Volunteering at London 2012 was life-enriching... those who do likewise at the World Cup are not helpless victims

After the ICC called for volunteers to help their World Cup operation, CHRIS CRAMPTON of the Being Outside Cricket blog reflects on what his Olympic experience meant to him... and why it is far from exploitation

^{Volunteers at the London 2012 Olympic Games}

Shortly after London won the right to host the 2012 Olympics, it was announced that the organisers would seek to invite people to volunteer to assist in running the event. 

The news was met with a fair degree of cynicism, words such as “exploitation” were used, and the demand that people should be paid went up, along with proclamations that few would answer the call. 

Instead, tens of thousands responded, more indeed than there were vacancies and in the end a selection process was required to whittle down the numbers. Far from being an unpopular idea, it caught the public imagination – a desire to be part of something special, to contribute in some small way to a once in a lifetime home Games.

In my own case that involved being based in the Olympic Village. I would see the athletes returning from the Olympic Park, sometimes celebrating with medals around their necks, sometimes limping from an unfortunate injury and sometimes simply asking for directions. 

^{The ICC have asked for volunteers for next year's World Cup}

My duties were hardly onerous, the reality being that bodies were needed to support the operation rather than high levels of intellectual rigour, but at all times it fitted around my working life without any objection; it was my decision when to go in, when not to, and if I needed to cancel. 

This is of course as it should be, for volunteers are giving up their time to assist a wider endeavour, but this was thoroughly understood by all involved – our time was appreciated, always.

It was an extraordinary experience; to be close to all that went on, and feeling that I’d made a contribution, no matter how small, to an event that showcased the city and the country made those early morning train journeys out to Stratford thoroughly worthwhile. 

Unpaid we may have been, but within those parameters the Olympics offered opportunities to their volunteers to experience something they could otherwise never have done. Volunteers were invited to the rehearsals for the opening ceremony, and many to the actual Closing Ceremony. 

But it wasn’t just the formalities, the incidentals remain abiding memories – how else would I have casually chatted to the Chef Du Mission of a competing nation about what the London Olympics meant to him and his team?

This is invariably the point that the cynics overlook. Volunteers are not helpless victims, there to be taken advantage of and in need of protection from their betters. Instead they are people who make a choice, that being part of something is an experience they wish to have, that they feel will enrich them. It is a decision, and one that deserves the respect of those who don’t agree.

^{Volunteers at the Olympics got the chance to be close to global stars}

London 2012 remains a seminal experience in my life, one I feel honoured and privileged to have been involved in. The ones who missed out are those who elected not to apply.

The ICC have called for volunteers for the 2019 World Cup. It is an event that cannot compare to the truly special incidence of a home Olympics, but it is an event, and it is something that can provide its own particular memories for those who choose to be involved. 

It is an organisation that remains controversial, its management of the game of cricket marked by self-interest, avarice and a singular lack of interest in the health of the wider sport.  

The carve-up of the game of cricket, the sidelining of Test matches and the peripheral cricketing nations who most of all need the assistance and encouragement of a central governing body is a stain on the reputations of a great many far too arrogant to perceive the damage they have wrought on a sport we love. 

I have been, and will continue to be, highly critical of them and the selfish actions of the most powerful boards that run it; those doubts over whether the ICC deserves volunteers are by no means misplaced.

For me, it is a step too far, a demand too many, and I shall not volunteer. But I will not criticise those who do, for their generosity of spirit may be rewarded by something special in their lives. 

Their payment will be in what they experience and the opportunities that creates. I wasn’t paid a penny for the Olympics, but I took far more out it than I ever put in – which was the intention of the London committee all along. 

I cannot say that the World Cup will be similarly special, but I can understand why some will feel they want to be part of it, and to those, I pay tribute. 

The author has requested his fee for this article to be donated to a cricketing charity

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