Interneige 1980
Winter Jeux Sans Frontières

Entrants Winter 1980:
Switzerland (CH) • France (F) • Italy (I) • Yugoslavia (YU)

Presenters / Commentators of International Competitions:
Claude Evelyne and Georges Kleinmann (CH)
Simone Garnier and Guy Lux (F)
Cecilia Buonocore, Sabina Ciuffini and Claudio Lippi (I)
Brano Ninković and Vojna Travanj (YU)

International Referees:
Gennaro Olivieri
Guido Pancaldi

Production Credits:

Unknown

Produced by SSR-SRG-TSI (CH), A2F (F), RAI (I), JRT (YU)

F

Interneige 1980

Heat 1

Event Staged: Sunday 3rd February 1980
Venue: Pentes de Ski (Ski Slopes), Le Mont-Dore, France

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
JRT (YU): Sunday 3rd February 1980, 1.00pm (Live)
RTP (P): Monday 4th February 1980, 9.10-11.00pm
Antenne 2 (F): Saturday 9th February 1980, 10.00-10.50pm
RAI Uno (I): Sunday 10th February 1980, 3.45-5.00pm
SSR (CH): Sunday 24th February 1980

Weather Conditions: Cold and Windy with Heavy Mountain Mist and Light Snow Flurries

Theme: Grand Hotel in the Snow

Teams: Les Brenets (CH) v. Le Mont-Dore (F) v.
Cavalese-Val di Fiemme (I) v. Gostivar (YU)

Games: The Guests’ Arrival, The Parallel Slalom (interspersed), The Luggage Racks, Tossing the Pancakes, The Champagne Bottles, The Wrong Doors, Room Service.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
1st
3rd
4th

Presenters, Officials and Production Team

The snowy weather conditions resulted in Swiss presenter Georges Kleinmann missing the recording entirely and he had to record a voice-over later.

Additional Information

There was almost a touch of déjà vu at this heat harking back to 1966 when a similar scenario actually caused it to be abandoned completely. The weather conditions as this event were appalling and at first glance it appeared that it could also suffer the same fate. With heavy mist blanketing the top of the ski slopes where all the games started and with all the cameras positioned on the slopes to take long shots of the games, the picture quality of the broadcast was very poor. Microphones became defective, cameras broke down and some of the sets were not delivered on time. With 60 mph gusts of wind and freezing temperatures of -20°C, it meant that most of the commentary from the on-site French presenters had to be re-recorded inside the commentary box later!

With some of the games being competed in unison, it was very difficult to establish which team was which as they descended the slope. The Parallel Slalom suffered the same fate but with a greater degree of obscurity. It was only due to ident letters appearing on screen to indicate which team was in which lane that viewers would know which was successful in each of the four runs!

The team colours chosen for the teams at this year’s Interneige were to have been those that had been utilised in the previous Jeux Sans Frontières in 1979, with Switzerland donned in light orange-yellow and Yugoslavia in a darker shade of blue than that of Italy. However, following the appalling weather conditions that were experienced at this heat, these colours were deemed not distinct enough to be recognised by the cameras on long shots etc. In the following heat, Switzerland had changed to red and although Yugoslavia continued on for a second heat in the Jeux Sans Frontières colours, by the third heat they had changed into yellow for the remainder of the Winter series. In the interests of parity, we at JSFnetGB have decided to show the teams in their final selected colours throughout.

The Swiss broadcaster SSR delayed their transmissions of the 1980 Interneige series due to the Winter Olympics.

Despite teams from Portugal not taking part in the series, Portuguese broadcaster RTP transmitted Interneige under the title, Jogos na neve. This translates into English as 'Games in Snow'.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in European Archives

I

Interneige 1980

Heat 2

Event Staged: Sunday 10th February 1980
Venue: Piste da Sci (Ski Slopes), Bormio, Italy

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
JRT (YU): Sunday 10th February 1980, 1.00pm (Live)
RTP (P): Monday 11th February 1980, 9.55-11.00pm
Antenne 2 (F): Saturday 16th February 1980, 11.25pm-12.15am
RAI Uno (I): Sunday 17th February 1980, 3.20-4.30pm
SSR (CH): Sunday 2nd March 1980, 4.00-5.00pm

Weather Conditions: Warm and Sunny

Theme: The White Circus

Teams: Zinal-Val d’Anniviers (CH) v. Serre-Chevalier (F) v.
Bormio (I) v. Kranj (YU)

Games: The Squirrels’ Nuts, The Parallel Slalom (interspersed), The Strongmen’s Dumbbells, The Horsewomen and the Flowers, The Ski Bombers, The Female Cannonball, Huskies and the Snowmen.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th

Additional Information

The French team comprised of members from the ski resort of Serre-Chevalier, situated in the French Alps close to the town of Briançon and the Parc National des Écrins.

