Controversy Surrounding Functionary Duties and IFK Gothenburg Athletics Club: Julio Amorim’s Experience

This summer, Julio Amorim’s seven-year-old grandson attended IFK Gothenburg’s athletics school. He got a bloody tooth and wanted to continue.

They went ahead and started looking into the possibility of becoming a member and starting training in the association. Then it quickly started to be about the parents’ functionary duties, says Julio Amorim.

– They were immediately very clear that “either you stand up or you have to pay”. It wasn’t even a “welcome” but that was the first thing they said. It felt businesslike on their part, he says.

If you click on the association’s website, you will find the tab “functionary 2024”. There, the association writes that it is mandatory as a parent to serve at least 16 hours per year as an official at events that generate income for the association. They then list the events, including the Gothenburg lap, Veteran WC and Full moon jump.

Can buy himself free from assignments

The association’s club championships – which do not generate any income for the association do not count as hours worked.

The information ends with:

“If you want to free yourself from the assignments, that’s fine too.”

The opportunity to buy yourself out of being a functionary is something that 66-year-old Julio Amorim reacts strongly to.

He has extensive experience in the sports movement through both his children and grandchildren.

– Non-profit work has always existed. It is volunteering that is non-profit work. Here, IFK Gothenburg goes and forces people. Then it is no longer ideal.

It costs SEK 3,000 to buy yourself free from civil service duties. It is also possible to pay to avoid selling Bingo tickets.

– It thins out. If you think of a single parent in the suburbs who cannot spare time and certainly not spare money, then that child is not welcome at IFK friidrott. If all associations did that, then many children would be weeded out of Swedish sports. I think it is fundamentally wrong, says Julio Amorim.

The club manager: “We must be in solidarity”

Toomas Tartu is club manager for IFK Gothenburg athletics. He believes that it is not only their association that has mandatory office hours.

– There are a lot of athletics clubs that require you to have mandatory hours that you have to commit to things, he says.

– It is a way of financing our operations. That’s the one piece. What is often forgotten is that the entire functionaryship creates a nice cohesion, good club feeling, creates a community and that you get to know the members of the club. This is what often creates this good sense of community.

Do you need a certain number of hours to be mandatory?

– Yes, we don’t have enough volunteers who stand up otherwise.

– We must be in solidarity with each other somewhere and that is an important thing and get everyone to at least contribute with a basic effort of 16 hours. It’s not unreasonable at all, it’s two days’ work.

The decision to give the opportunity to buy oneself free was taken by the board during the autumn.

– Questions came up this summer. Then it came up in the board and the board made a decision that you should be able to buy your way out. Very few do but it has been well received.

Hans says that there are two who have so far taken up the offer to buy themselves free.

– There are several people who think it is good that they have an alternative.

Could it cause some children not to start in the association, that some parents are not able to either help or to pay these sums?

– I have not come across it. I would like to jump back to this that both I, the association and not least the board have a very great respect for the entire private economy right now. I can imagine that it is a much worse situation with more expensive sports.

IFK Gothenburg athletics club manager Toomas Tartu says that the opportunity to buy himself free came after requests during the summer. Photo: Daniel Thunberg

Julio’s grandson chose a different association

There are still some who are in a situation where you have neither time nor money to buy yourself free?

– We have said that this is a matter of solidarity that applies to everyone in the association. Because we create so much common forces in this. That’s 16 hours we’re talking about, that’s two days out of 365.

Is it solidarity that those who can afford it can avoid it?

– This is an opportunity that we are giving because the question came up. It is the board that has taken this decision. Then they said that then we give the opportunity to those who want to do this. The solidarity is 16 hours and those who want to make a deviation have an opportunity to do so in that case.

Julio Amorim’s grandson did not become a member of the association. When he found out that there were requirements for parents and that you could buy your way out, they chose another association.

– We backed off, it wasn’t interesting, he says.

He then got to see what it cost from an acquaintance.

– When I saw the amounts, I was really annoyed. It’s madness.

READ ALSO: The moving testimonies from Gothenburg football

READ ALSO: Children are forced to choose sports – new agreement should stop the conflicts

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2023-11-14 04:00:00
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