Challenge set to find mascot to be Games’ ‘friendly face’

IT CAN be one of the most memorable aspects of a big sporting event, or an instantly forgettable failure. Greeted with affection or derision, bought in its thousands in replica form or left on the shelf.

For decades, having an official mascot has been de rigueur at World Cups, Olympic Games and other major tournaments. Now, with exactly 1,000 days to go before the start of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, organisers have launched a competition for children to design a mascot for the Glasgow event.

Run in conjunction with the BBC, the competition will be open for five weeks, and entries will be judged in three age ranges: six to eight, nine to 11, and 12 to 15. Ten of the best entries from each category will be selected, a shortlist will be chosen, and then one final winner will be decided upon by a panel of judges. The winner, who will receive four tickets for the Glasgow 2014 opening ceremony at Celtic Park, will be announced next September, shortly after the end of the London 2012 Paralympics.

The winning design will be developed into a finished product by a marketing agency to be appointed by Glasgow 2014. The organisers’ stipulations are that the mascot should be: original; a made-up or imaginary character, animal or person; easy to recognise as the official mascot for Scotland and the Commonwealth Games; appealing to young people; friendly and incorporating red, yellow, green or blue as all four colours are being extensively used in Glasgow 2014’s official branding. “We believe that one very special person will put pen or paintbrush to paper and come up with something totally original for us to have as our friendly face of the Games,” chief executive David Grevemberg said.

Since World Cup Willie was the symbol of the 1966 football tournament in England, every World Cup has had one or more mascots. It was a dog, Mac the white Scottie, who was the mascot of the Commonwealth Games the last time they were held in Scotland, in Edinburgh a quarter of a century ago. Keyano the bear and Matilda the kangaroo, at Edmonton in1978 and Brisbane four years later, had been the first recognised mascots at the Commonwealth Games.

All subsequent Games have had animal mascots, and last year in Delhi, posters and cardboard cut-outs of Shera the Tiger were everywhere.