Abstract

The success of a competition, whether it is a global event capable of changing a city’s geo-tourism (e.g. Olympic Games in Barcelona) or geo-political position (e.g. Olympic Games in Beijing), or a one-day sports meeting with a merely local outreach, depends upon the performance of its volunteers. For example, between 14 June and 16 October 2011, a record 23,965 applications were made to fill 5,500 positions on offer, to ‘join the action’ and sign up to the UEFA EURO 2012 volunteer programme. On the other hand, grassroots events locally based would not happen without volunteers. Consequently, major sport events would not happen without the hard work of volunteers. Whatever the format or nature of an event (cultural, musical, sporting etc.), the organisers should set up a volunteer programme to manage its volunteer human resources.