Melbourne stunner deserves haka

Can the Commonwealth Games survive?

The stunning success of Australia and the costs of staging the event have stirred doubts.

Project delays, including the Games pool, village and a rail bridge - and security cost blowouts - pushed the Games bill towards A$1.5 billion ($1.73 billion).

A revamp of the MCG came out A$50 million over budget, though that revamp will benefit other sports, not just the Games.

There were fears Melbourne had raised the bar so high smaller cities will never be able to afford the Games. But that should not deter them from bidding to host the event, said Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell. "Obviously we don't want to lower the bar, we want to raise the bar - not necessarily in size or grandeur but in the quality of what we do and how we present it.

"It's a struggle to sustain that quality without having to go to enormous levels of expense."

New Delhi will stage the 2010 Games and Glasgow in Scotland, Abuja in Nigeria and Halifax in Canada have put in bids for 2014.

But judging by Melbourne's success, the Commonwealth Games are here to stay.

Big crowds. Stunning venues. Stirring sport. Lovely weather. Only someone with Advance Australia Fair-aphobia could fault Melbourne. It deserves a stirring haka, maybe two.

- NZPA