Games fever slow to exert itself over city

Ian Thorpe isn't competing. Neither is fellow Australian swimmer Grant Hackett nor England's world 10,000m champion Paula Radcliffe.

But never fear, the Vanuatu table tennis players and a lawn bowler from Swaziland are in Melbourne ready to embrace the Commonwealth spirit of doing their best.

It's surreal.

These Games are being held in a sports-crazed city, yet organisers have been giving away free tickets to tonight's opening ceremony at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

It might have something to do with the A$420 ($485) and A$590 base ticket prices or Melburnians being one-eyed about the forthcoming AFL (Australian Rules) season.

Veterans reckon the anticipatory fever that grips cities before Olympic or Commonwealth Games has not wrapped itself around Melbourne yet.

Organisers disagree and local media are mostly leading their cheer squads, though AFL stories continue to dominate their sports pages.

The Age newspaper chirruped on Saturday about the city's promenades assuming a festive air, saying it was time to forget the pre-Games squabbling and the inevitable tangled traffic, but some reports raised the indifference that exists towards these Games.

Maybe more people see the Commonwealth as an anachronistic entity and view the Games as embodying this - an old-fashioned relic where participation and fun are rated as important as winning. Though try telling that to some of the Australian athletes.

Organisers would like to throw any negative suggestion straight into the Yarra River, which is a focal point of the opening celebrations.

Chairman Ron Walker thinks the 11-day event will "usher in a new dawn of Commonwealth Games".

Walker, who has been developing these Games for the past decade, is banking on a spectacular opening ceremony to not just stimulate local patronage but global interest as well.

"We intend to, without any shadow of a doubt, produce the greatest opening ceremony that the world has ever seen, Commonwealth and Olympics."

The river precinct has been beautified and blue, white, orange and green banners flutter from city buildings.

One measure of success will be the performance of the athletes.

The Games do boast a major sporting attraction, world champion sprinter Asafa Powell.

Australia have a throng of women swimmers who are world-best in their disciplines and of course New Zealand offer golden Olympians, Sarah Ulmer and Hamish Carter and their world champion netballers.

But whether this is enough for the Games to capture the attention of the CNNs, BBCs and ESPNs of the broadcasting world for long is doubtful.

The other measuring stick will be financial. These results won't be known until after the Games, but early signs over tickets are not promising.

Organisers had to give away 5000 tickets worth A$2.5 million this week in an attempt to ensure a full house for the opening ceremony.

After canvassing several options, including giving the opening ceremony tickets to volunteers, organisers decided to allocate two seats to each cast member for the ceremony, accounting for just over 5000 seats.

More than 4000 tickets still needed to be sold yesterday to meet the MCG's 80,000 capacity.

Keeping a close eye on the sidelines will be India, who host the 2010 Games.

They have sent a delegation of 500, while a smaller group from Glasgow is doing likewise ahead of their bid for the 2014 Games.

The Australians are banking on a golden harvest, with between 90 and 100 gold medals forecast.

The hope of many of the other nations will be that a continuous stream of the same national anthem doesn't turn the 11-day festival into the Groundhog Games.

But what the heck . . . let the Games begin and we will see what unfolds.

- NZPA