'Ireland' and the British Empire Games: 1930, 1934 and 1938

Today the British Empire is held together by sentiment rather than force, and whatever develops friendships will stimulate that understanding and goodwill. Therefore, an assemblage of the best athletes in the Empire will not only strengthen national pride, but should develop social ties that will tend to seal more strongly the bonds of Empire ... The games should certainly turn the searchlight of publicity on the athletic prowess of the British Empire … An even more desirable consequence will be the unifying of the sporting organisations of the Empire. Under conditions existing in international competition the motherland and each dominion is considered apart; the victories of each are tabulated separately; when one unit voices an opinion, that expression does not receive the same consideration as would the decision of an Imperial athletic federation … It is not too much to hope that [the Games] will go far towards crystallizing Empire sportsmanship into one coherent whole'. So said prominent Canadian sportswriter, Henry Roxborough, in the build-up to the inaugural 1930 Games, held in Hamilton, Ontario.