The Mayor of Christchurch recently proposed hosting a future Commonwealth Games, justifying his proposal by recalling the last Games held in the city in 1974. While arguing that these had been ‘good’, he also noted that they ‘broke the city’. This study asks whether it is appropriate to use a past event for current purposes by reference to recent historiography. It then sets out the 1974 context in which the Games took place. An extensive review of archival data considers what the accounting for the 1974 Commonwealth Games might tell us about the financial, but also social, success or otherwise of that event. The research contributes to (accounting) historiography by challenging a simplistic use of the past to justify present action. It also adds to the literature on accounting and culture by using accounting data to enhance our understanding of the past. In particular, it demonstrates how past financial reports, appropriately contextualised, can speak to current public policy proposals.