Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

European International Series

Entrants 1975: Belgium (B) • Switzerland (CH) • West Germany (D) •
France (F) • Great Britain (GB) • Italy (I) • Netherlands (NL) 

Presenters / Commentators of International Competitions:
Paule Herreman (RTB - B)
Mike Verdrengh, Marc van Poucke and Regine Clauwaert (BRT - B)
Georges Kleinmann (SSR - CH)
Ezio Guidi and Elisabeth Brindisi (TSI - CH)
Jan Hiermeyer and Heidi Abel (SRG - CH)
Erhard Keller, Karl-Heinz Wocker, Manfred Erdenberger
and Marie-Louise Steinbauer (ARD-WDR - D)
Guy Lux, Simone Garnier and Claude Savarit (A2 - F)
Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring (BBC - GB)
Giulio Marchetti and Rosanna Vaudetti (RAI - I)
Dick Passchier and Barend Barendse (NCRV - NL)

International Referees:
Gennaro Olivieri
Guido Pancaldi

National Referees:
Mike Swann (GB)

Collaborator / Assistant Referee:
André Lange

Production Credits:

National Games Designers: Stuart Furber (GB); National Producers: Diane Lange and Nicolas Résimont (RTB - B), Lode Hendrickx, Jef Savenberg and Herman Verelst (BRT - B), Jean Niedermann (SSR - CH), Marius Berger (SRG - CH), Sergio Cavaglieri (TSI - CH), Marita Theile (D), Guy Lux and Claude Savarit (F), Barney Colehan (GB), Luciano Vecchi (I), Bernard Prins and Dick Van’t Sant (NL); National Directors: Lode Hendrickx (BRT - B), Jean Bovon and Jean-Marie Schorderet (SRG - CH), Günther Hassert (D), Pierre Badel and Jean Cohen (F), Geoff Wilson (BBC), Gian Maria Tabarelli (I), Matthias Meuser (NL)

Produced by the European Broadcasting Union and
RTB-BRT (B), SSR-SRG-TSI (CH), ARD-WDR (D), 
ANTENNE 2 (F), BBC Manchester (GB), RAI (I), NCRV (NL)

Key: International Heats ● = Qualified for International Final / ● = Heat Winner (Silver Trophy) International Final ● = Gold Trophy / ● = Silver Trophy / ● = Bronze Trophy Trophy   ▲ = Promoted to Position / ▼ = Demoted to Position DST = Daylight Saving Time (ONLY Great Britain and Italy observed DST)

B

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 1

Event Staged: Tuesday 20th May 1975
Venue: Alfred Verweeplein, Knokke, Belgium

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.10pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)

Nederland 1 (NL): Tuesday 20th May 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 21st May 1975, 8.15-9.35pm
TSI (CH): Wednesday 21st May 1975, 9.00-10.15pm

BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 27th August 1975, 6.55-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 31st August 1975, 1.55-3.10pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Mike Verdrengh

Theme: The Village Fair

Teams: Knokke-Heist (B) v. Riva San Vitale (CH) v. Oppenheim am Rhein (D) v.
Neuilly-sur-Seine (F) v. St. Ives (GB) v. Cosenza (I) v. Hoogvliet (NL)

Team Members included:
Knokke-Heist (B) - Paul van der Kochkerholm;
Riva San Vitale (CH) - Rita Bricholla, Oriallo Catalani and Thierre Luigi Valconi;
Oppenheim am Rhein (D) - Klaus Dagrard (Men’s Team Captain), Bernt Borsnerf, Molly Copriva, Bernt Fassner, Peter Garbel, Walter Heltz, Werner Kappler, Manfred Kuchi, Erhard Meier, Helmut Ring, Gerhard Rinckamen, Karoline Scrumegg;
Neuilly-sur-Seine (F) - Jacques Boutain;
St. Ives (GB) - Jack Aitkin, Monroe Broad, Billy Chappel, Charles Eddy, Joanna Eddy, Malcolm Furneaux, Brian Hannibal, Maureen Hopley, Sarah Kinwell, Tommy Meredith, Keith Naylor, Margaret Paynter, Ivor Phillips, Dudley Richards, Jane Schwab, Jeanette Trevorrow, Derek White, Hilary Wilson Reserves: Leslie Angove, Sandra Burgess;
Cosenza (I) - Fausto Brullio;
Hoogvliet (NL) - Ben Paasman (Team Captain).

Games (Official Titles): The Tassel (De Floche), The Net (De Raket), The Rocking Horse (Het Hobbelpaard), The Tamed Bear (De Getemde Beer), The Roundabout (De Paardenmolen), The Fritters (De Smoutbollen), Tin Pitching (Blikken Gooien) and The Strong Man (De Sterke Man);
Fil Rouge: Scooter (De Autoskooter);
Jokers: Carousel Horses

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th

 D • Oppenheim am Rhein ●
 B • Knokke-Heist ●
 NL • Hoogvliet
 F • Neuilly-sur-Seine
 CH • Riva San Vitale
 GB • St. Ives
 I • Cosenza

43
40
39
38
37
29
23

The Host Town

Knokke, Belgium

Knokke is one of the eight hamlets that comprise the resort and municipality of Knokke-Heist which has a combined population of around 36,000 inhabitants. It is located in the néerlandophonic (Dutch-speaking) province of West-Vlaanderen on the North Sea coast, 61km (38 miles) north-east of the French border, 92km (57 miles) north-west of Bruxelles / Brussel and 79km (49 miles) west of Antwerpen. It is classed as one of Belgium’s better known and more affluent resorts and comprises the original hamlets of Heist-aan-Zee, Duinbergen, Albertstrand, Knokke, Het Zoute, Groenplein, Ramskapelle and Westkapelle. It is the most north-eastern seaside resort on the Belgian coast and lies adjacent to the Netherlands border, separated from the territory by the Zwin nature reserve.

Originally, the marshy Zwin area was mostly settled by shepherds and fishermen. With the encouragement of the Counts of Flanders, several dikes were built between the 11th and the 13th century and the land successfully dewatered, giving rise to agriculture and further sheep breeding. New parishes were founded and the early settlement of Sint-Anna-ter-Muiden, later made part of Westkapelle, obtained city rights in 1242.

The strategic importance of the Zwin harbour came to light in 1301, during the war between Count Guy of Dampierre (1226-1305) and King Philip IV of France (1268-1314). During the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) that followed shortly after, several battles were fought between France and England for supremacy of the area including the Battle of Sluys in June 1340. The local population tried to remain neutral as it was politically tied to Flanders, then allied to France, but economically dependent on wool from England. Under the leadership of Philip the Bold (1342-1404), it took advantage of the relative peace of the end of the century to fortify the canal linking the Zwin to the port of Bruges.

The end of the 15th century was marked by internal rebellions against Maximilian of Austria (1459-1519) and strategic flooding of the polders. The reign of Charles V (1500-1558) in the following century saw peace coming back to the region. This was also the time when the Zwin started silting and when apple orchards were planted to supplement the local economy. The construction in 1857 of the 40km (25 miles) long Leopold Canal, running westward from Boekhoute to Heist-aan-Zee, made the closing of the Zwin and its transformation into a natural reservation possible.

The development of Knokke and Heist as tourist destinations followed soon after with Knokke becoming the largest of the hamlets comprising the municipality. Originally a vacation haven for the city folk of Brussels in the early 19th century, artists such as James Ensor (1860-1949), Alfred Verwee (1838-1895) and others started to frequent the small hamlet to paint its beautiful vistas. The artists rented a small miller's cottage and founded the Cercle des Artistes in 1880. It gradually became a resort town with upscale clientele, restaurants and shops. The population of Knokke doubled between 1873 and 1914 to 3,326 inhabitants, then again from 1914 to 1930 and again to reach more than 14,000 in 1965 despite the heavy setbacks brought by World War II (1939-1945).

Today, Knokke, with a population of around 17,000 inhabitants, is well known for its beaches and for the dyke system to which it owes its origins. The largest of Belgium's ten casinos, Knokke Casino, is located on the seaside promenade and is open 24 hours a day!

The Visiting Towns

Riva San Vitale is a town with a population of around 3,000 inhabitants in the italophonic (Italian-speaking) Swiss canton of Ticino and is located 735km (456 miles) south-east of Knokke.

Oppenheim am Rhein is a town with a population of around 8,500 inhabitants in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz and is located 395km (245 miles) south-east of Knokke.

Neuilly-sur-Seine is a suburb of Paris with a population of around 60,000 inhabitants in the French region of Île-de-France and is located 281km (175 miles) south-west of Knokke.

St. Ives is a seaside town and fishing port with a population of around 12,000 inhabitants in the English county of Cornwall and is located 629km (391 miles) west of Knokke.

Cosenza is a town with a population of around 68,000 inhabitants in the Italian region of Calabria and is located 1,674km (1,040 miles) south-east of Knokke.

Hoogvliet is a town with a population of around 37,000 inhabitants in the Dutch province of Zuid-Holland and is located 95km (59 miles) north-east of Knokke.

The Venue

Alfred Verweeplein
(Alfred Verwee Square)

The games were played in Alfred Verweeplein, located in front of the Town Hall in the centre of Knokke. The square is named after Alfred Jacques Verwee (1838-1895), a Belgian painter and etcher. Born in St.-Joost-ten-Node in Brussels in 1838, he was known for his depictions of animals, landscapes and seascapes. A sculpture commemorating him stands on a plinth in front of the Town Hall.

His father was the painter Louis-Pierre Verwee (1807-1877) and his younger brother, Louis-Charles Verwee (1832-1882), would later become a painter too. He was originally trained to be a surveyor, but could not complete his engineering studies due to family financial difficulties. Painting had long been a hobby so, with his father's support, he began to pursue that as a career. One of his earliest influences was the French artist Constant Troyon (1810-1865), a member of the Barbizon school. In 1853, he took lessons from the landscape and portrait painter François Charles Deweirdt (1799-1855), who had been a friend and collaborator of his father's. He later enrolled at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts (Royal Academy of Fine Arts) in Brussels, but attended only a few classes.

His first exhibition was in 1857, but he didn't achieve true recognition until 1863, when he had a show at the Brussels Salon (Salon being an official art exhibition of the Royal Art Academy), where he was awarded a gold medal. He won another gold medal at the Paris Salon in 1864. On the advice of professional acquaintances, he settled in Paris and made contact with more painters of the Barbizon school. This didn't lead to the expected financial success, however, and he returned to Brussels a year later. Then, from 1867 to 1868, he lived in London but, again, commercial success was unobtainable and he returned home broke. Despite this, he married and then undertook a tour of the Netherlands.

Around 1880, he became fascinated with the area surrounding Knokke, and an informal artists' colony slowly took root there. At the time, he began alternating between landscape and animal painting, doing the landscapes plein-air (open-air) and posing the animals in his studio. He is generally considered to be Belgium's first great animal painter. By 1887, he saw that Knokke could become a major tourist attraction, so he joined with two local businessmen to purchase a large tract of dunes and polders to subdivide for property developers. In 1888, he built a villa, the ‘Fleur des Dunes’ (The Flower of the Dunes) and, in 1891, joined with his friend Paul Eugène Parmentier (1854-1902) to create ‘Knokke-Attractions’, a promotional firm.

His health began to deteriorate in 1892. First, he suffered from rheumatism, then later diagnosed with throat cancer. In 1895, he travelled to Southern France, Algeria and Egypt in hopes of finding a warm, dry climate that would improve his health. A few weeks before his death, his friends brought him back to Knokke and he died at his home in Schaarbeek in Brussels.

At the time of transmission, the square was used for the weekly market. However, today the market has gone and the empty square stands on top of an underground car park, and is surrounded by shops and open-air cafés.

The Games in Detail

Game 1 - The Tassel (De Floche)

The first game - ‘The Tassel’ (De Floche) - was played in unison over five rounds and was an elimination contest. It featured a blindfolded male competitor from each team, attired in a pierrot clown costume, and a conical carousel. Above the carousel, a rope was hanging down, attached to which was a large tassel. Before the start, each of the competitors was positioned onto his designated section of the carousel. The carousel was put in motion and after five seconds a whistle was sounded. The competitor then had to make his way up to the top of the podium and feel for the tassel, which was being raised and lowered throughout. A female team-mate would assist his effort by shouting instructions to him. Once located, the successful competitor had to pull on the tassel to release it from the rope and then would play no further part in the game. The game would then be reset with the remaining five competitors and repeated throughout until just one remained. The awarding of points would be determined in order of ‘elimination’.

Image © BRT / VRT, 1975

The first round of this simple and straightforward game saw Netherlands grab and remove the first tassel after just 8 seconds of play and were awarded 1st place.

The second round again lasted 8 seconds after which time West Germany were successful in removing the tassel and awarded 2nd place.

The third round lasted just 4 seconds after which time Belgium removed the tassel to secure 3rd place.

With just three competitors remaining in play, the fourth and penultimate round lasted 6 seconds after which time Italy were successful in removing the tassel and awarded 4th place.

The fifth and final round played out for 21 seconds after which time Great Britain were successful in removing the tassel and awarded 5th place.

France being unsuccessful in any of the rounds were awarded 6th place.

Fil Rouge, Round 1 - Scooter (De Autoskooter)

The next game - ‘Scooter’ (De Autoskooter) - was the Fil Rouge and played over 1 minute 30 seconds duration. It featured three male competitors from each team in dodgem cars and one opposition female team member. Attached to the rubber bumper of the opposition’s car were twenty balloons. On the whistle, the opposition car had to be driven around the enclosed area of the fairground attraction whilst the three competitors chased her in an attempt to burst the balloons with their cars. Balloons could be burst by pushing her car against the wall of the arena in addition to utilising the classic ‘bumping’ method of their cars. It should be noted that one of the male competitors was the commentator from that country and, in addition to being unfamiliar with the participation aspect of the game, he also had to commentate whilst driving the dodgem car! The team bursting all the balloons in the faster time or the greatest number of balloons burst would be declared the winners.

Image © BRT / VRT, 1975

The first round of this very straightforward Fil Rouge saw the participation of Switzerland with TSI commentator Ezio Guidi, whilst Belgium were in opposition. Despite all their efforts the team were only able to burst 18 of the balloons within permitted time.

Running Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Riva San Vitale (CH) (18)

Comments: At the end of each round of the Fil Rouge, the ‘competing’ commentator was invited up to the scoreboard to share views of his experience of taking part in the game! The Fil Rouge and two of the other games at this heat (2 and 5) all featured actual fairground attraction rides.

Game 2 - The Net (De Raket)

The second game - ‘The Net’ (De Raket) - was played on a Flying Planes fairground attraction over two heats of 1 minute 15 seconds and witnessed Belgium and Netherlands presenting their Jokers for play. The game featured two male competitors from each team sitting in two small aeroplanes, which would rise and fall as the game was played. Located above, and to the one side of the game’s perimeter, was a large wooden caricatured character with a wide gaping mouth. On the whistle, and after the game equipment had been set in motion, the competitors had to catch a designated coloured ball - red, black and white or yellow - from one of two female team-mates, as they passed by the front of the game. After catching the ball, they then had to toss it through the mouth of the caricature as the plane rose up (or lowered) in the air, for it to drop into a large holding net. This then had to be repeated throughout the game. Each team had a maximum of 40 balls to catch and throw, but any balls that were not caught or fell to the ground were deemed no longer in play. The team scoring the greater number of balls through the mouth of the character would be declared the winners.

