Wednesday, Jul 17, 2002
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A panoramic view of the City of Manchester Stadium, where athletes from 72 nations will go head-to-head in the Commonwealth Games. The new 38,000-seat stadium will provide a backdrop to the Games by hosting athletics and the rugby sevens competition. — Reuters
Six years ago, a massive Irish Republican Army (IRA) truck bomb ripped the heart out of the northern English city, which was already struggling with high unemployment, bleak poverty-stricken suburbs and one of the highest suicide rates in Britain. While the bombing, the largest on the British mainland since World War Two, devastated the city centre and injured more than 200 people, it also paved the way for a major urban renewal project which will culminate in the Commonwealth Games and has brought a fresh wave of optimism to the city. ``We took the bombing very personally but there is a lot of civic pride here and we weren't going to give up,'' said Mancunian Sheila Wolstencroft, echoing the sentiments of many in the city. ``We've rebuilt and are still rebuilding. I suppose you could say it is a renaissance city for modern times — we led the way in the Industrial Revolution and we are leading the way again.'' Posters mounted on building sites around the city scream ``Manchester Fights Back!'' but the evidence that this city has hauled itself back from the brink of terminal decline does not need to be spelled out. There is the gleaming 40-million-pound ($ 62 million) Urbis museum, a twisting, soaring glass structure that dominates a formerly rundown corner of the city. There is the extension to the city's art gallery, the sleek new Imperial War Museum North, a revitalised shopping centre, revamped city gardens — the list goes on. Sparkling modern architecture jostles with 19th century red-brick factories which have been scrubbed up and given a new lease of life as upmarket apartments, offices and night clubs. Mancunians, once lampooned by the rest of the country as a generally gloomy bunch, have a fresh spring in their step, wearing their pride in the city like badges on their new designer suits. The jewel in the crown is the new 110-million-pound City of Manchester stadium which will be the centrepiece for the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games from July 25 to August 4 and will then become the new home of Manchester City Football Club. With national flag-waving fervour stoked up by the soccer World Cup and Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee, organisers are hoping for an unprecedented financial and ``feel-good'' success. ``Manchester has used the games to light the flame of regeneration,'' said Manchester 2002 spokesman Mike Hales. ``We are hoping to equal, if not exceed, the tremendous feel-good factor of the Sydney Olympics but have commercial success as well.'' Large events such as the Olympics and Commonwealth Games are often plagued by budget overruns, slack ticket sales and venue fiascos but bad publicity about Manchester has been notably absent. Hales said one of the most crucial aspects of the Games, funding, was sewn up a year ago, allowing the organisers to get on with planning Britain's largest ever multi-sport event. ``One of the national newspapers said to me that our problem was that there was nothing going wrong,'' Hales said. ``Our venues are all ready and we are absolutely on track. We are on time. We are within budget. The only thing that's out of line are ticket sales — which are far ahead of expectations.'' With nine days to go, a record 75 per cent of the total one million tickets have been accounted for. In comparison, less than half of the tickets were sold for Kuala Lumpur's Commonwealth Games in 1998. ``If I had to give a summary of the atmosphere here...we know we're on to a winner,'' said Hales. ``But you have to get away from the concept of profit and loss. In my view, there is an immense abstract profit in these things and that is the legacy.'' One independent report concluded that a successful event would bring extra 300,000 visitors to the region every year, create 6,000 jobs and attract millions in extra spending. Manchester, frequently written off as a gloomy backwater with the throwaway line ``it's grim up north'', is chomping at the bit to show off its sparkling new identity to the world. Despite its dour reputation, the city has always see-sawed between bleak northern outpost and edgy trendsetter. It was known as ``Cottonopolis'' in the 19th century when it led the way during the Industrial Era and physicist Ernest Rutherford carried out much of his work on splitting of the atom here. One of the first computers was invented in the city and more recently, the Manchester sound of bands such as Oasis spawned a new era in rock music in the 1990s. Manchester's Lord Mayor Roy Walters, who migrated from Jamaica 40 years ago, said the city had always been a ``work hard, play hard'' kind of place but was definitely changing. ``Regeneration has been a theme all over the city, including my own area of Moss Side,'' he said, referring to one of Manchester's most notoriously crime-ridden areas. He said the 23,000 people who had rallied to a call for Games volunteers provided evidence that Mancunians had rekindled their love affair with the city. Richard Leese, chief executive of Manchester City Council, which is underwriting the games, said ``easily'' a billion pounds had been spent on revamping the city since the bomb. ``Not only does the city look different, it feels different — there is a tangible confidence, optimism and pride,'' he said. ``That bomb was very traumatic but it certainly galvanised us into action and energised the spirit of Manchester. It's certainly not grim up north any longer.'' — Reuters
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