It's A Christmas Knockout 1978

Festive Jeux Sans Frontières Special

Entrants 1978: Belgium (B) • Switzerland (CH) •
Great Britain (GB) • Italy (I) • Netherlands (NL)

Presenters:
Michel Lemaire (B)
Georges Kleinmann (CH)
Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring (GB)
Barbara Marchand and Giuseppe "Beppe" Viola (I)
Barend Barendse and Dick Passchier (NL)

International Referees:
Gennaro Olivieri
Guido Pancaldi

National Referees:
Mike Swann (GB)

Production Credits:

National Producers: Cecil Korer (GB), Games Designer: Adolfo 'Popi' Perani; Producers: Jean Luc Balmer and Marius Berger; Director: Jean Bovon

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

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

CH

It's A Christmas Knockout 1978

Christmas Special

Event Staged: Tuesday 12th December 1978
Venue: Sports Centre Ice Rink, Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
RAI Uno (I): Sunday 24th December 1978, 6.30-7.25pm (La Vigilia di Natale)

BBC1 (GB): Tuesday 26th December 1978, 3.25-4.25pm (Boxing Day)
Nederland 2 (NL): Monday 1st January 1979, 8.25-9.25pm (Nieuwjaarsdag)

Theme: Festive Fun

Teams: Liège (B) v. Villars-sur-Ollon (CH) v.
Richmond-upon-Thames (GB) v. Asiago (I) v. Dalfsen (NL)

Team Members included:
Richmond-upon-Thames (GB) - John Duncan (Team Manager), Kathy Barker, Kay Dibling, Michel Gladden, Dawn Kalber, Alan Luke, Hilary Osborn, Richard Philips, Harjeet Singh, Pauline Warmes;
Asiago (I) - Corrado Guglielmi (Team Captain), Lidia Bernardi, Giovanni Carli, Roberto Carli, Dori Debiasi, Franco Frigo, Cesare Gios, Maria Luisa Malfer, Giuseppe Pesavento, Antonio Rigoni, Vittorio Rigoni and Michela Schirott.

Games: The Old Year, Snowballs on Trees, Letters in the Sky, Collecting Presents, Uncorking the Champagne, Playing the Piano, Tug-o-War and The New Year.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th

 B • Liège ●
 I • Asiago
 CH • Villars-sur-Ollon
 GB • Richmond-upon-Thames
 NL • Dalfsen

26
24
23
14
10

The Host Town

Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland

Villars-sur-Ollon (commonly referred to simply as Ollon) is a small ski resort in the Vaud canton of Switzerland. Apart from being famous for its ski slopes, it is also known for its boarding schools, especially for Collège Alpin International Beau Soleil and English boarding school Aiglon College, two of the most expensive schools in the world.

There are around 270km of pistes for all skiing and snowboarding abilities and there is now also a snow park called '1984' that allows freestyle skiing and snowboarding.

Villars-sur-Ollon is also the home of the once well-known Ollon-Villars hill climb. Racing drivers from all over the world would come to participate in this internationally renowned event which began from the small town of Ollon at the base of the mountain. Participants would climb the mountain via 8kms (5mi) of roads, finally arriving at the top of the ascent in Villars. The event was popular in the Fifties and early Sixties, before laws were passed banning motor racing in Switzerland.

The Games in Detail

Game 1 - The Old Year

Game 2 - Snowballs on Trees

Game 3 - Letters in the Sky

Game 4 - Collecting Presents

Game 5 - Uncorking the Champagne

Game 6 - Playing the Piano

Game 7 - Tug-o-War

Game 8 - The New Year

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

Although Barbara Marchand co-presented this Christmas special from the ice for RAI, someone less familiar to Jeux Sans Frontières was in the commentary box for the Italians – sports journalist Giuseppe "Beppe" Viola (1939-1982), well remembered for his football commentaries and humourous personality. It's A Christmas Knockout (Giochi sotto l'albero to Italian audiences) certainly wasn't one of Viola's favourite events and at the beginning of the programme he told viewers: "It will be strange for you to hear me in this event, compromised in this game, but I am a full-time RAI employee and I have three daughters to feed, so since there are no football matches I'll be here with you on this Christmas Eve!"

Returning Teams and Competitors

Netherlands took part in this Christmas edition despite having dropped out of the international competition for 1978.

Additional Information

The scores in this heat were displayed on small square blackboards which were mounted on top of small railway carriages. The idea was that as teams ‘overtook’ their leaders the different carriages would be moved around into placings order by five small local children. However, the desired effect was lost by the fact that Belgium and Switzerland dominated the competition throughout and the other three countries remained in the same positions as the event progressed, and very little movement was required.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

JSFnetGB Series Guide pages researched by
Neil Storer and Alan Hayes
with Ischa Bijl, Julien Dessy, Sébastien Dias, David Hamilton, Denis Kirsanov, Paul Leaver, Philippe Minet,
Christos Moustakas, David Laich Ruiz, Marko Voštan and JSFnet Websites