Image © BRT / VRT, 1975

The first heat saw the participation of France (collecting red balls), Great Britain (yellow) and Netherlands (black and white) and at the end of permitted time, France had collected 4 balls, Great Britain had collected 6 balls and Netherlands had collected 7 balls.

The second heat featured Belgium (collecting red balls), Switzerland (yellow) and Italy (black and white) and at the end of the permitted time, Belgium had collected 5 balls, Switzerland had collected 4 balls and Italy had collected just 2 balls.

Fil Rouge, Round 2 - Scooter (De Autoskooter)

The second round of the Fil Rouge featured West Germany, with WDR commentator Erhard Keller participating, whilst Switzerland were in opposition. Despite every effort being made by the three competitors they were only able to burst 19 balloons in total.

Running Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Oppenheim am Rhein (D) (19) 2nd Riva San Vitale (CH) (18) ▼

Comments: British commentator Eddie Waring made a blunder when introducing the teams on this round of the Fil Rouge by stating that the opposition female was from France instead of Switzerland, despite the ident of ‘CH’ clearly being displayed on her tabard!

Game 3 - The Rocking Horse (Het Hobbelpaard)

The third game - ‘The Rocking Horse’ (Het Hobbelpaard) - was played individually over one minute duration and witnessed West Germany and Great Britain presenting their Jokers for play. The game featured three male competitors from each team and a large foam-rubber horse located on a bogey and attached at the front to a wire. Along the track there were eight foam-rubber mannequins (five on the right-hand side (from the competitors’ point of view) and three on the left-hand side), all attired in various modes of swimwear. On the whistle, two of the competitors had to push the horse down the 15m (49ft 2½in) course to a given point and then release it. The third male, sitting on the horse attired as a jockey and equipped with a lance with a boxing glove attached to one end, had to knock down the five mannequins on the right-hand side of the course as he passed by. At the end of the essay, two male team-mates, located at the far end of the course, then had to push the horse back to its starting position. The game then had to be repeated with the jockey knocking down the mannequins on the left-hand side. It should be noted that, the horse could only be pushed back once it had reached a given point at the end of the course, after which a touch-judge would give a signal for its return. The team knocking down all the mannequins in the faster time would be deemed the winners.

Image © BRT / VRT, 1975

The first heat of this very simple and straightforward game saw the participation of West Germany who completed the game in 24 seconds.

The second heat featured Italy and they also knocked down all the mannequins, but in a slower time of 28 seconds.

The third team to participate was Netherlands and they completed the game in 29 seconds.

The fourth heat featured Belgium and on their first essay, they only knocked down four of the five mannequins. However, on the second essay, they corrected that error and not only knocked down the missed mannequin on the right-hand side but then went on to remove the three on the other side. The time to complete the game was recorded as 25 seconds.

The fifth and penultimate heat saw the participation of Great Britain and they completed the course in two faultless essays in 26 seconds.

The sixth and final heat featured Switzerland and they completed the game in 25 seconds.

Fil Rouge, Round 3 - Scooter (De Autoskooter)

The third round of the Fil Rouge featured France, with A2 commentator Claude Savarit participating, whilst West Germany were in opposition. However, akin with the two previous teams, although they were unable to burst all the balloons, they still achieved a total of 18.

Running Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Oppenheim am Rhein (D) (19) =2nd Riva San Vitale (CH) (18) =2nd Neuilly-sur-Seine (F) (18)

Game 4 - The Tamed Bear (De Getemde Beer)

The fourth game - ‘The Tamed Bear’ (De Getemde Beer) - was played over three heats of two minutes duration and witnessed Switzerland and Italy presenting their Jokers for play. The game featured two competitors (one male and one female) from each team and a 15m (49ft 2½in) straight course. At the start of the game, the female was standing at one end of the course behind a maypole, whilst the male, dressed in a bear costume and attached around the waist by a support rope from above, was inside a cage at the other end. On the whistle, the female had to use a rope to climb the maypole to collect a designated key from a hook above the arena. Once collected, she then had to descend the maypole and run to the end of the course to unlock the cage and release the bear. The male, equipped with a tray and eight tin cans, then had to step out of the cage and onto the wheel of a lawn-roller. The female then had to guide the roller by pulling it with a handle whilst the male had to balance himself and walk along the course on top of it. If he got into difficulty by losing his footing and contact with the roller or dropping any of the glasses, the female could assist him in recomposing himself. After reaching the end of the course, the female had to ensure that the roller was positioned into a horizontal groove before taking the tray from the male and placing it onto a small table. It should be noted that the male competitor was not permitted to balance himself by reaching up and holding the support rope. The team completing the game in the faster time would be declared the winners.

Image © BRT / VRT, 1975

The first heat of this enjoyable game saw the participation of West Germany and Netherlands with Netherlands appearing to use the better stance of leaning back whilst walking forward. West Germany adopted a more forward-leaning stance and this appeared to hinder their forward movement. The tactic appeared to work in Netherlands' favour and they completed the game in 59 seconds whilst West Germany, despite having been warned on several occasions not to hold the support rope, completed the game in 1 minute 29 seconds.

The second and penultimate heat featured Belgium and Italy and provided some comedic moments when the competitor from Italy, who appeared at first to be somewhat hindered by his short height, kept coming adrift from the roller and found himself hanging in mid-air. However, during the latter stages of the game, it would prove to show that his stance, akin with the one adopted by West Germany in the previous heat was incorrect and caused him problems in his execution of the game. Nevertheless, both teams were able to complete the game with Belgium finishing in 1 minute 22 seconds and Italy finishing in 1 minute 50 seconds.

The third and final heat saw the participation of Switzerland and France and it was dominated by Switzerland from the outset and they completed the course in 44 seconds. Despite a couple of mishaps after leaving the cage, France recomposed themselves and completed the course in 1 minute 16 seconds.

Fil Rouge, Round 4 - Scooter (De Autoskooter)

The second round of the Fil Rouge featured West Germany, with WDR commentator Erhard Keller participating, whilst Switzerland were in opposition. Despite every effort being made by the three competitors they were only able to burst 19 balloons in total.

Running Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Oppenheim am Rhein (D) (19) =2nd Riva San Vitale (CH) (18) =2nd Neuilly-sur-Seine (F) (18) =2nd St. Ives (GB) (18)

Comments: Whilst announcing the result for Great Britain, referee Gennaro Olivieri referred to Eddie Waring as ‘Uncle Eddie’ - a term which had been more commonly used by Stuart Hall to describe his fellow commentator since 1972!

Game 5 - The Roundabout (De Paardenmolen)

The fifth game - ‘The Roundabout’ (De Paardenmolen) - was played over three heats of 45 seconds duration and featured four competitors (two males and two females) from each team sitting on horses on an actual Merry-Go-Round fairground attraction. Standing on the ground on the carousel perimeter was a male team-mate adjacent to a table stacked with rectangular boxes whilst 270° further around the carousel’s perimeter was an empty table. On the whistle, the team-mate had to hand a box to each of his competitors as they passed by him. When the competitor reached the empty table, they had to place the box on it and start making a free-standing column. Only boxes remaining in the stack at the end of the game would be counted and any knocked off by the competitors whilst placing boxes on top, would be deemed out of play. As the carousel was in motion throughout, once the stack had begun to grow, the competitors then had to decide whether to risk placing further boxes on top of it for fear of knocking it over. The team with the taller stack of boxes would be deemed the winners.

Image © BRT / VRT, 1975

The first heat of this straightforward but risky game saw the participation of Belgium and Switzerland and whilst Belgium created a stack of 7 boxes, Switzerland were very fortunate to have been deemed to still have a stack of 4 boxes, following its demolition, a micro-second after the final whistle was sounded.

The second and penultimate heat featured Great Britain and Netherlands and witnessed both teams trying too hard to create impressive stacks. In their haste, although Great Britain created a stack of six boxes, the competitors failed to place them evenly on top of each other and the stack became unstable and fell to the ground. Despite further efforts which culminated in the same result, at the end of the game they were deemed to have a stack of 3 boxes whilst Netherlands were deemed to have a stack of just 1 box.

The third and final heat saw the participation of West Germany and France and saw the latter almost make a complete hash of the game. After creating a stack of seven boxes, it appeared that they would settle for that score. However, a brave effort by one of their competitors saw him place an eighth box on top, only to see the pile wobble. However, fortunately for them, only the top box tumbled down to leave the original stack intact. In the meantime, West Germany completed and settled with a stack of 5 boxes.

Fil Rouge, Round 5 - Scooter (De Autoskooter)

The fifth round of the Fil Rouge featured Italy, with RAI commentator Giulio Marchetti participating, whilst Great Britain were in opposition. Although the team battled intensely throughout, one of the balloons still eluded them and they finished with a score of 19.

Running Fil Rouge Standings: =1st Oppenheim am Rhein (D) (19) =1st Cosenza (I) (19) =3rd Riva San Vitale (CH) (18) ▼ =3rd Neuilly-sur-Seine (F) (18) ▼ =3rd St. Ives (GB) (18) ▼

Game 6 - The Fritters (De Smoutbollen)

The sixth game - ‘The Fritters’ (De Smoutbollen) - was played over two heats and featured a male competitor from each team dressed as a chef equipped with an elongated basket on wheels. Located on a platform and 5m (16ft 5in) above the arena was a large catapult hidden from view. On the whistle, a stagehand had to place a balloon (representing the fritter), which was filled with coloured water and containing a small ball inside, into the bucket of the catapult. Other stagehands then had to pull down on the other end causing the fritter to be hurled up into the air and then back down towards the rear of the playing area. In addition to this, singular fritters had to be tossed from the platform by hand so that some would fall towards the front of the game. The competitors, standing on a greased surface below, then had to catch the fritter in one of their baskets. It should be noted that the balloon would burst on impact, spraying competitors with coloured dye, and in doing so, would release the ball inside. This was a free-for-all game and fritters could be caught by any of the three competitors. It was just a matter of luck to be standing in the right place at the right time. Fritters would be hurled up continuously throughout the game but only a total of fifty would be released. The team collecting the greater number of fritter balls would be declared the winners.

Image © BRT / VRT, 1975

The first heat of this enjoyable game had a playing time of 1 minute 15 seconds and saw the participation of Belgium, Switzerland and West Germany. However, it was somewhat of a task to adjudicate as the coloured dye obscured the view as to whether fritters had been caught in the net or not. When the game had finished, Belgium were deemed to have caught 6 balls whilst Switzerland and West Germany had each caught 5 balls.

The second heat, with a playing time of 1 minute 12 seconds, featured France, Great Britain and Italy and when the results were announced, France had caught 7 balls, Great Britain had caught 3 balls and Italy had caught 5 balls.

Fil Rouge, Round 6 - Scooter (De Autoskooter)

The sixth and penultimate round of the Fil Rouge featured Netherlands, with NCRV commentator Barend Barendse participating, whilst Italy were in opposition. Like their rivals in the previous round, and despite all their efforts, they were still only able to burst 19 balloons.

Running Fil Rouge Standings: =1st Oppenheim am Rhein (D) (19) =1st Cosenza (I) (19) =1st Hoogvliet (NL) (19) =4th Riva San Vitale (CH) (18) ▼ =4th Neuilly-sur-Seine (F) (18) ▼ =4th St. Ives (GB) (18) ▼

Game 7 - Tin Pitching (Blikken Gooien)

The seventh and penultimate game - ‘Tin Pitching’ (Blikken Gooien) - was played individually over one minute duration and witnessed France presenting their Joker for play. The game featured a male competitor from each team sitting on a four-legged stool located at the forward end of a 10m (32ft 9¾in) long conveyor belt. In front of the game was a typical fairground stall with 10 large tins stacked to form a pyramid (4, 3, 2 and 1). On the whistle, the conveyor belt would be set in motion in a reverse direction. As the competitor moved backwards, he had to pick up any of the fifteen balls located along the side of the conveyor belt, and throw it towards the stack of tins. When he reached the end of the conveyor belt he would drop into a large pool. The conveyor belt would then be stopped and he then had to get out of the pool and return to the start. Contemporaneously, another stool would be put in position by a touch-judge and, once he was seated again, the game then had to be repeated. Competitors had to remain seated on the stool at all times but could pick up a maximum of two balls at a time and also throw as many as possible during each essay on the conveyor belt. When exiting the pool they had to utilise the steps and not climb over the side. Used balls would continuously be replaced along the edge of the belt by stagehands. The team knocking down all the tins in the faster would be declared the winners.

Image © BRT / VRT, 1975

The first heat of this very simple and straightforward game saw the participation of Great Britain and they completed the game in 29 seconds during their second essay along the conveyor belt and utilised a total of seven balls.

The second heat featured Italy and they were unable to complete the game within the permitted time, but during their two essays along the conveyor belt, they knocked down 8 tins utilising sixteen balls whilst doing so.

The third team to participate was Netherlands and they were also unable to complete the game within the permitted time. However, during their three essays along the conveyor belt, they were able to knock down 7 tins utilising eighteen balls.

The fourth heat featured Switzerland and, as had been the case in the previous two rounds, they were also unable to complete the game. During their three essays along the conveyor belt however, they still knocked down 8 tins whilst utilising nineteen balls.

The fifth and penultimate heat saw the participation of West Germany and they were unable to complete the game but, during their three essays on the conveyor belt, they were able to knock down 8 tins whilst utilising twenty balls.

The sixth and final heat featured France and they were unable to complete the game within the permitted time, but during their three essays along the conveyor belt, they knocked down 9 tins utilising twenty-three balls whilst doing so.

Fil Rouge, Round 7 - Scooter (De Autoskooter)

The seventh and final round of the Fil Rouge featured Belgium, with BRT commentator Marc van Poucke participating, whilst Netherlands were in opposition. Unlike their six rivals, the team worked well together and were able to burst all twenty balloons in an incredible time of 43 seconds.

Final Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Knokke-Heist (B) (43 seconds) =2nd Oppenheim (D) (19) ▼ =2nd Cosenza (I) (19) ▼ =2nd Hoogvliet (NL) (19) ▼ =5th Riva San Vitale (CH) (18) ▼ =5th Neuilly-sur-Seine (F) (18) ▼ =5th St. Ives (GB) (18) ▼

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Knokke-Heist (B) (7pts awarded / 38pts total) 2nd Oppenheim (D) (6pts / 37pts) ▼ 3rd Riva San Vitale (CH) (3pts / 34pts) ▼ 4th Neuilly-sur-Seine (F) (3pts / 33pts) 5th Hoogvliet (NL) (6pts / 32pts) 6th St. Ives (GB) (3pts / 25pts) 7th Cosenza (I) (6pts / 22pts)

Game 8 - The Strong Man (De Sterke Man)

The eighth and final game - ‘The Strong Man’ (De Sterke Man) - was played in unison over two minutes duration and featured two competitors (one male and one blindfolded female) from each team and a very sticky glued ramp. On the whistle, the female had to hold the waist of her male team-mate and then they had to work together and climb the ramp, bursting five balloons en route. Once at the top of the ramp, the male competitor had to hit a lever which would raise a caricatured face to the top of a pole. This would then set off a firecracker to denote completion of the game. The team completing the game in the faster time would be declared the winners.