The team of Kranj have the distinction of having competed in Jeux Sans Frontières for two different countries. Here, they represented Yugoslavia and then in 1996, the team played for the newly-independent Slovenia.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in European Archives

CH

Interneige 1980

Heat 3

Event Staged: Sunday 17th February 1980
Venue: Pentes de Ski (Ski Slopes), Torgon, Switzerland

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
JRT (YU): Sunday 17th February 1980, 1.00pm (Live)
RTP (P): Monday 18th February 1980, 9.45-10.50pm
Antenne 2 (F): Saturday 23rd February 1980, 9.40-10.30pm
RAI Uno (I): Sunday 24th February 1980, 3.15-5.00pm
SSR (CH): Sunday 9th March 1980, 4.10-5.10pm

Weather Conditions: Cold and Dry with Heavy Mountain Mist during latter stages

Theme: Professions

Teams: Torgon (CH) v. Morzine (F) v.
Recoaro Terme (I) v. Delnice (YU)

Games: The Laundrymaids’ Washing, The Parallel Slalom (interspersed), The Fire-Fighters, The Bakers’ Pretzels, The Chimney Sweeps, The Postal Workers, The Wine Makers.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
2nd
4th

Made in Colour • This programme exists in European Archives

YU

Interneige 1980

Heat 4

Event Staged: Sunday 24th February 1980
Venue: Skija Nagib (Ski Slopes), Jahorina, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
JRT (YU): Sunday 24th February 1980, 11.30am-1.30pm (Live)
RTP (P): Monday 25th February 1980, 9.20-10.30pm
Antenne 2 (F): Saturday 1st March 1980, 9.35-10.25pm
RAI Uno (I): Sunday 2nd March 1980, 3.45-5.00pm
SSR (CH): Sunday 16th March 1980, 4.10-5.00pm

Weather Conditions: Warm and Sunny

Theme: The Olympic Games

Teams: Les Diablerets (CH) v. Megève-la Blanche (F) v.
Gressoney-Aosta (I) v. Jahorina-Sarajevo (YU)

Games: Postcards and Olympic Rings, The Parallel Slalom (interspersed), The Giant Ski Mask, The Giant Fruits, The Rabbit Biathlon, The Butterflies, The Ice Hockey Pucks.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
2nd
3rd
4th

The Venue

Jahorina, Yugoslavia

Jahorina is a mountain found directly to the southeast of Sarajevo, bordering Bjelašnica mountain. Four years on from this event, as part of the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic Games, the ski resort of Jahorina hosted several of the disciplines itself. To a degree, this was seen as a rehearsal and fact finder for that coming event.

Returning Teams and Competitors

The Italian team of Aosta had previously participated in 1975 and 1979. They also joined forces with other neighbouring ski resorts to participate in 1977, 1979 and 1988.

A team from the ski resorts of the Gressoney valley went on to participate once more in 1992.

A team from the French town of Megève had already competed in the Winter competition of 1979, but the team joined forces with the ski-club of La Blanche to participate in Interneige 1980.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in European Archives

F

Interneige 1980

Winter Final

Event Staged: Sunday 2nd March 1980
Venue: Patinoire Centrale et Pentes de Ski (Central Ice Rink and Ski Slopes),
Megève, France

European Transmissions (Local Timings):
JRT (YU): Sunday 2nd March 1980, 1.00pm (Live)
RTP (P): Monday 3rd March 1980, 9.55-11.00pm
Antenne 2 (F): Saturday 8th March 1980, 9.30-10.20pm
RAI Uno (I): Sunday 9th March 1980, 3.45-5.00pm
SSR (CH): Sunday 23rd March 1980, 4.05-5.10pm

Weather Conditions: Cold and Sunny

Theme: The Spectacles of Paris in 1900

Teams: Torgon (CH) v. Le Mont-Dore (F) v.
Cavalese-Val di Fiemme (I) v. Jahorina-Sarajevo (YU)

Games: The Chickens and the Windmills, The Parallel Slalom (interspersed), The Matadors and the Bull, The Military Six Pins, The Nannies and the Prams, The Dogs and the Street Lamps, The Dandies and the Exploding Champagne Bottles.

Game Results and Standings

Result

 Team

Points

Final Scoreboard

1st
1st
3rd
4th

Additional Information

The winning team from the previous week’s programme, Jahorina-Sarajevo (YU) were simply shown on the scoreboard as Sarajevo for the Winter Final. No reason was given for this, but they are shown here with their original name.

No tie-break game was played when this competition ended in a draw. The four trophies awarded were silver goblets of increasing size and due to an oversight in the planning of this heat, the Italian team had to be presented with the '2nd' placed team's trophy whilst Yugoslavia were presented with the largest goblet. Presenter Guy Lux stated when awarding the trophies that they had a problem and that after the programme a duplicate winners' goblet would be presented to Italy.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in European 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