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Volunteers are the lifeline of every major sporting event

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Joe Clark

What connects a 73-year-old former administrator from Goa, a 30-something Delhi based journalist and adventure sport nut, a 46-year-old quiz show contestant from Kolkata, around a thousand college students and a host of others from around the country. Simple, they are among the best and brightest chosen as volunteers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India. And come October, they will be deployed on a host of activities from media to ticketing, branding and communications, security and team services, in effect in almost every major operation in the running of the tournament.

The word ‘volunteer’ has 16th century French origins. It originally meant a person who offered himself for military service. And the military connotation was the primary one, till the mid-19th century when the US Civil war saw a lot of civilians volunteering their time for aid and relief work.

The concept of using volunteers for sporting events really started with the modern Olympic Games in 1896. And while there were many unpaid workers in the first few Olympics, the first time the word ‘volunteer’ was used was in 1912, where most of them comprised Army men and boy scouts. Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin spoke of a Swedish lady, Mrs Versall, who had six children who participated in the Games, the youngest as boy scouts who delivered messages. She was awarded a special Olympic medal by the IOC.

The scouts continued to do sterling work, with the Girl Guides also playing a part from the 1952 Olympic Games. But the next big jump came in the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in 1980 where for the first time organizers depended on nearly 7,000 volunteers from all walks and professions to make a successful event. After the success of Lake Placid, the 1984 Summer Olympics recruited 30,000 volunteers, and while the original reasons were purely economic, future organisers realised that the skill sets and dedication of volunteers was often comparable and often even ahead of paid professionals.

 

 

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