Image © BRT / VRT, 1975

This was a very straightforward but hilarious game which appeared to involve some underhandedness from some of the teams utilising the glue-free areas of the ramp. However, these tactics were overlooked by the referees and resulted in Netherlands completing the game in 42 seconds followed by West Germany in 2nd place in 46 seconds. The third team to finish was France in 58 seconds followed by Great Britain in 4th place in 1 minute 19 seconds whilst Switzerland completed the game in 1 minute 24 seconds to finish in 5th place. The hilarity came from Belgium and Italy who could both be observed with their trousers stuck to the ramp and unable to move. However, Belgium were able to free themselves and they completed the game in 6th place in 1 minute 32 seconds. From the surviving footage, it cannot be determined whether Italy completed the game or were deemed out of time. Nevertheless, they would have finished in 7th place under either scenario.

Team Personnel

The Belgian team of Knokke-Heist comprised of members from the villages and hamlets of Albertstrand, Duinbergen, Heist-aan-Zee, Het Zoute and Knokke, all of which are constituent municipalities of the resort of Knokke Heist.

Presenters, Officials and Production Teams

Following last year’s beige suit attire, the main referees’ outfits were changed once again this year to beige jackets, light-blue trousers and white floral shirts.

Throughout the history of Jeux Sans Frontières, the final placings of each event were announced at the end of the programme by the local presenter. This heat is unique in that respect, because rather than handing back to presenter Mike Verdrengh, referee Gennaro Olivieri announced the scores of the last game and then announced the placings himself: “The final results are - Oppenheim with 43pts from Germany is the winner, Knokke-Heist from Belgium is second with 40pts and third place is Hoogvliet from Holland with 39pts”. This had never happened prior to this heat and has never been repeated since!

Additional Information

Throughout the programme, music from an authentic barrel-organ was played whilst the games were played out, which clearly added to the fairground theme and atmosphere.

This was the first time that an International Heat was staged before all the British Domestic Heats had been recorded. A similar happening occurred in 1979, when the first two Internationals were held before completion of the British Domestic series!

As from this heat onwards, BBC1 Wales began broadcasting the majority of future International programmes on the following Sunday (or later), as opposed to the rest of Great Britain.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

NL

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 2

Event Staged: Tuesday 3rd June 1975
Venue: Vrijthof van de Sint-Servaaskerk (St. Servatius Church Courtyard),
Maastricht, Netherlands

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 3rd June 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 3rd June 1975, 9.05-10.10pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 3rd June 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 3rd June 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 1 (NL): Tuesday 3rd June 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Wednesday 4th June 1975, 8.15-9.35pm
TSI (CH): Wednesday 4th June 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RAI Due (I): Wednesday 4th June 1975
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 8th July 1975, 9.00-10.30pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 3rd September 1975, 6.55-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 7th September 1975, 1.55-3.10pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Fons Baeton, Mayor of Maastricht

Theme: The Secret Service

Teams: Rochefort (B) v. Zermatt (CH) v. Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) v.
Narbonne (F) v. Swansea (GB) v. Bracciano (I) v. Maastricht (NL)

Team Members included:
Rochefort (B) - Madeleine DeSoux;
Zermatt (CH) - Madeleine Calbert-Martin, Stefan Groenisch;
Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) - Hannelore Grimm (Co-Team Coach), Rolf Schube (Co-Team Coach), Klaus Britsch, Inge Gleich, Günter Heinle, Karl-Heinz Jablinski, Wolfgang Jogwer, Frieder Kling, Markus Kling, Bärbel Mack, Gerhard Müller, Jürgen Ruof, Wolfgang Sinn, Ellen Tiedtke, Edeltraud Wachtler, Christian Walter;

Narbonne (F) - Serge Denovak, Danielle Moganere, René Ray, Danielle Roguemarrer;
Swansea (GB) - Alan Major (Team Trainer), Robert Sullivan (Team Captain), J Alksanas, Jeff Buller, D Davies, Christine Griffiths, J Griffiths, S Hayler, Susan Isaac, J Jones, Lee Jones, R Luke, A Mages, Chris Moore, Paul Preedy, P Ronan, Robert Shaddick, Steve Seaman, William Sterio, G Sullivan, Peter Thomas, Wendy Watson, Rose Williams, Mandy Wood, S Yeandle;
Bracciano (I) - Giovanni Bellini, Bruna Fronilli, Roberto Irabetti;
Maastricht (NL) - Ad Daalmans (Team Coach), Gerard van der Hayden (Team Captain), Jennifer Andersson, Nico Giunessen, Correy Hermans.

Games: The Prison Break, The Plutonium Rod, The Private Island, Sherlock Holmes’ Dog, Batman’s Outfit, The Brain-Washing Machine, James Bond and the Crocodiles and The Aston Martin Race;
Fil Rouge: The Scientist's Robot;
Jokers: Country Maps overlaid with Flashing Sniper Targets.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
=6th
=6th

 D • Bietigheim-Bissingen ● ●
 GB • Swansea ●
 CH • Zermatt
 I • Bracciano
 B • Rochefort
 F • Narbonne
 NL • Maastricht

46
40
37
33
29
26
26

The Venue

Maastricht, Netherlands

This heat was held in the historic vrijthof (courtyard) of St. Servatius Church in Maastricht. The current courtyard square was built on the area belonging to the St. Servatius Chapter, and served as a cemetery dating back as far as the 5th century. During the Middle Ages, the cemetery was covered over and was surrounded by houses which were occupied by canons in attendance at the church. In 1972, the square began to subside and after excavation a new car park was built underneath it. Nowadays, it is dominated by the twin towers of St. Servatius Church and St. John, and is used for festivals, fairs and outdoor concerts.

The Games in Detail

Game 1 - The Prison Break

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Bracciano (I) (6pts awarded / 6pts total) 2nd Zermatt (CH) (5pts / 5pts) 3rd Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) (4pts / 4pts) 4th Swansea (GB) (3pts / 3pts) 5th Narbonne (F) (2pts / 2pts) 6th Maastricht (NL) (1pt / 1pt) 7th Rochefort (B) (--- / 0pts)

Game 2 - The Plutonium Rod

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Bracciano (I) (4pts awarded / 10pts total) =2nd Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) (5pts / 9pts) ▲ =2nd Swansea (GB) (6pts / 9pts) ▲ 4th Zermatt (CH) (--- / 5pts) ▼ =5th Rochefort (B) (3pts / 3pts) ▲ =5th Narbonne (F) (1pt / 3pts) =5th Maastricht (NL) (2pts / 3pts) ▲

Game 3 - The Private Island

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Swansea (GB) (6pts awarded / 15pts total) ▲ =1st Bracciano (I) (5pts / 15pts) 3rd Maastricht (NL) (8pts / Joker / 11pts) ▲ 4th Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) (--- / 9pts) ▼ 5th Zermatt (CH) (2pts / 7pts) ▼ 6th Rochefort (B) (3pts / 6pts) ▼ 7th Narbonne (F) (1pt / 4pts) ▼

Game 4 - Sherlock Holmes' Dog

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Bracciano (I) (12pts awarded / Joker / 27pts total) 2nd Swansea (GB) (8pts / Joker / 23pts) ▼ 3rd Zermatt (CH) (10pts / Joker / 17pts) ▲ 4th Maastricht (NL) (2pts / 13pts) ▼ 5th Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) (3pts / 12pts) ▼ 6th Rochefort (B) (1pt / 7pts) 7th Narbonne (F) (--- / 4pts)

Game 5 - Batman's Outfit

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Bracciano (I) (2pts awarded / 29pts total) 2nd Swansea (GB) (--- / 23pts) 3rd Maastricht (NL) (6pts / 19pts) ▲ 4th Zermatt (CH) (1pt / 18pts) ▼ 5th Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) (4pts / 16pts) 6th Rochefort (B) (5pts / 12pts) 7th Narbonne (F) (3pts / 7pts)

Game 6 - The Brain-Washing Machine

The sixth game - ‘The Brain-Washing Machine’ - required a female member of each team to have her ears checked before competing to ensure that they were clear of any plugs or blockages so that there was no possibility of her cheating. She was then seated in a large chair and a pair of large ear-shaped headphones was placed over her head, and then had to recite (in one of three languages - French, German or Dutch) the famous French nursery song Frère Jacques:

“Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don.”

After she had completed this, Guido blew the whistle and Gennaro pulled a handle next to the chair. She then had to recite the song twice more, whilst at the same time having her original recital replayed back through her ears at different speeds and at a greater volume. Some of the girls concentrated hard and were able to complete their recitals in fewer than 15 seconds. The Dutch competitor completed the game in just 9 seconds, but loud jeers of disapproval rang out around the square when Gennaro stated that she had missed out three words from her recital and were penalised with a 15 second penalty (5 seconds for each word). Anyone watching the heat would be asking the question “How could you tell that they missed the words?”

Game 7 - James Bond and the Crocodiles

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) (12pts awarded / Joker / 32pts total) ▲ =1st Swansea (GB) (4pts / 32pts) ▲ 3rd Bracciano (I) (1pt / 30pts) ▼ =4th Rochefort (B) (8pts / Joker / 26pts) =4th Zermatt (CH) (6pts / 26pts) ▲ 6th Maastricht (NL) (--- / 20pts) ▼ 7th Narbonne (F) (4pts / 15pts)

Fil Rouge - The Scientist's Robot

Final Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) 2nd Narbonne (F) 3rd Zermatt (CH) 4th Swansea (GB) 5th Maastricht (NL) 6th Bracciano (I) 7th Rochefort (B)

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) (7pts awarded / 39pts total) 2nd Swansea (GB) (4pts / 36pts) ▼ 3rd Bracciano (I) (2pts / 32pts) 4th Zermatt (CH) (5pts / 31pts) 5th Rochefort (B) (1pt / 27pts) ▼ 6th Maastricht (NL) (3pts / 23pts) 7th Narbonne (F) (6pts / 21pts)

Game 8 - The Aston Martin Race

Final Scores and Positions: 1st Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) (7pts awarded / 46pts total) 2nd Swansea (GB) (4pts / 40pts) 3rd Zermatt (CH) (6pts / 37pts) ▲ 4th Bracciano (I) (1pt / 33pts) ▼ 5th Rochefort (B) (2pts / 29pts) =6th Narbonne (F) (5pts / 26pts) ▲ =6th Maastricht (NL) (3pts / 26pts)

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

At the start of the programme, a space rocket was shown hanging in the sky which then began to descend to earth, complete with landing flares ablaze. Inside were referees Gennaro Olivieri and Guido Pancaldi. However, as the rocket reached the arena floor and the referees were about to alight, presenter Dick Passchier beckoned the two referees to remain in the rocket because the introduction of the teams had not yet begun. After the teams had been introduced, the camera once again panned to the rocket, which had now returned to its original position in the sky. The rocket once again began to descend, but this time without the landing flares, and the illusion was completed shattered when arena lighting lit up the area and showed the hydraulic hoist which was being used to lower the rocket!

Returning Teams and Competitors

Italian competitor Giovanni Bellini made the last of his nine appearances in Jeux Sans Frontières at this heat. He had previously participated for both of the Montecatini Terme teams in 1966 and 1967, Terracina in 1968, Frascati in 1969 and Ancona in 1970. He made his final appearance as a member of the Bracciano team in 1975. During his nine appearances, he assisted in chalking up three victories (1966, 1967 and 1968) which also saw him competing in the Semi-Finals (1966) and two International Finals (1967 and 1968), a 2nd place (1969), an unfortunate 7th place (1970) and a 4th place at this heat.

Additional Information

This International Heat cost an estimated 250,000 Dutch guilders to stage. Included in the cost was the construction of grandstands which had a 3,500 spectator capacity and reinforcement works to the underground parking lot beneath the Maastricht Vrijthof square. This endeavour was considered necessary in order to avoid possible collapse due to the weight of the games and the water pools sited in the square above.

The games were all based on fictional characters from spy novels and movies. The Fil Rouge set included a large computer with dozens of dials and switches (which were common in films featuring mad scientists), and the scoreboard was built into this as the screen of the computer. The Jokers were cleverly thought out and were some of the best seen over the programme’s history. Maps of each individual country embossed with the national flags were overlaid with a sniper’s target of four rings with a horizontal and vertical line through the centre, together with a flashing central light.

The scoreboard operators got a little ahead of themselves after Game 2. West Germany and Great Britain took the first two positions on the game and were awarded 6pts and 5pts, respectively, bringing both teams’ scores to 9pts. The names of both teams began to flash to indicate that both teams were in first place. However, the point’s score of the Italian team had not yet been awarded and with them already having 6pts from the first game, Gennaro awarded them 4pts for finishing in third place bringing their total to 10pts. The British team’s name immediately stopped flashing whilst the West German’s continued. The Italian team’s name then began flashing and the West German’s finally stopped!

During the West German team’s participation in the third Fil Rouge, two Italian protesters invaded the game but were quickly removed by the Dutch stagehands. Fortunately, the competitor was blind-folded and was unaware or unable to see what had happened and was therefore judged not to have been impeded by their actions. This was clearly obvious because the West German team went on to win the Fil Rouge by a clear margin.

Although the West German team of Bietigheim-Bissingen won this heat by six clear points, their performance was in complete contrast to the British and Italian teams. Whilst Swansea and Bracciano had accumulated the majority of their points in the first four games and then faltered at the end, Bietigheim-Bissingen accumulated 26 pts of their 46 pts from the last two games (Game 7 was with the Joker) and the Fil Rouge!

Portuguese broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal - RTP - appear to have commenced screening Jeux Sans Frontières on their RTP 2 channel from this heat. There is a possibility that the channel screened the first 1975 International Heat, but this is not recorded in television listings records. The screenings would eventually lead to Portuguese participation in the programme from 1979.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives
Exists in European archives

I

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 3

Event Staged: Tuesday 17th June 1975
Venue: Piazzale Roma Spiaggia (Rome Square Beach),
Lungomare Repubblica (Republic Waterfront), Riccione, Italy

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.10pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 1 (NL): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 17th June 1975, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 18th June 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 22nd July 1975, 9.00-10.30pm

BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 10th September 1975, 6.55-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 14th September 1975, 1.55-3.10pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Rosanna Vaudetti

Theme: Seaside Party

Teams: Mol (B) v. Le Mouret (CH) v. Attendorn im Sauerland (D) v.
Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) v. Onchan (GB) v.
Riccione (I) v. Zwijndrecht (NL)

Team Members included:
Mol (B) - Paul Mavisse, Peter Toger, Renée van Grieken;
Le Mouret (CH) - Anne Deglise, Angel Endeckis;
Attendorn im Sauerland (D) - Jürgen Kempkens (Team Manager, Co-Team Coach and Team Captain), Klaus Harmes (Co-Team Coach), Nanna Mohnes (Co-Team Coach), Jutta Bettig, Michael Droste, Helga Emmiss, Lucia Habbel, Heike Henning, Ludwig Heuel, Josef Hössel, Gertha Huntermann, Birgitt Lux, Bernd Niederhagen, Dagobert Schneider, Eberhard Springob, Friedel Springob, Dieter Vollmerhaus;
Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) - Maurice Bressaint, Marie-Claire Segoine;
Onchan (GB) - Eddie Smith (Team Captain), William Christian, Linda Corkhill, Linda Court, Helen Foster, Clifford Hamilton, John Horshouse, Brian Kane, Philip Kermode, Karen Lees, Brian Mellor, Anne Moffatt, Helen Procter, Peter Quayle, Janice Stubbs, Brian Wasley;
Riccione (I) - Leopoldo Carlini (Co-Team Coach), Tiziano Mulazzoni (Co-Team Coach), Franco Geminiani (Team Captain), Giuliana Amici, Maria Luisa Balzelli, Giovanni Bezzi, Cecilia Bindelli, Luciano Caimi, Stefano Carlini, Katya Cerri, Stefania Conti, Walter Corbelli, Daniela de Nittis, Dario Dradi, Margherita Gasparini, Roberto Giannini, Federico Guardagli, Fernanda Lanci, Dario Lorenzini, Renzo Magnani, Ugo Montevecchi, Davide Monti, Gabriella Moretto, Giorgi Mulazzoni, Riccardo Mulazzoni, Monica Mussoni, Pierluigi Pellizzola, Riccardo Proti, Leda Ricci, Santo Rossi, Vittorio Servadio, Maurizio Sorci, Roberto Tontini, Maria Ugolini and Patrizia Vandi;
Zwijndrecht (NL) - Tom Bishop, Jan Cricifix, Carla Hawkins, Geert Zijlmans.

