The recent flurry of sporting events has thrown up a number of aspects which I found particularly inspiring. With much of the media focus on China’s 15th National Games naturally on the sporting contests, less attention was paid to the fact that the event could only have been successfully organised with the support of local volunteers.
The Agency for Volunteer Service appealed for help in marshalling competitors and spectators, and tens of thousands of ordinary Hongkongers applied. The target was to engage 10,000. The applicants were vetted and 16,000 were taken on.
They were trained, given uniforms and carried out important duties such as handling injuries, crowd management, guest reception, spectator services and logistical support. Without their unpaid efforts, Hong Kong’s first time as co-host could not have gone as smoothly.
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The second area worth mentioning is the passionate spectator support for Hong Kong representatives. My first experience of this was not at the Games but at the football match between Hong Kong and Bangladesh weeks earlier.
The packed Kai Tak Stadium of nearly 50,000 was a cauldron of sound, the north stand in particular loud and proud. They ignored the rather insipid official slogans on display (“Cheer for us” and “This is our home”) and roared out their own anthem: “We are the Hong Kong boys, we’re gonna make some noise.”
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I found this message very attractive. It made no attempt at political correctness – men and women of all ages and races were expected to, and did, sing it lustily – and it was in English. What could be more fitting for a multiethnic team in an international city.