bid (Hamilton: City of Hamilton, 2003), 12–13.

50. The cost to the university was an estimated $50 million, but part of the funding plan was to levy the student population. See Phillips, ‘Municipalities and the Mega-Event’.

51. Stone, Regime Politics, and ‘Looking Back’.

52. Perhaps more so in 1930 as the public would not have had access to the social media outlets that are now available. However, Hamilton did have two daily papers in 1930 – the Hamilton Spectator and Hamilton Herald – although both supported the event. By 2003, the Spectator was the city's only daily, but Hamilton also had several radio stations, a television station and a number of community weeklies.

53. Spectator, 18 August 1930.

54. Phillips, ‘Municipalities and the Mega-Event’, also found that this lack of a corporate heavyweight was also a difference between Hamilton's failed 2003 bid and the successful bid of Melbourne 1996.

55. There are also distinctly different motivations for hosting mega-events for a country's decision-makers, including national identity and pride and international prestige, but that discussion belongs in a separate paper.