What Is The Flag Handover Ceremony?
The Flag Handover Ceremony marks the flag handover from Delhi 2010 to Glasgow 2014 and includes an 8 minute creative programme to showcase Glasgow and Scotland to the rest of the Commonwealth.
The creative part of the Flag Handover Ceremony has not always been featured to the extent it is today. This portion of the ceremony has steadily become more extravagant over the years. At the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Flag Handover Ceremony, passing the flag to Delhi 2010 lasted 11 minutes – a Commonwealth record.
The Flag Handover Ceremony not only marks the Games passing from Delhi to Glasgow, but it also gives Scotland the opportunity to show, for the first time, to a global audience of around 1 billion, what it’s capable of.
Through the creative set, Glasgow invites the Commonwealth to participate in what are now effectively Scotland's Games, at the same time as India bids them farewell.
Procedures involved at the actual "handover" of the flag
The “handover” in the Flag Handover Ceremony refers to the official handing over of the Games to the new host city and all the responsibilities that go along with it. This happens at the exact moment the Lord Provost of Glasgow is presented with the Commonwealth Games Federation Flag; a symbolic gesture of Games ownership.
The CGF flag will be lowered by military personnel and passed to the Chief Minister of the Delhi Government, Mrs Sheila Dikshit, who will then pass the flag to the President of the Commonwealth Games Federation, Mike Fennell, who will then pass the flag to the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Bob Winter. The Lord Provist will then deliver a short speech which will be directly followed by the Flag Handover Ceremony.
At the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 2006, the Handover to Delhi featured a vibrant and colourful display of Bollywood stars and music. Bollywood and Hollywood stars Aishwarya Rai, Rani Mukheriee and Saif Ali Khan took part in the performance to the choreographed steps of Shiamak Dayer.
The Queen closed the Manchester 2002 Games in the City of Manchester Stadium in front of 38,000 spectators. The ceremony mixed pop with pomp. Around 40,000 balloons were released into the rainy Manchester sky as the handover ceremony concluded with a spectacular fireworks display.