The Archaeologists of Danish Badminton

A group of people – most of them have passed 70 years – are digging in Danish badminton history and making it digital so future generations can find information about the legends.

By Ronni Burkal Elkjær

It started as an irritation. And a wonder. Why didn’t young people know who famous Danish badminton legends such as Erland Kops, Ulla Strand or Finn Kobberø were, the teacher and former coach Ole Jacobsen asked himself.

Some of his students knew a little bit about Camilla Martin or Peter Gade, but would these players also be forgotten by the next generation? Ole Jacobsen realised he had a new purpose. He should maintain the Danish badminton history. That’s how the idea of the Badminton Museum started eight years ago.

”I wanted to portrait former players, leaders, and coaches but I needed to make a lineup, because I couldn’t do it all by myself”, Ole Jacobsen reflects.

The first person he reached out to was Torsten Berg, who has an incredible network inside badminton after three decades working in international badminton as a President of Badminton Europe and as a Vice President in the BWF Council.

”I was always interested in the history of Danish badminton but did not find time to do much about it. In 2016 I started to step down a bit from the international duties, so when Ole – a good friend since 1967 – approached me I was ready. I love working with people with good ideas and hard work and Ole contains both”, says Torsten Berg.

The conclusive moment in beginning the work was the support of the board in Badminton Denmark. The board grants an annual subsidy to the work of the Badminton Museum, which primarily covers transportation and technical expenses. It takes a significant amount of resources to digitise archive footage of player and matches. The first thing they started doing was collecting old scrap books, old rackets etc. to make sure physical things wouldn’t be lost as the long-term objective is to house a physical Danish Sport. or ideally, a Badminton Museum.

A total of eight members make up the group - most of whom are in their seventies, hold two in-person meetings a year and chair additional editorial meetings online. Each member has a set of unique skills; producing website content of the Badminton Museum, scanning old footage, making appointments with former players, or using plenty of hours digging in the Danish badminton history like archaeologists.

”One of our goals is expanding our website maybe with podcasts. And shooting for the stars we are dreaming of having an actual museum where people can walk around and at close distance look at the some of the most iconic pieces in Danish Badminton history. That’s some of our ambitions”, Ole Jacobsen says.