Games (Official Titles): Il Ballo delle Seggiole (The Dance of the Chairs), Gara di Canto con Votazione (Voting at a Singers Contest), Le Campane (The Bells), Self Service (Self-Service), Limbo per i Camerieri (The Waiters' Limbo), Il Topo Non Invitato (The Unwelcome Mouse), Le Reginette in Difficolta (Beauty Queens in Trouble) and Finale (Final);
Fil Rouge: Non Sparate sull' Orchestra (Don't Shoot at the Orchestra);
Jokers: Seafaring Pleasure Craft.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th

 I • Riccione ● ●
 CH • Le Mouret
 F • Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre
 NL • Zwijndrecht
 B • Mol
 D • Attendorn im Sauerland
 GB • Onchan

42
41
36
35
32
31
25

The Host Town

Riccione, Italy

Riccione is a town and holiday resort with a permanent population of around 36,000 inhabitants. It is located 115km (71½ miles) east of Firenze, 163km (101¼ miles) south of Venezia, 234km (145½ miles) north of Roma and 319km (198¼ miles) south-east of Milano. Riccione is on the Adriatic coast in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, famous for exporting food all over the world e.g. Parmesan cheese, Parma ham and Ragu Bolognese.

The area around Riccione dates back to the 2nd century BC, although it was most likely that settlements had appeared earlier. At the time of the Roman Republic, it was known as Vicus Popilius and after a period of obscurity, it was acquired by the Agolanti family in 1260, which was connected to the lords of Rimini, the Malatesta. During the 17th century, watchtowers were built along the coast in order to prevent attack from pirates.

Origins of the tourist fame of Riccione date to the late 19th century, mostly spurred by the construction of residences by rich Bolognese people. In the 1930s, the resort attracted around 30,000 tourists a year and had around 80 existing hotels. It gained the status of a main destination of summer tourism on the Adriatic Riviera of Romagna. After World War II (1939-1945), tourism was further increased after it became a chosen vacation resort of numerous famous people, such as Brazilian footballer Pelè (Edson Arantes do Nascimento) and a variety of Italian celebrities including singer Mina Mazzini, film director Vittorio de Sica (1901-1974), film actor and director Ugo Tognazzi (1922-1990) and Maria Scicolone (younger sister of actor Sophia Loren).

Today, tourism in Riccione is massive and, together with Rimini, it is one of the best known and largest seaside resorts in Northern Italy. The Adriatic coast of Emilia-Romagna is called Riviera Romagnola and has plenty of night clubs and is therefore very attractive to young adults. However, Riccione is also family-friendly, thanks to its hotels that offer baby-sitting facilities all day in the hotel and on the beach and the nearby theme parks. The main streets of Riccione, Viale Dante and Viale Ceccarini, although having numerous hotels, nightclubs and bars, are also the best places for shopping and eating during the day. The seafront is a long boulevard comprised of a wide cycle lane with a pedestrian only walkway on either side and is decked out with numerous flower beds, green areas, plants and wooden benches for resting. Along parts of the promenade, there is no longer any road between the hotels and the beach and cars are subjected to going underground to car parks which are open 24 hours a day.

Along with the miles of golden sands and the nightlife, the main sights on offer include the ancient Roman Ponte di Tiberio (Tiberio Bridge) dating to AD 20 and Villa Mussolini (originally called Villa Margherita when it was constructed in 1890), the holiday home of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) which he purchased in 1934. Used as a summer retreat by his family, the Villa Mussolini is now used by the town of Riccione for exhibitions and other events.

The Venue

Piazzale Roma Spiaggia

The games were played on the beautiful golden sands and seafront of Riccione’s Piazzala Roma beach which form part of a 66km (41 miles) long, unbroken stretch of beach running from Lido di Savio in the north to Cattolica in the south, taking in the resorts of Cesenatico, Bellaria, Rimini, Misano Adriatico and Riccione. At the height of the summer vacation season, the beaches are teeming with sunseekers and tourists. As is such, for safety and security measures, the colossal stretch of sands are split in 151 bathing-stations or sections and individually numbered with Riccione’s Roma Beach starting at 66 and running through to 85. There are a total of 41 lifeguard towers, all highly visible, with an intercom system connected to all the bathing-stations and there are special pet-friendly beaches at numbers 32, 122 and 138. The whole coastline from the waterline up to the hotels is mapped out with military precision. Closest to the water’s edge are nine rows of deck-chairs, sun-loungers and umbrellas. Moving backwards and towards the town are the chalets / lockers, relaxation areas and small children’s pools. These are followed by a row which includes lifeguard lookouts (known as casa bagninos), bicycles parking areas and public showers. After this come the beach sports areas entertaining beach volleyball and football etc. After these comes the lungomare (or promenade) and finally the hotels.

Every two years, the most recent being in 2014, the town plays host to the Festival del Sole, the largest international ‘gymnastics for all’ exhibition in the Mediterranean area. For a whole week, the seafront is turned into a huge stage where more than 4,000 athletes from around the world perform at their best. Floor exercises and aerobics, acrogym and acrobatics, rhythmic and artistic gymnastic, classical and modern dance, hip-hop and funky are a few of the forms of gymnastics and dances taking place at the festival. There are no limits regarding age or ability and anyone with the desire to perform in front of a large audience in one of the four arenas on the seafront can join the festival. There are no judges or points awarded and the only winner is the pleasure of being together and practicing sport.

This same beach-side venue had been used previously for the Italian International heat in 1971. In addition to these two visits to Riccione, the only other on-beach locations in the programme’s history were Senigallia in 1973 (again on Italy's Adriatic coast), and Grömitz in West Germany in 1978.

The Games in Detail

Game 1 - Il Ballo delle Seggiole (The Dance of the Chairs)

1 boy per team. Contestants are tied hands and feet to a stuffed doll featuring a tall fat partner. The game is an elimination contest. After a while of dancing, upon a signal from a judge, contestants will climb up onto a tall stool, taking care never to turn the partner's back to the TV cameras.

Image © RAI, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Mol (B) (6pts awarded / 6pts total) 2nd Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) (5pts / 5pts) 3rd Le Mouret (CH) (4pts / 4pts) 4th Riccione (I) (3pts / 3pts) 5th Onchan (GB) (2pts / 2pts) 6th Attendorn im Sauerland (D) (1pt / 1pt) 7th Zwijndrecht (NL) (--- / 0pts)

Game 2 - Gara di Canto con Votazione (Voting at a Singers Contest)

3 girls and 4 boys. The purpose of the game is to secure the singer of the contestant's own team with the largest possible number of valid votes. The valid votes consist of sheets bearing stamped-on numbers from 'ONE' to 'SIX'. No trials of the game will be performed with all the items available to the players (paper, stamps, ink-pad). The game is played in six successive heats using a moving belt, the travelling speed of which will be related to the intensity of the "sham singer's" voice.

Image © RAI, 1975

This game was very funny although it was not designed as such. It involved seven members of each team standing at 90° to the movement of travel on a conveyor belt which moved at a set speed. On the whistle, the conveyor belt began to move and six of the team members had to stamp invitation cards whilst stepping in the opposite direction to that of the belt. In order to slow the conveyor belt, the seventh team member, a female, had to sing anything she wanted at a very loud volume which was indicated on a lighted column next to her. If her voice quietened, the lights decreased and the belt’s speed increased. This game was clearly meant for the Italians with their love of singing and opera, and the team finished the game with 6 pts after stamping eighteen invitation cards correctly. The West German team of Attendorn and the British team from Onchan had both decided to play their Jokers on this game, and both ended up becoming a cropper. Whilst the Attendorn team stamped eleven invitations and scored just 6 pts on their Joker, the Onchan team finished bottom of the pile, stamping just four correctly and scoring just 2 pts!

Game 3 - Le Campane (The Bells)

1 boy. A player will have to play the song O Sole Mio on the top of a flexible pole. He will be assisted by numbers which correspond to the bells, so that even if he does not know music, he can still play the game. The winner will be the one who plays the piece in the shortest time.

Image © RAI, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) (12pts awarded / Joker / 22pts total) 2nd Riccione (I) (6pts / Joker / 15pts) 3rd Attendorn im Sauerland (D) (6pts / 13pts) 4th Onchan (GB) (6pts / 10pts) ▲ 5th Mol (B) (2pts / Joker / 8pts) =6th Le Mouret (CH) (--- / 7pts) ▼ =6th Zwijndrecht (NL) (3pts / 7pts)

Game 4 - Self Service (Self-Service)

1 girl, 2 boys per team. By operating a special table through foot controls every team is to collect 18 cakes that will drop from above onto a fixed point of the platform. Since it is impossible to store the 18 pieces on the table, every team will have an appropriate storing space and a container of its own, at the border of the game floor. When the pieces collected in the container reach the number of 18, the team will run from the game floor down to the finish which will be located at the bottom of a fairly impressive descent.

Image © RAI, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) (4pts awarded / 26pts total) 2nd Riccione (I) (5pts / 20pts) =3rd Le Mouret (CH) (6pts / 13pts) ▲ =3rd Attendorn im Sauerland (D) (--- / 13pts) =3rd Onchan (GB) (3pts / 13pts) ▲ 6th Mol (B) (3pts / 11pts) ▼ 7th Zwijndrecht (NL) (1pt / 8pts) ▼

Game 5 - Limbo per i Camerieri (The Waiters' Limbo)

1 boy per team. Every contestant is to pass below a bar which will be set ever lower at every turn. If the contestant causes the bar to drop or if he falls into the swimming pool he is eliminated from the game.

Image © RAI, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) (--- awarded / 26pts total) 2nd Le Mouret (CH) (10pts / Joker / 23pts) ▲ 3rd Riccione (I) (2pts / 22pts) ▼ 4th Zwijndrecht (NL) (12pts / Joker / 20pts) ▲ 5th Onchan (GB) (5pts / 18pts) ▼ 6th Attendorn im Sauerland (D) (3pts / 16pts) ▼ 7th Mol (B) (1pt / 12pts) ▼

Game 6 - Il Topo Non Invitato (The Unwelcome Mouse)

1 girl, 2 boys per team. The platform is divided into 6 sectors. Every team will endeavour to drive out of its own sector a mouse which will be actioned by a firework. The firework will last any length of time between 10 and 20 seconds, with some lasting longer than others. The mouse actioned by the firework will suddenly stop in a burst. The sector in which the burst occurs is to get one point of penalty.

Image © RAI, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Le Mouret (CH) (6pts awarded / 29pts total) ▲ 2nd Riccione (I) (6pts / 28pts) ▲ 3rd Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) (1pt / 27pts) ▼ 4th Zwijndrecht (NL) (6pts / 26pts) =5th Mol (B) (6pts / 18pts) ▲ =5th Attendorn im Sauerland (D) (2pts / 18pts) ▲ =5th Onchan (GB) (--- / 18pts)

Game 7 - Le Reginette in Difficolta (Beauty Queens in Trouble)

1 girl, 2 boys per team. Beauty queens must stay erect on a roller which at first is motionless and later starts rotating, faster and faster. Two partners will try and help her using a giant streamer which they launch and wind tight around the girl. The score is based on the length of time the contestants resist on the roller.

Image © RAI, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Le Mouret (CH) (5pts awarded / 34pts total) =2nd Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) (3pts / 30pts) ▲ =2nd Zwijndrecht (NL) (4pts / 30pts) ▲ 4th Riccione (I) (--- / 28pts) ▼ 5th Mol (B) (6pts / 24pts) 6th Onchan (GB) (3pts / 21pts) ▼ 7th Attendorn im Sauerland (D) (1pt / 19pts) ▼

Fil Rouge - Non Sparate sull' Orchestra (Don't Shoot at the Orchestra)

2 girls and 4 boys. The purpose of the game is to resist the longest possible time on a special platform which pivots slowly to a precarious angle. A team of opponents will seek to disturb the orchestra by throwing large water-filled balloons. A timekeeper will check individually each contestant. Timekeepers will take the exact time at which every single contestant hits the water in the pool at the base of the platform. The total time of the team will be the sum total of the partial times taken.

Image © RAI, 1975

The Fil Rouge involved six members of each team with life-size musical instruments on a platform which protruded over a pool and which had three large cone-shaped upright bollards atop it. On the whistle, the rear of the platform gradually ascended resulting in the front descending, but the teams had to remain in their original positions whilst opposing team members fired large water-filled balloons on to the platform from a giant catapult to displace them. After 30 seconds, a second whistle was sounded, and this signalled that any remaining players could then move and best position themselves to cling to the platform as it continued to be lowered to its maximum 90° angle. Obviously, it was better for the players to get to the protruding bollards because they were now at an advantageous angle to sit behind or cling on to, but they had to be careful as the bollards had revolving outside covers. Dutch team Zwijndrecht went first and two of their members managed to stay on the platform for 90 seconds (maximum time limit), by cleverly sitting behind one of the bollards at a complete 90° angle to it and then holding firm. All the times of the six members were individually taken as they fell off and then added together to ascertain a total time, with the maximum score being a total of 540 seconds (6 x 90).

Thirty-two seconds into the Swiss participation on the Fil Rouge, Gennaro Olivieri blew the whistle to stop the game and the platform stopped descending. He then told the Swiss competitor holding the cello that he should have been standing further forward onto the mark at the front of the platform. At that point, one of the Swiss competitors slid off the platform and into the pool below. The platform was then lifted back into its original position and there was a slight pause whilst the Swiss competitor climbed back up to the platform and re-positioned himself.

