It's A Christmas Knockout 1977

Festive Jeux Sans Frontières Special

Entrants 1977: Belgium (B) • Switzerland (CH) •
Great Britain (GB) • Italy (I) • Netherlands (NL) 

Presenters / Commentators:
Michel Lemaire and Bérengère Pascal (B)
Georges Kleinmann (CH)
Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring (GB)
Ettore Andenna and Barbara Marchand (I)
Barend Barendse and Dick Passchier (NL)

International Referees:
Gennaro Olivieri
Guido Pancaldi

National Referees:
Mike Swann (GB)

Production Credits:

National Producers: Diane Lange and Nicolas Resimont (B), Marius Berger (CH), Luciano Vecchi (I), Dick van 't Sant (NL); Engineering Manager: Geoff Lomas; Sound Supervisor: John Drake; Videotape Editor: Les Matthews; Production Team: Alan Walsh and Alan Wright; Designer and Games Deviser: Stuart Furber; Producer: Cecil Korer; Director: Geoff Wilson

Produced by BBC Manchester (GB)
in association with RTBF-BRT (B), RAI (I), NCRV (NL), SSR-SRG-TSI (CH)

Key: International Christmas Special ● = Winner of Christmas Special   ▲ = Promoted to Position / ▼ = Demoted to Position

GB

It's A Christmas Knockout 1977

Christmas Special

Event Staged: Sunday 18th and Monday 19th December 1977
Venue: The Aviemore Centre, Aviemore, Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
RTP (P): Sunday 25th December 1977, 1.00-2.00pm (Dia de Natal)
RAI Uno (I): Sunday 25th December 1977, 6.30-8.00pm (il Natale)
BBC1 (GB): Monday 26th December 1977, 4.15-5.05pm (Boxing Day)
Nederland 1 (NL): Saturday 31st December 1977, 9.50-10.45pm (Oudejaarsavond)

Theme: Festive Fun

Teams: Namur (B) v. Les Brenets (CH) v. Aviemore (GB) v.
Bolzano / Bozen (I) v. Dutch 'All Stars' (NL)

Team Members included:
Namur (B) - Stéphane Guillaume;
Dutch 'All Stars' (NL) - Anton Geesink, Joan Haanappel, Jan Janssen, Atje Keulen, Ada Kok, Eddy Pieters Graafland, Eddy Vereyen.

Games: Fathers Christmas, Skiing, Christmas Stockings, Dog and Postmen, Horses (Musical Chairs), Ski Slalom, Rudolf the Reindeer and Christmas Puddings.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th

 I • Bolzano / Bozen ●
 GB • Aviemore
 CH • Les Brenets
 NL • Dutch 'All Stars'
 B • Namur

25
22 (*)
18
17
14

(*) Scoreboard corrected to show actual final score for Aviemore (GB),
incorrectly given as 23 on-screen

The Host Town

Aviemore, Great Britain

Aviemore is a small town with a population of around 3,000 inhabitants and lies in the Cairngorms mountain range in the Scottish council area of Highland. It is located 40km (25 miles) south-east of Inverness, 88km (55 miles) north-east of Fort William, 92km (57 miles) north of Perth and 105km (65 miles) west of Aberdeen.

Although the town has existed since the 1600s, it didn't really begin to grow until the latter part of the 1800s, with the arrival of the railway. In 1862, the first line was constructed and by 1892, it was an important junction with lines to Perth, Inverness and Forres. Hotels followed and Aviemore started its evolution into a mountain resort.

The second major period of growth was in the early 1960s and followed the development of the ski areas of the 1245m (4084ft) high Cairn Gorm. This led to the Aviemore Centre being built in 1964, which provided a wide range of services for visitors and residents alike. Unfortunately, Scottish architecture in the 1960s tended to view concrete as the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything. As a result, what emerged in Aviemore seemed more than a little reminiscent of the sorts of structures going up in peripheral estates around Scotland's larger cities at the time. Aviemore has spent much of the intervening four decades trying to live down the reputation given it by the Aviemore Centre.

Most of today's Aviemore looks and feels much better designed and cared for than that of its past. Despite this, although housing development has continued apace on the north side of the town and to the west of the A9, there remain areas closer to the centre where development does appear to have stalled and is simply awaiting a kinder economic environment. Aviemore has all the services you'd expect of the main town serving a very large area. It also has a theatre, a swimming pool, a dry ski slope and a go-karting track. The town still has a railway station on the main Perth to Inverness line, and for enthusiasts and visitors, steam trains of the Strathspey Railway run a regular service on a restored branch line from Aviemore to Boat of Garten and beyond. Closely following the route of the restored line is the southern end of the Speyside Way. This long distance path opened in 2000 and now links Aviemore with Buckie on the north-east coast.

Aviemore also offers plenty of shopping opportunities, many in recently face-lifted and refreshed shops. If you are looking for a supermarket you will find one. If you want outdoor or skiing clothing or equipment, you will find plenty to choose from. And you will also find no shortage of shops appealing to passing tourists.

The Venue

The Aviemore Centre

The games for this festive edition were played in the ice rink at the Aviemore Centre which was Scotland’s premier ski resort at the time.

Until the mid 1960s, Aviemore had been a sleepy and unremarkable village about an hour's travel south-east of Inverness, on the A9 and the Inverness-Perth railway line. The Aviemore Hotel had been destroyed by fire in 1950, and its site and that of its golf course lay in ruins for over a decade. In 1964, the developers moved in and transformed the place with the wasteland being used for the construction of the Aviemore Centre. The slopes of Cairngorm were developed for skiing and Aviemore itself was virtually doubled in size as a new holiday centre took shape behind the village. The Aviemore Centre consisted of hotels, shops, chalets, indoor sports facilities, a dry ski slope, a cinema, bars and restaurants and a craft centre.

It was opened in 1966 by Lady Fraser of Allander, wife of Sir Hugh Fraser (1936-1987), 2nd Baron Fraser of Allander and chairman of the House of Fraser. ’The Centre’, as it became affectionately known, quickly developed into a major Scottish tourist destination and, in its heyday, British royalty were regular visitors, including H.R.H. Prince Charles and Princess Anne who attended Royal Hunt Balls at the Centre.

Despite its profile, the Aviemore Centre generated a lot of flak. Not only did it more or less eclipse the original village, it pitched itself downmarket and, some would say, appeared to regard itself as the Blackpool of the Scottish Highlands. Its critics were less kind and denounced the concrete blocky appearance of certain parts of the development. There were tales of scams, corruption and sharp employment practices. A new shopping parade in the village itself added to the gloom, being very much from the cinder-block school of architecture. Parts of it were imaginative and tastefully landscaped but there was a definite atmosphere of shabbiness about the place and its visitors.

By the mid 1990s, the glory days appeared to be over and the place was looking distinctly tatty and badly in need of refurbishment. By 1998, many of the original buildings had been demolished as part of a promised £50 million overhaul. Although the visitor buildings were replaced, many of the other leisure facilities were not. A sad end to a once beautiful multi-purpose all-year round establishment.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

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