A Christmas WishNot knowing how to help a certain group of people I sped my way to Santa's Grotto and sat on the big man's knee.
"Now, not-so-little girl" he asked, "what can I do for you?" Earlier this year I wrote an article called 'The Best Things In Life Are Free', a small tribute to a big group, marshals. After that I was lucky enough to speak to many marshals from all over the world. I have a huge amount of admiration for marshals and after speaking to them this summer it quadrupled. My conversations with marshals highlighted just how little I really knew. Their role, a volunteer role, is not easy yet essential to racing so you would expect racing to respond by helping where possible. Money is not the first concern of marshals, indeed from speaking to them I doubt it is second or third, but it is all important to the greater powers that be in the sport so let's start there. As previously mentioned marshals are volunteers, they receive no payment for their role. Expenses are paid. Now put a figure on those expenses. Remember they travel from all across the country, provide their own overalls, gloves etc, need to pay for food and drinks throughout the weekend and all other sundries. Got a number in your head? Marshals at Silverstone this year received £5 a day. And don't forget the meal voucher they were given (that's a meal voucher for the weekend not each day). I challenge every spectator to go to Silverstone for the day with no more than a fiver in their pocket. I challenge people further up the pecking order to recognise money comes in such small denominations. On questioning, many drivers at many levels simply 'assumed' marshals were on as much as £50-£60 a day. So why isn't the marshalling question about money? Very simply marshals do not want to be paid, it is not a job, it is a hobby. This is a chance for motorsports enthusiasts to put back into the sport they love and the volunteer role is perfect for the motorsports, uneven calendar. To run a professional group of marshals, who are paid (waged and taxed) is unfeasible on many levels. So surely this should leave everyone happy, people who want to work for free and people who need them to do so. In fact if you had a large group of people who came along under their own steam to help run an event which would be cancelled without their presence you'd be thankful and ensure all ran smoothly, wouldn't you? At this year's Silverstone the marshals were directed to a 'new' campsite, there old permanent site now needed for car parking. The new site, set between a public campsite and public carpark, was to be home to 600 marshals over the Grand Prix weekend. Lovely site, well decorated by the previous sheep occupants on a nice slope. Water provided in a stand pipe. Without being insulting, one suspects marshals can get a little bit smelly and full bladdered after spending a day on their posts so showers and toilets are required. Bring on the makeshift toilets, the queue providing a marvellous chance to catch up with colleagues and 24 makeshift showers, a communal lack of shyness would have sped matters up. As toilets blocked Mr Environmental Health visited and asked for more to be made available and a site shop was closed down. Octagon have pointed out they have done their best to try and help them, even throwing a party on the Saturday night. The gesture was no doubt kind hearted but a party, that was gatecrashed by members of the public, was perhaps not suitable for marshals who wanted a good nights sleep before another 12 hour day, a little difficult next to a rowdy public campsite where people were rightfully enjoying an event many saved long and hard to attend. But Octagon showed willing so I asked if they would answer some very basic questions which they said they would try to. So I asked how they saw the role of marshals, their relationship with them and any word on future plans for marshal facilities. Unfortunately on receipt of questions Octagon informed me they were are a very busy point and unable to answer at present. However, after their press release noting improved race and spectator facilities in the coming years I'm sure it was a simple oversight not to mention the investment they will be making into marshalling facilities.
Memo from Santa: " Sarcastic not-so-little girls run the risk of empty stockings" The requirements for the marshals accommodation facilities are quite simple and in the larger scheme of things relatively cheap. However it goes beyond campsite facilities. A number of marshals have independently expressed to me their desire to see improvements in their duty facilities. The introductions they would like to see are often so simple as to be embarrassing that they need to be asked for such as covered observation points to make writing in the rain a little easier. Many marshals find walkways are in poor condition and here we get onto the serious point that their job may be impeded. It need only happen once but the thought of a marshal losing any vital second on the way to an accident after falling due to a pot-holed access route makes me feel cold. But the saddest part for me was that on so many individual occasions marshals say the same thing to me, 'you hardly ever hear a thank you'. Thank you, free, gratis and I believe in this instance often well deserved. Many marshals expressed they felt it difficult to know where to address their concerns, ideas and complaints. There are marshal-organiser liaisons but I get the impression the results of these rarely trickle down to the majority who are left feeling underrepresented. And a further aspect makes me feel nothing short of mad. A number of marshals expressed they are frightened to speak out (hence I am not quoting any individuals in this piece on their request) incase they are swallowed whole and spat out by the big Motorsports PR machine. Damn a sport that makes any of its worthwhile contributors feel that way. I'm not writing and asking for purpose built hotels for marshals, three course gourmet meals and them to lauded as saintly, just some common courtesy would be a good first step. Is there really so little money in the pot that the sport cannot stretch to a bit of lunch for those who work long shifts at one of the most intensive sporting events of the year? Can the planners really not find a permanent corner for marshals to pitch a tent and stand a caravan, next to some decent toilets and showers? I cannot resist a dig that there's always room for another hospitality suite… I don't want to hear of marshals saying they feel like second-class citizens or trespassers at an event which would be literally no-where without them. It saddens me to hear of the number of marshals who now give the GP a miss as they have felt devalued and get far more satisfaction and thanks from club racing and other series (at circuits with running water). And it saddens and worries me to hear that the number of marshals is falling. Santa: "How about a satsuma, some nuts and this lovely Eddie Irvine calendar?" ©Rebecca Hobbs (c)RH PR 2007
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