Final Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Riccione (I) 2nd Attendorn im Sauerland (D) 3rd Le Mouret (CH) 4th Zwijndrecht (NL) 5th Mol (B) 6th Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) 7th Onchan (GB)

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Le Mouret (CH) (5pts awarded / 39pts total) 2nd Riccione (I) (7pts / 35pts) ▲ 3rd Zwijndrecht (NL) (4pts / 34pts) ▼ 4th Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) (2pts / 32pts) ▼ 5th Mol (B) (3pts / 27pts) 6th Attendorn im Sauerland (D) (6pts / 25pts) ▲ 7th Onchan (GB) (1pt / 22pts) ▼

Game 8 - Finale (Final)

1 girl and 1 boy per team. The couple is tied back to back with a safety belt. The area is entirely covered by balloons of different colours. The couple must chose the red ones, and throw five of them in the Champagne cup, only using their feet.

Image © RAI, 1975

Final Scores and Positions: 1st Riccione (I) (7pts awarded / 42pts total) ▲ 2nd Le Mouret (CH) (2pts / 41pts) ▼ 3rd Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (F) (4pts / 36pts) ▲ 4th Zwijndrecht (NL) (1pt / 35pts) ▼ 5th Mol (B) (5pts / 32pts) 6th Attendorn im Sauerland (D) (6pts / 31pts) 7th Onchan (GB) (3pts / 25pts)

Team Personnel

One of the Riccione team members was former Italian basketball player Santo Rossi, who was born in nearby Fruili on 7th March 1940. He had arrived at Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro (known locally as Vuelle or VL) in 1969, after having played at Virtus Bologna and later in Forlì. On his arrival at Pesaro, he was trained for the next four seasons by coach Boris Sinkovic.

Rossi continued to play at Pesaro until his retirement from the game after the 1973-74 season and along the way was chosen to wear the national team shirt on seventeen occasions. He had also won a gold medal at the Mediterranean games staged at Naples in 1963.

Rossi, standing at 2.12m (6ft 11½in) tall, had a real passion for basketball, which he also passed on to his children - Giulio grew up in the youth of Victoria Libertas and then Francesca who had a brilliant career in the top women's championship.

On 31st March 2020, it was announced in local newspaper Il Resto del Carlino (Pesaro) that Rossi had succumbed to Coronavirus and had died, 24 days after celebrating his 80th birthday.

Returning Teams and Competitors

Italian team members Franco Geminiani, Gabriella Moretto, Santo Rossi, Maurizio Sorci and co-team coach Tiziano Mulazzoni had all participated previously for Riccione in 1971, whilst Maria Luisa Balzelli and Vittorio Servadio had been members of the Città di Castello team in 1972. Co-team coach Leopoldo Carlini had also participated as a team member for Riccione in 1971, and also returned to the team coach role for the Rimini e Adriatico team in 1988. Margherita Gasparini, Franco Geminiani and Ugo Montevecchi all returned as team members for Rimini e Adriatico in 1988.

Additional Information

The West German transmission for this programme was hit with a total loss of communication from the two presenters for the first 25 minutes of the broadcast. Although the programme was broadcast with a subdued live Italian commentary, it was not until after 10 minutes that the ARD-WDR continuity announcer apologised for the loss of sound, due to the audio link from Riccione being lost. After a further 5 minutes, a second apology was broadcast followed by a visual on-screen message three minutes later. The message simply stated ‘Die Deutsche Kommentarleitung ist Leider Unterbrochen’. This was then followed about two minutes later with another verbal apology and with the message ‘Die Deutsche Kommentarleitung von Italien ist Leider Unterbrochen. Wir Bitten um Geduld’. (The German commentary from Italy is unfortunately interrupted. Please be patient). The programme then continued with the actual live Italian commentary until the West German commentators Erhard Keller and Karl-Heinz Wocker finally introduced themselves to the viewing audience during the closing heats of the second game.

It was a totally different story for British team Onchan on the Fil Rouge compared to every other team. The team had been highly fancied to win this heat, but it had been a night of one disaster after another and even on the Fil Rouge, things did not improve. Even before the second whistle had sounded, the team had lost four of their members to the pool below and with the worst total combined time of 258 seconds for all six players, the team ended up in seventh position on the Fil Rouge as well as on the night as a whole. However on a lighter note, each of the Fils Rouge was played out against a tune representative of the country competing by the local jazz band. The Netherlands tune was appropriately ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’ whilst Great Britain played the Fil Rouge to the strains of ‘Auld Lang Syne’! Incidentally, this game was copied for the Italian International Final in 1982 and re-copied for the International heat held at Villa Manin in Passariano di Codroipo, Italy in 1993, although the incline on that occasion was less severe.

The Swiss team of Le Mouret lost this heat rather than the Italians winning it. Riccione had not led the competition once the whole night, and the team could only manage to score 6pts on their Joker. Trailing the Swiss team by 4pts before the last game, the team won it in fine style, as they had Game 6 and the Fil Rouge. The Swiss team however only needed 3pts to secure the win but unfortunately could only muster 2pts on the game and handed the heat to the Italians.

Onchan became the first team from the Isle of Man to represent Great Britain in Jeux Sans Frontières.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives
Exists in European archives

CH

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 4

Event Staged: Tuesday 1st July 1975
Venue: Klosterhof (Monastery Square), Engelberg, Switzerland

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.10pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 2 (NL): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 1st July 1975, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 2nd July 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 5th August 1975, 10.00-11.30pm

BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 17th September 1975, 6.55-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 21st September 1975, 1.55-3.10pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Jan Hiermeyer

Theme: Holidays in the Mountains

Teams: Pepinster (B) v. Giswil (CH) v. Leonberg (D) v. Chartres (F) v.
Darlington (GB) v. Aosta (I) v. Veldhoven (NL)

Team Members included:
Pepinster (B) - Christian Marquette;
Leonberg (D) - Peter Vessner (Team Coach), Erich Erichatuder, Franz Evets, Stefan Fritz, Martin Kurtz, Peter Mechterfrau, Annette Negen, Voiter Ooterichs, Harald Schach, Bernhard Schlotz, Markus Volker;
Darlington (GB) - Malcolm Stringer (Team Captain), Douglas Beddelson, James Branchorne, John Brockbanks, Margaret Davison, Helen Drew, Stanley Garside, Jeffrey Graham, Frank Johnson, Janet McKean, Kay Metcalfe, Eddie Stock, David Stott, Nancy Warwick;
Aosta (I) - Nadina Catriana.

Games: Dressing the Snowmen, Bales of Hay and Tourists, Cows and Mushrooms, Catching Butterflies, The Milk Churns, Collecting Edelweiss, The Haystack and The Skiing Tourists;
Fil Rouge: The Hungry Bears;
Jokers: Alpine Horns, which had to be played.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
=3rd
=3rd
5th
6th
7th

 D • Leonberg ●
 F • Chartres
 CH • Giswil
 I • Aosta
 GB  • Darlington
 NL • Veldhoven
 B • Pepinster

41
38
33
33
31
30
24

The Venue

Engelberg, Switzerland

This heat in Engelberg was held in the Monastery Square which is surrounded on the western side by the Gemeindehaus (Community House) and is overlooked on the eastern side by the beautiful Engelberg Abbey, a Benedictine monastery founded in 1120 by Blessed Conrad, Count of Seldenburen. Although the location was picturesque, the weather dampened things somewhat, and for the second year in succession, the Swiss heat was witness to heavy rain throughout, hampering the competitors on the games.

The Games in Detail

Game 1 - Dressing the Snowmen

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Pepinster (B) (6pts awarded / Joker / 6pts total) =1st Aosta (I) (6pts / 6pts) 3rd Giswil (CH) (5pts / 5pts) =4th Chartres (F) (4pts / 4pts) =4th Darlington (GB) (4pts / Joker / 4pts) 6th Veldhoven (NL) (2pts / 2pts) 7th Leonberg (D) (--- / 0pts)

Game 2 - Bales of Hay and Tourists

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Veldhoven (NL) (8pts awarded / Joker / 10pts total) ▲ 2nd Darlington (GB) (5pts / 9pts) ▲ 3rd Giswil (CH) (3pts / 8pts) =4th Pepinster (B) (1pt / 7pts) ▼ =4th Aosta (I) (1pt / 7pts) ▼ 6th Leonberg (D) (6pts / 6pts) ▲ 7th Chartres (F) (--- / 4pts) ▼

Game 3 - Cows and Mushrooms

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Veldhoven (NL) (5pts awarded / 15pts total) =2nd Giswil (CH) (6pts / 14pts) ▲ =2nd Leonberg (D) (8pts / Joker / 14pts) ▲ =4th Darlington (GB) (--- / 9pts) ▼ =4th Aosta (I) (2pts / 9pts) 6th Pepinster (B) (1pt / 8pts) ▼ 7th Chartres (F) (3pts / 7pts) ▼

Game 4 - Catching Butterflies

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Veldhoven (NL) (5pts awarded / 20pts total) 2nd Leonberg (D) (5pts / 19pts) =3rd Giswil (CH) (1pt / 15pts) ▼ =3rd Darlington (GB) (6pts / 15pts) ▲ 5th Chartres (F) (5pts / 12pts) ▲ =6th Pepinster (B) (1pt / 9pts) =6th Aosta (I) (--- / 9pts) ▼

Game 5 - The Milk Churns

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Leonberg (D) (6pts awarded / 25pts total) ▲ 2nd Veldhoven (NL) (--- / 20pts) ▼ 3rd Darlington (GB) (4pts / 19pts) 4th Giswil (CH) (3pts / 18pts) ▼ =5th Chartres (F) (3pts / 15pts) ▲ =5th Aosta (I) (6pts / 15pts) ▲ 7th Pepinster (B) (3pts / 12pts) ▼

Game 6 - Catching Edelweiss

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Giswil (CH) (12pts awarded / Joker / 30pts total) ▲ 2nd Leonberg (D) (3pts / 28pts) ▼ 3rd Chartres (F) (10pts / Joker / 25pts) ▲ 4th Veldhoven (NL) (4pts / 24pts) ▼ 5th Darlington (GB) (1pt / 20pts) ▼ 6th Aosta (I) (4pts / 19pts) ▼ 7th Pepinster (B) (--- / 12pts)

Game 7 - The Haystack

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Giswil (CH) (--- awarded / Joker / 30pts total) 2nd Leonberg (D) (1pt / 29pts) 3rd Chartres (F) (1pt / 26pts) =4th Darlington (GB) (5pts / 25pts) ▲ =4th Veldhoven (NL) (1pt / 25pts) 6th Aosta (I) (1pt / 20pts) 7th Pepinster (B) (6pts / 18pts)

Fil Rouge - The Hungry Bears

Final Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Leonberg (D) =2nd Chartres (F) =2nd Aosta (I) 4th Darlington (GB) 5th Pepinster (B) 6th Giswil (CH) 7th Veldhoven (NL)

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Leonberg (D) (7pts awarded / 36pts total) ▲ =2nd Giswil (CH) (2pts / 32pts) ▼ =2nd Chartres (F) (6pts / 32pts) ▲ 4th Darlington (GB) (4pts / 29pts) =5th Aosta (I) (6pts / 26pts) ▲ =5th Veldhoven (NL) (1pt / 26pts) ▼ 7th Pepinster (B) (3pts / 21pts)

Game 8 - The Skiing Tourists

Final Scores and Positions: 1st Leonberg (D) (5pts awarded / 41pts total) 2nd Chartres (F) (6pts / 38pts) =3rd Giswil (CH) (1pt / 33pts) ▼ =3rd Aosta (I) (7pts / 33pts) ▲ 5th Darlington (GB) (2pts / 31pts) ▼ 6th Veldhoven (NL) (4pts / 30pts) ▼ 7th Pepinster (B) (3pts / 24pts)

Returning Teams and Competitors

The Italian town of Aosta made its first of seven appearances in this heat. The town returned with a team in 1978 and 1979 and also made four other appearances when it combined forces with the ski resort of Pila, the town of Cogne and a team from the ski resorts in the Val di Gressoney for the Winter International series of 1977, 1979 and 1980 respectively. It again combined forces with Pila to make a seventh and final appearance in 1988. However, the town was somewhat involved again in 1998 and 1999 when the Valle d’Aosta participated in the programme.

Additional Information

It was a night of mixed fortunes for Swiss team Giswil. Under Swiss rules at the time, teams could not participate on more than one occasion (this was changed in 1977) and as Engelberg had participated in 1973 they could not take part in this heat, so Giswil appeared as the Swiss representative. Despite winning two games (one of which was their Joker), they were leading West German team Leonberg by 2 pts before Game 7 (which they had to miss). Leonberg failed to make any headway on them because they finished last on the game (see separate note below). This resulted in the Swiss still leading the West Germans by 1 pt before the Fil Rouge (Leonberg had tackled this first and were still in the lead), but the Swiss made a complete mess of the Fil Rouge and finished in 6th place. This resulted in Leonberg leading French team Chartres and the Swiss by 4 pts going into the last game, which saw the French finish in 2nd place followed closely by the West Germans. But where were the Swiss? Again, a disastrous game for the team ending in a 7th place finish!

The day of recording was Great Britain team member David Stott’s 21st birthday, and before the start of Game 7, Swiss commentator Jan Hiermeyer encouraged the crowd to sing ‘Happy Birthday to You’ to him, and they obliged.The game itself comprised the classic ‘finding a needle in a haystack’ scenario. Six boxes had been hidden in the most enormous haystack, and it was a clear case of diving in to find one of the six boxes. Time limit on the game was 2 minutes 30 seconds and after 1 minute 8 seconds the Belgian team member (who was 42 years old!) emerged victorious, whilst the others frantically searched high and low. Time was ticking away for the remaining teams. After 2 minutes and 25 seconds, David Stott emerged with a box, but he still had to run to the start of the course and place it on a marked podium. Just as he did so, Guido Pancaldi blew the whistle and Great Britain was given a time of 2 minutes 30 seconds! Incidentally, all the other four teams were each awarded 1pt, as they had all failed to find a box. Eagle-eyed timekeepers however, would have noticed that the game was in fact lengthened by an extra three seconds to allow the British competitor to finish the game on his birthday. If the referees had applied a strict timekeeping rule, the British team would have finished the competition with a total of just 27pts, which would have ‘demoted’ them to 6th place overall and ‘promoted’ the Dutch team of Veldhoven to 5th place!

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

D

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 5

Event Staged: Tuesday 15th July 1975
Venue: Stadion Rhein-Neckar (Rhine-Neckar Stadium),
Mannheim, West Germany

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.10-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.10-10.30pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.10-10.25pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.10-10.35pm (Live)
Nederland 2 (NL): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 9.10-10.30pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 15th July 1975, 10.10-11.30pm (Live - DST)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 16th July 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 19th August 1975, 9.55-11.30pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 24th September 1975, 6.55-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 28th September 1975, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Marie-Louise Steinbauer

Theme: International Post Office

Teams: Temse (B) v. Faido (CH) v. Füssen im Allgäu (D) v. Aix-les-Bains (F) v.
Kilmarnock (GB) v. Bosa (Sardegna) (I) v. Montfoort (NL)

Team Members included:
Temse (B) - Paul van Heuven;
Faido (CH) - Renata Gobi;
Füssen im Allgäu (D) - Walter Hofer (Men’s Team Captain), Hedy Loschky (Women’s Team Captain), Andrea Adolf, Peter Bosch, Bernhard Buhl, Karolina Häfele, Rolf Hoberg, Barbara Hoffner, Klaus Jaskolka, Karlheinz Kerlies, Hermann Läubin, Uwe Läubin, Dagmar Orfgen, Xavier Pfeiffer, Karline Schallis, Franz Schrettinger, Karin Sutter;
Aix-les-Bains (F) - Christian Maniere;
Kilmarnock (GB) - Sean Anderson, Gordon Black, Philip Brown, Michael Crane, Derek Guthrie, James Harvey, Lesley Martin, Ann Mattison, Joanne Miller, Robert Old;
Bosa (Sardegna) (I) - Silvano Ferdoni, Luigi Malallazi;
Montfoort (NL) - Gert Sluys (Team Coach), Wim van Jaarsveld (Team Captain), Ton Admiraal, Nel van Beesd, Wim van Beesd, Cobie Bontje, Piet Bos, Ruud Consen, Josien van Doesburg, Elly Dunnewold, Addie Klijs, Bep Kraan, Joke Oostrom, Ria Out, Tineke Peek, Theo Vergeer, Jan Verkleij, Hanneke van Vianen, Cor Vlooswijk, Gerard Vlooswijk, Jan Vlooswijk, Ted de Wit.

Games (Official Titles): Luftpost (Airmail), Der Gepäckwagen (The Luggage Van), Briefe Stempeln (The Rubber Stamp), Die Schliessfächer (The Lockers), Die Telefonverbindungen (The Telephone Relay), The Money Postman, Das Fleissband (The Conveyer Belt) and Die Pakete (The Parcels);
Fil Rouge: Vorsicht! Bissige Hunde! (Beware of the Dog!);
Jokers: Postmen with Letters.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
=3rd
=3rd
5th
6th
7th

 CH • Faido ● ●
 NL • Montfoort
 D • Füssen im Allgäu
 F • Aix-les-Bains
 B • Temse
 GB • Kilmarnock
 I • Bosa (Sardegna)

46
41
34
34
31
30
18

The Venue

Mannheim, West Germany

This heat was held in the Rhein-Neckar Stadion in Mannheim, located next to Luisenpark. The stadium, which was opened in 1971, is the home of VfR Mannheim 1896 e.V. (Verein für Rasenspiele Mannheim 1896 eingetragener Verein), translated into English as ‘The Mannheim Association for Lawn Games 1896, Registered Association’. Today the stadium is dwarfed by the multi-purpose Karl-Benz Stadion built in 1994, which stands directly next of it.

The Games in Detail

Game 1 - Luftpost (Airmail)

Without France. 1 girl. 1 heat of 6 teams. In the centre of the arena is a tall mast. On top of this mast, turning round, is a model aeroplane which throws letters into the arena. 6 girls are positioned around the mast, each dressed as post women. Each girl holds an outsized post-bag and she must attempt to catch the letters in the bag as they fall to the ground. Only letters which are caught will be counted.

Image © WDR, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Montfoort (NL) (6pts awarded / 6pts total) 2nd Kilmarnock (GB) (5pts / 5pts) 3rd Füssen im Allgäu (D) (4pts / 4pts) 4th Faido (CH) (3pts / 3pts) 5th Bosa (Sardegna) (I) (2pts / 2pts) 6th Temse (B) (1pt / 1pt) 7th Aix-les-Bains (F) (--- / 0pts)

Game 2 - Der Gepäckwagen (The Luggage Van)

Without Great Britain. 5 men plus the Team Captain. 3 heats of 2 teams. The driver operates an electronic post-wagon which has behind it four small wagons. The wagons are connected to each other by the competitors standing on each wagon holding hands. The train travels through a circuitous route. If the chain breaks the driver must reverse the wagon to make up the chain once again. There will be a draw for each electric wagon.

Image © WDR, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Montfoort (NL) (6pts awarded / 12pts total) =2nd Faido (CH) (5pts / 8pts) ▲ =2nd Füssen im Allgäu (D) (4pts / 8pts) ▲ 4th Kilmarnock (GB) (--- / 5pts) ▼ =5th Temse (B) (3pts / 4pts) ▲ =5th Bosa (Sardegna) (I) (2pts / Joker / 4pts) 7th Aix-les-Bains (F) (2pts / 2pts)

Game 3 - Briefe Stempeln (Franking Letters)

Without Italy. 1 girl per team. 2 heats of 3 teams. The girl competitor is disguised as a rubber stamp. At the beginning of the game she must lift up her skirt and jump on to a pad which is covered with ink. Having collected ink on her she must then hop forward to one of the letters which is laid out in front of her and frank the stamp. Each time she returns to the stamping pad and the winner will be the girl which franks the most letters.

Image © WDR, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Kilmarnock (GB) (12pts awarded / Joker / 17pts total) ▲ 2nd Montfoort (NL) (4pts / 16pts) ▼ =3rd Temse (B) (10pts / Joker / 14pts) ▲ =3rd Faido (CH) (6pts / Joker / 14pts) ▼ 5th Füssen im Allgäu (D) (2pts / 10pts) ▼ 6th Bosa (Sardegna) (I) (--- / 4pts) ▼ 7th Aix-les-Bains (F) (1pt / 3pts)

Game 4 - Die Schliessfächer (The Lockers)

In Game 4 - ‘Die Schliessfächer (The Lockers)’ - six male competitors were dressed as German postmen who had been blindfold and had to negotiate an obstacle course which had a number of turnstiles on it. Some of these turnstiles had to be entered and some were just for scenery purposes. At the end of the course the teams had to open a small door in a wall marked Schleißfächer (loosely translated into English as ‘safety deposit box’) which contained a parcel. After collecting the parcels, the postmen had to make their way back to the start of the course and into a holding area to finish the game. Swiss team Faido seemed to have no problem negotiating the course and won the game, followed by the Belgian team of Temse. Although British competitor Gordon Black had negotiated the first part of the course as quickly as the Swiss player, he got lost in the maze of turnstiles on the return leg and finished in fifth place. The West German competitor in the meantime made a complete shambles of the game and found himself going back and forth through the same turnstile. Despite the fact that his antics proved amusing to the assembled spectators, the stadium was filled with boos and hisses when he finished in last place on the game!

Image © WDR, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Faido (CH) (6pts awarded / 20pts total) ▲ 2nd Kilmarnock (GB) (2pts / 19pts) ▼ 3rd Temse (B) (3pts / 17pts) 4th Montfoort (NL) (--- / 16pts) ▼ 5th Füssen im Allgäu (D) (1pt / 11pts) =6th Aix-les-Bains (F) (5pts / 8pts) ▲ =6th Bosa (Sardegna) (I) (4pts / 8pts)

Game 5 - Die Telefonverbindungen (Telephone Connections)

Game 5 - ‘Die Telefonverbindungen (Telephone Connections)’ - involved the participation from the six competing countries’ commentators. The idea of the game was to make a landline connection from each of the female competitors on the ground at the start of the game, to the commentators high in their commentary boxes. On the whistle, a male competitor from each team climbed one of the telegraph poles and made the first connection to the ground. He then had to make a second connection to the same pole and throw the wire to a team-mate on the second pole. This was repeated until all four poles were connected. Once completed, the commentator then had to shout out (this was audible to all in the stadium) one of four place names that had been placed on a board at the start of the game. The female competitor then had to place this name on a telegram envelope and hand it to her team-mate at the top of the first pole. British commentator Stuart Hall can clearly be heard shouting out “Leeds! Leeds!” to the British competitor.

Image © WDR, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Faido (CH) (6pts awarded / 26pts total) 2nd Kilmarnock (GB) (3pts / 22pts) 3rd Füssen im Allgäu (D) (10pts / Joker / 21pts) ▲ 4th Montfoort (NL) (2pts / 18pts) 5th Temse (B) (--- / 17pts) ▼ 6th Aix-les-Bains (F) (4pts / 12pts) 7th Bosa (Sardegna) (I) (1pt / 9pts) ▼

Game 6 - The Money Postman

This game was originally planned as 'Der Gelbote (The Postman)' but it was replaced before the recording.

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Montfoort (NL) (10pts awarded / Joker / 28pts total) ▲ =2nd Faido (CH) (--- / 26pts) ▼ =2nd Kilmarnock (GB) (4pts / 26pts) 4th Füssen im Allgäu (D) (1pt / 22pts) ▼ 5th Temse (B) (3pts / 20pts) 6th Aix-les-Bains (F) (6pts / 18pts) 7th Bosa (Sardegna) (I) (2pts / 11pts)

Game 7 - Das Fleissband (The Conveyer Belt)

Without Germany. 1 man, 3 girls. 3 heats of 2 teams. A narrow carpet, 15m in length, is fixed at either end of the course. The male competitors must push the parcels which are supplied, along the carpet and as they arrive at a certain platform along the course, the girl competitor stamps them as indicated on the drawing. The parcels should then be delivered to the end of the carpet and placed in a pile. The winner will be the team which transports the largest number of parcels in the shortest time.

Image © WDR, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Montfoort (NL) (5pts awarded / 33pts total) 2nd Faido (CH) (6pts / 32pts) 3rd Kilmarnock (GB) (2pts / 28pts) ▼ 4th Aix-les-Bains (F) (8pts / Joker / 26pts) ▲ 5th Temse (B) (3pts / 23pts) 6th Füssen im Allgäu (D) (--- / 22pts) ▼ 7th Bosa (Sardegna) (I) (2pts / 13pts)

Fil Rouge - Vorsicht! Bissige Hunde! (Beware of the Dog!)

1 man, 1 girl plus 2 boys disguised as dogs from an opposing team. The girl competitor stands at the door of the house and the postman stands at the garden gate. Between the two of them is a revolving carpet on which stand the two opposing team members dressed as dogs. If the dogs do not keep their balance they will be taken by the revolving carpet and deposited in a pool by the side of the house. The postman throws the letters to the girl and the dogs attempt to stop these letters reaching her. The winner will be the team who collects the greatest number of letters in the time allowed for the game.

Image © WDR, 1975

Final Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Faido (CH) 2nd Füssen im Allgäu (D) 3rd Temse (B) 4th Aix-les-Bains (F) =5th Bosa (Sardegna) (I) =5th Montfoort (NL) 7th Kilmarnock (GB)

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Faido (CH) (7pts awarded / 39pts total) ▲ 2nd Montfoort (NL) (3pts / 36pts) ▼ 3rd Aix-les-Bains (F) (4pts / 30pts) ▲ 4th Kilmarnock (GB) (1pt / 29pts) ▼ =5th Temse (B) (5pts / 28pts) =5th Füssen im Allgäu (D) (6pts / 28pts) ▲ 7th Bosa (Sardegna) (I) (3pts / 16pts)

Game 8 - Die Pakete (The Parcels)

1 man, 1 girl. 1 heat of 7 teams. At the beginning of the course there are a large quantity of parcels of varying sizes. The postman will be given several pieces of small cord in order to tie the parcels together. He is allowed to tie them in any order he wishes and having done this he must set off along an obstacle course. He eventually arrives at a door, he must ring the bell and the girl competitor then opens the door, helps him through and assists him in piling up the parcels.

Image © WDR, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Faido (CH) (7pts awarded / 46pts total) 2nd Montfoort (NL) (5pts / 41pts) =3rd Füssen im Allgäu (D) (6pts / 34pts) ▲ =3rd Aix-les-Bains (F) (4pts / 34pts) 5th Temse (B) (3pts / 31pts) 6th Kilmarnock (GB) (1pt / 30pts) ▼ 7th Bosa (Sardegna) (I) (2pts / 18pts)

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

After Game 3 - ‘Briefe Stempeln (The Rubber Stamp)’ - Erhard Keller approached the British competitor Ann Mattison and asked her “Are you a stamp collector”. She replied, “I do not get enough letters to do that”. Erhard Keller then inadvertently said to her, “I am sure that there are plenty of young men who would like to show you theirs!” Realising his error, he laughed and quickly added, “their stamps!”

Additional Information

The theme for this heat was inspired by the huge telecommunications tower that stands in Luisenpark next to Kutzerweiher (Kutzer’s pond).

The West German television service once again staged a fully-costumed International Heat which was not only entertaining, but at times was very funny. Following the opening credits and short introductory film of Mannheim, the camera panned down the visiting countries’ commentary boxes into the arena. A stagehand dressed in a large foam-rubber postman’s costumed entered the arena pushing a trolley which was loaded with seven large packages. These boxes were to be used in a unique piece of Jeux Sans Frontières television ‘magic’. The trolley was deposited with presenters Erhard Keller and Marie-Louise Steinbauer and Erhard turned to the cameras and said he wondered what the packages were for. He stated that the first one was addressed to the Rhein-Neckar Stadium in Mannheim and he tossed it to the ground. The next six were individually addressed to the other six towns and these were also tossed to the ground. The camera then panned to the discarded packages on the stadium floor and as a loud fanfare was played, the seven teams burst forth from the ‘packages’. Although the assembled crowd would not have witnessed the real effect of the trick, it certainly worked well for the viewers at home!

After the fourth heat of the Fil Rouge there was another comical moment. The Dutch team of Montfoort had just completed a 10-second restart as a result of the equipment being used stopping before the game had been completed. The opposing team from Temse in Belgium were dressed as large dogs, and after the final whistle was blown, one of their competitors walked on all fours to the bench which had been separating his team from the girl from Montfoort, lifted his right back leg and pretended to relieve himself. Well, you would if you were a dog, wouldn’t you? Classic!

After three games, Swiss team Faido had already played their Joker and were lying in third place on the master scoreboard with just 14pts. The team then made one of the most incredible comebacks in the history of the programme by winning their next four games as well as the Fil Rouge - a total of 32pts from five games! Today this still remains a record in Jeux Sans Frontières and has only ever been equalled once. On that occasion, it was in International Heat 1 in 1977, when the Italian team of Marina di Carrara also won their last four games as well as the Fil Rouge. However their amassed total for the five games was 38 pts, the difference being that one of those games was on the Joker.

The Swiss TV broadcasters breathed a huge sigh of relief after Faido won this heat. This was the first win for Switzerland in an International Heat since Locarno tied jointly with Belgian team Genk in International Heat 5 in 1970 - an incredible record unbroken run of 34 International Heats without a victory! However, during this ‘lean period’ Switzerland managed to win two International Finals - one in 1972 and another in 1974.

The team from this heat’s host town Mannheim were beaten by Füssen im Algäu in the West German Domestic series Spiel Ohne Grenzen and therefore failed to earn the right to participate in the event staged in their home town!

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

F

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 6

Event Staged: Tuesday 29th July 1975
Venue: Place Stanislas, Nancy, France

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 2 (NL): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.05-10.35pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 9.10-10.20pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 29th July 1975, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 30th July 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 2nd September 1975, 10.00-11.30pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 1st October 1975, 6.45-8.00pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 5th October 1975, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: M. Marcel Martin, Mayor of Nancy

Theme: The Splendours of Stanislas Leszczynski

Teams: Houdeng-Aimeries (B) v. Adliswil (CH) v. Simmern im Hunsrück (D) v. Nancy (F) v.
Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) v. Bordighera (I) v. Bedum (NL)

Team Members included:
Simmern im Hunsrück (D) - Bernd Shweikhard (Men’s Team Captain), Elixe Sitterle (Women’s Team Captain), Wolfgang Anlauff, Diethelm Blatt, Edelgard Braun, Ethan Flatz, Armin Hunsinger, Gerhard Kleinz, Horst Kupilas, Gerlinde Melsheimer, Gerhard Siepe, Lothar Sitterle, Marion Weirich, Eva Wolf, Harald Wolf;
Nancy (F) - André Laurain (General Captain), Jean Pierre Desquatre (Team Captain), Anne Marie Blot, Joëlle Carpentier, Thierry Dabrowski, Jacques Dechoux, Marie France Gauge, André Leblanc, François Lombard, Josette Lombard, Alain Macchia, Jean Novena, Maurice Rejwerski, Christian Ries and Nadine Thirion;
Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) - Michael Horrocks (Team Captain), Bob Atkinson, Ian Chivers, Terri Hadey, Alan Hallam, Steve Knutt, Bill Leng, Anne Smart, Debbie Walters;
Bedum (NL) - Ko Panneman (Team Manager), Poppe Jellema (Team Coach), Tjeerd Hoekstra (Team Physio), Piet Lanting (Team Captain), Henk Übels (Superzeskamper), Lineke Arends, Bart Diephuis, Ebel Drenth, Tineke Groenewolt, Tineke Hersevoort, Annet Kleersnijder, Fred Kruizinga, Wicher Nieborg, Johan Reining, Anja Rutgers, Grietha Übels, Ubellenus Übels, Zwannie Übels, Joke Schuitema, Erik van de Vries, Trijnie de Vries, Ankie Witsenboer, Bert Zwerver.

Games: The Beer Festival, The Pearl Robbers, The Building of Nancy, Pirates of the Meurthe, Les Artilleurs du Prince (The Prince’s Artillery Men), La Course des Chaises à Porteurs (The Sedan Chair Race), Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend and Les Astronomes du Prince (The Prince’s Astronomers);
Fil Rouge: Le Dejeuner du Prince (The Prince's Luncheon);
Jokers: Thistles.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th

 F • Nancy ● ●
 NL • Bedum
 CH • Adliswil
 D • Simmern im Hunsrück
 GB • Portsmouth and Southsea
 I • Bordighera
 B • Houdeng-Aimeries

48
41
38
36
28
25
19

The Venue

Nancy, France

This heat was held in Place Stanislas in the heart of Nancy, named after the former Duke of Lorraine, Stanisław Leszczyński. The theme of this heat was centred on Stanisław who was actually born in Lviv, Ukraine, in 1677, but became Duke of Lorraine in 1737 after losing the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After his death in 1766 at Lunéville, France (a near neighbour town to Nancy which had competed in the programme in 1974), his body was interred in Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours in Nancy, before finally being exhumed and moved to Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland.

The square, with an area of over 100m², was a major project in urban planning of the time and was dreamt up by Stanisław to link the old town of Nancy to the newer city which had been built during the reign of Charles III in the early 17th century. It was built in honour of his son-in-law, Louis XV, and construction work began in March 1752 and took a little over three years to complete, with work finally finishing in November 1755. It is home to the Hôtel de Ville, also known as Palais de Stanislas, which is the largest building in the square measuring 98m long and occupying the whole south side of the square. At the time of recording, the square was a busy traffic thoroughfare and in order for the programme to be staged there, the local gendarmerie had all the roads leading into the square closed from late afternoon to the early hours the next morning. However, since 2004 the square has been pedestrianised and is now traffic-free.

The Rehearsals

French team Nancy had won the rehearsal the previous night with a score of 51pts, which would have been a record at this point (in the then current format) if repeated on the actual night of recording. However, on the night the team still won four games outright (one of which was their Joker game) and won the Fil Rouge as well. In fact, Nancy had already won the contest before the final game, being 11pts clear of their nearest rivals Netherlands, and it even looked like the team were heading for a record score in the current seven team format, but failed to build on their success and only finished in fifth place in the final game.

The Games in Detail

Game 1 - The Beer Festival

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Nancy (F) (6pts awarded / 6pts total) 2nd Bedum (NL) (5pts / 5pts) =3rd Adliswil (CH) (4pts / 4pts) =3rd Simmern im Hunsrück (D) (4pts / 4pts) 5th Bordighera (I) (2pts / 2pts) 6th Houdeng-Aimeries (B) (1pt / 1pt) 7th Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) (--- / 0pts)

Comments: The first game was originally planned to be 'Les Financiers du Prince (The Prince's Financiers)' and was to have involved one male competitor from each team standing on a revolving platform and wearing thick rubber protective costumes. The space around the platform was to have been divided into six equal areas, one for each country competing in the game. On the whistle, a series of sacks of gold would be dropped from a horn of plenty onto the centre of the revolving platform. The idea was that - using only their feet - the players would have to manoeuvre as many sacks as possible into their country area, the winning team being the one that had collected the greater number.

Game 2 - The Pearl Robbers

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Nancy (F) (5pts awarded / 11pts total) =1st Bedum (NL) (6pts / 11pts) ▲ 3rd Adliswil (CH) (4pts / 8pts) 4th Simmern im Hunsrück (D) (2pts / 6pts) ▼ =5th Houdeng-Aimeries (B) (2pts / 3pts) ▲ =5th Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) (3pts / 3pts) ▲ 7th Bordighera (I) (--- / 2pts) ▼

Comments: The second game was originally planned to be 'Les Couronnes Princières (The Princely Crowns)' and was to have been played over two rounds and involve one male and one female competitor from each team. Princely crowns were to have been hung from a wall at one end of a pool of water, with planks reaching across the pool from the wall. The male competitors were to take one crown at a time, carry it across the pool and throw it to his female team mate who was going to catch it on a 2m long pole. Over the course of the game, the plank was to have moved back into to wall and eventually disappear into it. The winning team would have been the one that had collected the greater number of crowns.

Game 3 - The Building of Nancy

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Simmern im Hunsrück (D) (10pts awarded / Joker / 16pts total) ▲ =2nd Adliswil (CH) (6pts / 14pts) ▲ =2nd Nancy (F) (3pts / 14pts) ▼ 4th Bedum (NL) (--- / 11pts) ▼ 5th Bordighera (I) (4pts / 6pts) ▲ =6th Houdeng-Aimeries (B) (2pts / Joker / 5pts) ▼ =6th Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) (2pts / 5pts) ▼

Comments: The third game was originally planned to be 'Le Siège de Nancy (The Siege of Nancy)' and was to have involved one male and two female competitors from each team. A female competitor of each team was to stand atop a rampart where they were besieged (much like the eventual Game 3). The idea of the game was that they would be supplied with loaves of bread by their male team mates. These would have been delivered in a basket perched at the summit of a stack of cubes, which the competitors had to carry to the ramparts taking care that they would not over balance and collapse. The winning team would have been the one that had collected the greater number of loaves of bread.

Game 4 - Pirates of the Meurthe

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Simmern im Hunsrück (D) (4pts awarded / 20pts total) =1st Nancy (F) (6pts / 20pts) ▼ 3rd Bedum (NL) (5pts / 16pts) ▲ 4th Adliswil (CH) (1pt / 15pts) ▼ =5th Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) (3pts / 8pts) ▲ =5th Bordighera (I) (2pts / 8pts) 7th Houdeng-Aimeries (B) (--- / 5pts) ▼

Comments: In the planning stages this game was considerably less visually impressive. The galleons were a late addition and originally the game - at that point called 'Les Joutes du Prince (The Prince's Ball Game)' - was a much simpler affair, with two counterweighted planks reaching over a pool from either side. These planks were to incorporate a receptacle at the end reaching into the pool and a weight at the 'land' end 20kg heavier than the competitor's own weight. As with the eventual game, the idea was for the competitors to fill their rival's tank to the point where it would be heavier than the counterweight, thereby propelling the losing competitor into the pool. In the early version of the game, the tank was to be filled with footballs, whereas in the final version these had been substituted with water thrown from buckets.

Game 5 - Les Artilleurs du Prince (The Prince's Artillery Men)

Image © Antenne 2, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Nancy (F) (6pts awarded / 26pts total) 2nd Simmern im Hunsrück (D) (3pts / 23pts) ▼ 3rd Bedum (NL) (5pts / 21pts) 4th Adliswil (CH) (--- / 15pts) 5th Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) (2pts / 10pts) =6th Houdeng-Aimeries (B) (4pts / 9pts) ▲ =6th Bordighera (I) (1pt / 9pts) ▼

Comments: The cartoon illustrations of the games played at Nancy were drawn by the French-Armenian comic artist René Horvivian (1929-2005), who signed himself simply 'Hoviv'. His work was published in many newspapers including Le Hérisson, Marius, Ici Paris, Jours de France, Lui, Le Quotidien de Paris and Paris Match. Many of his drawings deal with sexual behaviours (notably the series Les Mâles) or politics (such Les Kamarades). In his later years, Hovivian published two albums of drawings focusing on Armenian life, a subject close to his heart.

Game 6 - La Course des Chaises à Porteurs (The Sedan Chair Race)

Image © Antenne 2, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Nancy (F) (12pts awarded / Joker / 38pts total) 2nd Adliswil (CH) (10pts / Joker / 25pts) ▲ 3rd Simmern im Hunsrück (D) (--- / 23pts) ▼ 4th Bedum (NL) (1pt / 22pts) ▼ 5th Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) (8pts / Joker / 18pts) 6th Houdeng-Aimeries (B) (3pts / 12pts) 7th Bordighera (I) (2pts / 11pts) ▼

Game 7 - Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Nancy (F) (--- awarded / 38pts total) 2nd Bedum (NL) (8pts / Joker / 30pts) ▲ 3rd Simmern im Hunsrück (D) (6pts / 29pts) 4th Adliswil (CH) (2pts / 27pts) ▼ =5th Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) (3pts / 21pts) =5th Bordighera (I) (10pts / Joker / 21pts) ▲ 7th Houdeng-Aimeries (B) (1pt / 13pts) ▼

Comments: The seventh game was originally planned to be 'Les Joailliers du Prince (The Prince's Jewellers)' and was to have involved two male competitors from each team. The first male was to hold on to and hang from a trapeze fixed on the underside of one end of a plank that would stretch out over a pool of water. The weight of the man hanging from the trapeze would allow his  team mate to move up and down the plank. At the poolside end of the plank, there was to have been a basket containing 'jewels which were to be carried one at a time along the plank and strung on a necklace string hanging from the far end of the plank. If the competitor on the trapeze were to let it go, then his colleague would be upended into the pool. The winning team would have been the one that had strung the greater number of jewels.

Fil Rouge, Round 7 - Le Dejeuner du Prince (The Prince's Luncheon)

Image © Antenne 2, 1975

Final Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Nancy (F) 2nd Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) 3rd Adliswil (CH) 4th Bedum (NL) 5th Simmern im Hunsrück (D) 6th Bordighera (I) 7th Houdeng-Aimeries (B)

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Nancy (F) (7pts awarded / 45pts total) 2nd Bedum (NL) (4pts / 34pts) =3rd Adliswil (CH) (5pts / 32pts) ▲ =3rd Simmern im Hunsrück (D) (3pts / 32pts) 5th Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) (6pts / 27pts) 6th Bordighera (I) (2pts / 23pts) ▼ 7th Houdeng-Aimeries (B) (1pt / 14pts)

Comments: As with most of the games played at Nancy, the Fil Rouge was adapted significantly between the event's planning stages and the night of the contest. As can be seen from René Hovivian's cartoon, it was initially thought that competitors would be dislodged from the conveyer belt by swinging sacks. On the night, of course, the swinging sacks were replaced with giant items of cutlery that would swing across the moving belt.

Game 8 - Les Astronomes du Prince (The Prince’s Astronomers)

Image © Antenne 2, 1975

Final Scores and Positions: 1st Nancy (F) (3pts awarded / 48pts total) 2nd Bedum (NL) (7pts / 41pts) 3rd Adliswil (CH) (6pts / 38pts) 4th Simmern im Hunsrück (D) (4pts / 36pts) ▼ 5th Portsmouth and Southsea (GB) (1pt / 28pts) 6th Bordighera (I) (2pts / 25pts) 7th Houdeng-Aimeries (B) (5pts / 19pts)

Additional Information

Although it would not have affected the outcome of the heat or any positional changes, the British team of Portsmouth and Southsea were robbed of a point and a game win in the Fil Rouge. The team had successfully carried 26 dishes onto the table at the top of the course, but as the touch-judge was counting them, he inadvertently knocked one of the dishes off the back of the table. The television camera just manages to catch the shot of this, but it went unnoticed by everyone. If it had been noticed then the British team would have won the Fil Rouge along with the French team, and the correct result would have been 29pts for the British team!

The motto of Nancy is the Latin phrase ‘Non inultus premor’ ('No one touches me with impunity'), being a reference to the thistle plant that is a symbol of Lorraine. It was fitting therefore that thistles were presented as the Jokers in this heat, as one also appears on the city’s flag.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

GB

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

Heat 7

Event Staged: Tuesday 12th August 1975
Venue: Open-Air Sea Bathing Lake, Princes Park, Southport, Great Britain

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.10-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 2 (NL): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 12th August 1975, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
TSI (CH): Wednesday 13th August 1975, 9.00-10.15pm
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 16th September 1975, 10.00-11.30pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 8th October 1975, 6.50-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 12th October 1975, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners' Trophy presented by: Barney Colehan, BBC Producer

Theme: The Pirates

Teams: Waterloo (B) v. Sainte-Croix (CH) v. Baesweiler (D) v. Saint-Gaudens (F) v.
Cambridge (GB) v. Valmadrera (I) v. Steenwijk (NL)

Games Demonstration Team: Southport (GB)

Team Members included:
Waterloo (B) - Jacques Loquieres;
Sainte Croix (CH) - Denise Blanché, Bernard Weiter;
Baesweiler (D) - Helmut Hüeshner (Team Coach), Beatrix Coischon, Heinz-Peter Furens, Rolf Goldau, Angelica Lehric, Gerd Norimann, Wolfgang Reine, Peter Simmermans, Rita Simmermans, Norbert Schwantrinck, Norbert Schwatz, Kornelia Spielberg, Herbert Ullman, Margret Vornrat;
Saint-Gaudens (F) - Robert Croux (Team Coach), Brigitte Ousset (Team Captain), Marianne Baillant, Michele Narbone, Patrick Rive;
Cambridge (GB)  - Mike Boardman (Team Manager), Eddie Sharp (Co-Team Coach), Terry Welham (Co-Team Coach), Derek Allinson, Robert Baldwin, Jane Barber, Anthea Beauchamp, Tony Bevan, Chandrasekhar Bodapati, Phillip Bramford, Patricia Buck, Caroline Cannon, Julie Dias, Hallam Doyle, Ann Ekin, Helen Ford, Jane Freeman, Claire Goodwin, Christopher Heron, Glenn Horridgee, Shelagh James, Lesley Kemp, Michael Lamb, Maria Mastella, Colin Mathieson, Angela Maxted, Maureen Parnell, Michael Rayson, Linda Roberts, Susan Sanford, Roger Sanford, John Saxton, Derek Smiley, Roger Steedman, Alison Stevens, David Stevens, Diane Stevens, Nicola Stevens, Melvyn Stewart, Paul Stewart, Steven Tennant, Ian Thompson, Stuart Weston;
Steenwijk (NL) - Eska Bolk, Claudine van Heuten, Joop Jansen, Anita de Jong.

Games (Official Titles): Boarding Party, Setting Sail, Man Overboard, Bread Boat, Raising the Anchor, Provisioning the Ship, Walking the Plank and Abandon Ship;
Fil Rouge: Rescue;
Reserve Game: Rope Climb (unused);
Jokers: Pirates with Parrots.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
=4th
=4th
6th
7th

 NL • Steenwijk ● ●
 B • Waterloo
 I • Valmadrera
 CH • Sainte-Croix
 D • Baesweiler
 GB • Cambridge
 F • Saint-Gaudens

38
36
35
30
30
29
24

The Venue

Southport, Great Britain

This heat was held in the Open-Air Sea Bathing Lake located in Southport’s Princes Park. The aim of the lake, opened in 1926, was to provide a large open-air sea bathing lake for mixed bathing. The lake was situated in the Princes Park and cost £60,000 to construct. It was built in the form of an oval measuring 330ft in length and 212ft in width and was surrounded by a grass border and gardens. The lake provided room for around 650 bathers. Today, the pool no longer exists as it was demolished in the late 1980s, and is now a large retail park, comprising mainly of restaurants such as McDonald’s, Nando’s and Chiquito’s and a Sports and Fitness Centre.

The impressive galleon which was the centrepiece of the event was not a true seafaring vessel and had been constructed by the BBC especially for this International Heat. David Ashurst of Southport takes up the story: "I remember as a child swimming in the outdoor pool in the summer of 1975, whilst the big galleon was being built in the deep end of the pool, which was cordoned off from the regular bathers for the sake of safety. The pool was only closed to the public a couple of days before the competition was staged, so we enjoyed watching all the preparations take place around us. As many people who watched the show knew, the competitors trained hard physically in order to take part. However, in the case of the Southport event, the competitors were put through a tough ordeal even by JSF standards as much of the event was water based and the pool was filled with unheated sea water. To make matters worse, the Galleon was built over the deep end of the pool and the event was recorded in the evening once the warmth of the sun had gone - those waters were very cold indeed. For many years afterwards, there were rust marks on the sandstone steps in the shallow end of the pool, showing where the scaffold legs on the staging had been anchored. These acted as the only poignant reminders of a great fun day, which seems a memory of another lifetime. Sadly, the Sea Bathing Lake was demolished at the end of the Eighties, to make way for more modern amenities. It was a great loss to local people, young and old alike, and also the loss of an architectural gem of a lido. After the show, the local authority placed the great galleon into storage, with the intention of it being placed in the local Marine Lake for all to see. Unfortunately, this plan never became a reality, and I assume the galleon rotted away over time. It was a magnificent structure and a great credit to the BBC and local organisers. It was such a shame that it was not put to use in another way after the show."

The Rehearsals

The final rehearsal for this heat on the night of Monday 11th August 1975 was disrupted due to an overheating power generator which caught fire at the Southport location. After a short period during which Eddie Waring, Stuart Hall and Gennaro Olivieri lead the audience in a rather tuneless rendition of Down by the Old Mill Stream to keep everyone entertained, the rehearsal concluded in low light conditions. The lead-in to the recording had already been set back due to heavy rain, which had made construction of the set difficult and had fused the spotlights at the Open-Air Sea Bathing Lake.

The Southport team of 1974 (who had qualified for Jeux Sans Frontières in Bouillon and were in training to compete in It's A Christmas Knockout) were brought in by the BBC to demonstrate the games to the competitors. During the lead-in to the Southport Jeux Sans Frontières, members of the Southport team participated in a charity cricket match at Birkdale Cricket Club. This was staged to entertain (and frankly bemuse) some of the visiting team members and a local audience. The cricket teams included BBC presenters Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring, International referee Gennaro Olivieri and comedians George Roper, Les Dawson and Tom O'Connor. O'Connor would go on to be a guest presenter on It's A Knockout in 1982 and Dawson likewise in The Grand Knockout Tournament of 1987. Footage from this cricket match was included in the BBC's Behind the Scenes: Four Days in Southport with Jeux Sans Frontières documentary which filmed the work behind the scenes on the Southport It's A Knockout. The documentary was eventually transmitted by the BBC a year later on Sunday 19th September 1976!

The Games in Detail

Game 1 - Boarding Party

Image © BBC, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Baesweiler (D) (6pts awarded / Joker / 6pts total) =1st Cambridge (GB) (6pts / 6pts) 3rd Waterloo (B) (5pts / 5pts) 4th Steenwijk (NL) (4pts / 4pts) =5th Sainte-Croix (CH) (2pts / Joker / 2pts) =5th Saint-Gaudens (F) (2pts / 2pts) 7th Valmadrera (I) (--- / 0pts)

Game 2 - Setting Sail

Image © BBC, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Baesweiler (D) (6pts awarded / 12pts total) 2nd Cambridge (GB) (4pts / 10pts) ▼ =3rd Waterloo (B) (1pt / 6pts) =3rd Saint-Gaudens (F) (4pts / Joker / 6pts) ▲ =5th Sainte-Croix (CH) (3pts / 5pts) =5th Valmadrera (I) (5pts / 5pts) ▲ 7th Steenwijk (NL) (--- / 4pts) ▼

Game 3 - Man Overboard

Image © BBC, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: =1st Baesweiler (D) (3pts awarded / 15pts total) =1st Cambridge (GB) (5pts / 15pts) ▲ 3rd Saint-Gaudens (F) (6pts / 12pts) ▲ 4th Steenwijk (NL) (4pts / 8pts) ▲ 5th Sainte-Croix (CH) (2pts / 7pts) =6th Waterloo (B) (--- / 6pts) ▼ =6th Valmadrera (I) (1pt / 6pts) ▼

Game 4 - Bread Boat

Image © BBC, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Baesweiler (D) (5pts awarded / 20pts total) 2nd Cambridge (GB) (2pts / 17pts) ▼ 3rd Saint-Gaudens (F) (4pts / 16pts) 4th Steenwijk (NL) (6pts / 14pts) 5th Valmadrera (I) (3pts / 9pts) ▲ =6th Waterloo (B) (1pt / 7pts) =6th Sainte-Croix (CH) (--- / 7pts) ▼

Game 5 - Up Anchor

Image © BBC, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Baesweiler (D) (--- awarded / 20pts total) =2nd Waterloo (B) (12pts / Joker / 19pts) ▲ =2nd Saint-Gaudens (F) (3pts / 19pts) ▲ =2nd Cambridge (GB) (2pts / 19pts) =2nd Valmadrera (I) (10pts / Joker / 19pts) ▲ 6th Steenwijk (NL) (4pts / 18pts) ▼ 7th Sainte-Croix (CH) (3pts / 10pts) ▼

Game 6 - Provisioning the Ship

Image © BBC, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Steenwijk (NL) (6pts awarded / 24pts total) ▲ =2nd Waterloo (B) (4pts / 23pts) =2nd Baesweiler (D) (3pts / 23pts) 4th Valmadrera (I) (2pts / 21pts) ▼ 5th Cambridge (GB) (1pt / 20pts) ▼ 6th Saint-Gaudens (F) (--- / 19pts) ▼ 7th Sainte-Croix (CH) (6pts / 16pts)

Game 7 - Walking the Plank

Image © BBC, 1975

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Waterloo (B) (6pts awarded / 29pts total) ▲ =2nd Baesweiler (D) (5pts / 28pts) =2nd Steenwijk (NL) (4pts / Joker / 28pts) ▼ 4th Valmadrera (I) (4pts / 25pts) =5th Saint-Gaudens (F) (1pt / 20pts) ▼ =5th Cambridge (GB) (--- / 20pts) ▲ 7th Sainte-Croix (CH) (3pts / 19pts)

Fil Rouge, Round 7 - Rescue

Final Fil Rouge Standings: 1st Cambridge (GB) 2nd Steenwijk (NL) 3rd Valmadrera (I) 4th Sainte-Croix (CH) =7th Waterloo (B) =7th Baesweiler (D) =7th Saint-Gaudens (F)

Running Scores and Positions: 1st Steenwijk (NL) (6pts awarded / 34pts total) ▲ =2nd Waterloo (B) (1pt / 30pts) ▼ =2nd Valmadrera (I) (5pts / 30pts) ▲ 4th Baesweiler (D) (1pt / 29pts) ▼ 5th Cambridge (GB) (7pts / 27pts) 6th Sainte-Croix (CH) (4pts / 23pts) ▲ 7th Saint-Gaudens (F) (1pt / 21pts) ▼

Game 8 - Abandon Ship

Final Scores and Positions: 1st Steenwijk (NL) (4pts awarded / 38pts total) 2nd Waterloo (B) (6pts / 36pts) 3rd Valmadrera (I) (5pts / 35pts) ▼ =4th Sainte-Croix (CH) (7pts / 30pts) ▲ =4th Baesweiler (D) (1pt / 30pts) 6th Cambridge (GB) (2pts / 29pts) ▼ 7th Saint-Gaudens (F) (3pts / 24pts)

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

After the Italian team had participated in the third game, presenter Stuart Hall greeted them, speaking in his broken Italian language. Before announcing the result, Gennaro Olivieri somewhat sarcastically said to Stuart Hall, “What lovely Italian language you speak”. This caused some hilarity not only with Hall but also from the West German commentary box.

Throughout the competition, both Stuart Hall and co-presenter Eddie Waring repeatedly referred to the Italian team as Valdamera. On introducing the Italian competitor at the beginning of the sixth game as coming from Valdamera, she pointed out to him that the name of the town was Valmadrera and not Valdamera!

Eddie Waring made a blooper in this heat by stating that this was the 100th International Heat that Gennaro Olivieri had refereed. However on counting back (excluding the annual Christmas programmes which were played purely for fun) this was in fact the 108th International he had refereed! And if the Winter series of 1965-68 were not included in the total, then this would have only have been his 89th one!

Looks Familiar?

Game 3 - 'Raising the Sails' - would later reappear in JSF 1999 Heat 6 at La Castella, Italy, as 'La Vela' (The Sail), the third game of that programme.

Additional Information

When the teams arrived in the arena on the night of recording, each team captain presented gifts to each of the other teams: Waterloo (B) presented T-shirts; Sainte Croix (CH) presented musical boxes; Saint-Gaudens (F) presented French loaves; Cambridge (GB) presented scarves; Valmadrera (I) presented chocolates and Steenwijk (NL) presented toiletries. The Baesweiler (D) team stated that they had misplaced their gifts but hoped that they would be presented before the team departed. The Southport team from 1974 which demonstrated the games also presented gifts of T-shirts, sticks of Southport rock, town guides and plaques to each of the competing teams.

Usually in Jeux Sans Frontières, teams participated in games in random order. However in this heat (with the exception of Games 1 and 8, where all teams participated together), the order of play in each game was strictly alphabetical based upon the teams' country codes (i.e. B, then CH, followed by D, and so on). If a game was played over three heats, those heats would also be populated alphabetically, with B paired with CH, D with F, etc. Although the games were played in alphabetical order, they rotated the starting team so that each team would have at least one game where they started first (the exception being the Netherlands. The easiest way to demonstrate the running order is to reproduce the team orders for the games affected:

For no clear reason, the name of Dutch team Steenwijk was written as ‘Steenwyk’ on the scoreboard at this heat as well as the International Final. This may sound stranger than it seemed because when the names of the qualifying teams for the International Final were displayed at the end of the programme, the name was displayed correctly as Steenwijk!

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

B

Jeux Sans Frontières 1975

International Final

Event Staged: Tuesday 26th August 1975
Venue: Grote Markt, Ieper / Ypres, Belgium

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
BRT (B): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
RTB (B): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.20pm (Live)
SSR (CH): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
SRG (CH): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
TSI (CH): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.25pm (Live)
WDR 1 (D): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.30pm (Live)
Nederland 2 (NL): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 9.05-10.45pm (Live)
RAI Due (I): Tuesday 26th August 1975, 10.05-11.30pm (Live - DST)
RTP 2 (P): Tuesday 30th September 1975, 10.00-11.30pm
BBC1 (GB exc. Wales): Wednesday 15th October 1975, 6.50-8.10pm
BBC1 Wales (CYM): Sunday 19th October 1975, 1.55-3.15pm

Winners’ Trophies presented by: Paul Boule, Controller of BRT Television

Theme: Love and Marriage

Teams: Knokke-Heist (B) v. Faido (CH) v. Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) v.
Nancy (F) v. Swansea (GB) v. Riccione (I) v. Steenwijk (NL)

Team Members included:
Faido (CH) - Renata Gobi;
Knokke-Heist (B) - Paul van der Kochkerholm;
Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) - Hannelore Grimm (Co-Team Coach), Rolf Schube (Co-Team Coach), Klaus Britsch, Inge Gleich, Günter Heinle, Karl-Heinz Jablinski, Wolfgang Jogwer, Frieder Kling, Markus Kling, Bärbel Mack, Gerhard Müller, Jürgen Ruof, Wolfgang Sinn, Ellen Tiedtke, Edeltraud Wachtler, Christian Walter;
Nancy (F) - André Laurain (General Captain), Jean Pierre Desquatre (Team Captain), Anne Marie Blot, Joëlle Carpentier, Thierry Dabrowski, Jacques Dechoux, Marie France Gauge, André Leblanc, François Lombard, Josette Lombard, Alain Macchia, Jean Novena, Maurice Rejwerski, Christian Ries and Nadine Thirion;
Swansea (GB) - Alan Major (Team Trainer), Robert Sullivan (Team Captain), J Alksanas, Jeff Buller, D Davies, Christine Griffiths, J Griffiths, S Hayler, Susan Isaac, J Jones, Lee Jones, R Luke, A Mages, Chris Moore, Paul Preedy, P Ronan, Robert Shaddick, Steve Seaman, William Sterio, G Sullivan, Peter Thomas, Wendy Watson, Rose Williams, Mandy Wood, S Yeandle;
Riccione (I) - Leopoldo Carlini (Co-Team Coach), Tiziano Mulazzoni (Co-Team Coach), Franco Geminiani (Team Captain), Giuliana Amici, Maria Luisa Balzelli, Giovanni Bezzi, Cecilia Bindelli, Luciano Caimi, Stefano Carlini, Katya Cerri, Stefania Conti, Walter Corbelli, Daniela de Nittis, Dario Dradi, Margherita Gasparini, Roberto Giannini, Federico Guardagli, Fernanda Lanci, Dario Lorenzini, Renzo Magnani, Ugo Montevecchi, Davide Monti, Gabriella Moretto, Giorgi Mulazzoni, Riccardo Mulazzoni, Monica Mussoni, Pierluigi Pellizzola, Riccardo Proti, Leda Ricci, Santo Rossi, Vittorio Servadio, Maurizio Sorci, Roberto Tontini, Maria Ugolini and Patrizia Vandi;
Steenwijk (NL) - Eska Bolk, Claudine van Heuten, Joop Jansen, Anita de Jong.

Games (Official Titles): Grotbewoners (Cave-Dwellers), Bruidsgeschenken (Bridal Gifts), Just Married (Just Married), De Wasdag (Washing Day), De Ooievaar (The Stork), Eerlijk Delen (Fair Sharing), Het Ontbijt (Breakfast) and Het Behangen (Paper-Hanging);
Fil Rouge: De Jaloerse Vrouwen (The Jealous Women);
Jokers: Cats.

Game Results and Standings