Source: http://jsf.hiddentigerbooks.co.uk/series_1970_jsf.htm
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 08:23:48+00:00

Document:
Teams: Deurne (B) v. Schwyz (CH) v. Kelheim (D) v. Albi (F) v.
Como (I) - Annalisa Ajani (Women’s Team Captain), Aristide Chezzi (Men’s Co-Team Coach), Dario Ostinelli (Men’s Co-Team Coach), Giampiero Ajani, Aurelio Balestrieri, Ezio Bardelli, Mario Brunello, Cristina Caimi, Andrea Castiglia, Elvira Cavicchioni, Giovanni Comerci, Antonio Converso, Sergio Favaron, Lia Giudici, Margherita Giudici, Luigi Greco, Anna Marchetti, Emilia Martini, Graziella Monti, Emy Montini, Milli Meri, Calogero Napoli, Pietro Normanno, Giovanna Rossi, Fulvia Rupcich, Antonio Stabile, Giuseppe Tantardini, Guido Tenconi, Giuseppe Terzo, Paola Valsecchi, Adriana Verdicchi, Alberta Viannello.
This heat was held in the gardens of the magnificent Villa Olmo, situated on the banks of Lake Como in Como, Northern Italy. Built in the neoclassic design, its construction began in 1797 and was designed to be a summer retreat for the nobles, hence its location alongside the lake. The villa was named after a remarkable elm tree which was planted in the middle of the ornate gardens. Sadly, the elm no longer exists.
The awarding of the points after the final game turned into somewhat of a farce when Guido Pancaldi and Gennaro Olivieri were given the incorrect time for the British team. Initially given a time of 2 minutes 29 seconds, the same as the Swiss. The points were announced and South Shields were awarded 5 pts, followed by Belgium (3 pts), Netherlands (2 pts) and West Germany (1 pt). A touch-judge then pointed out that the British team's time should have been 2 minutes 59 seconds and both referees, somewhat thrown into confusion by this, had to then re-write the game placings on another column of the blackboard, followed by the correct scores for the bottom four teams.
Teams: Zelzate (B) v. Val di Poschiavo (CH) v. Uelzen (D) v.
Assen (NL) - Harry Jonser.
Thw first game of this heat - 'The Water Mill' - was an interesting, simple game which was quite straightforward. The game involved a large roller with a foam rubber outer surface balanced over a large pool. At either end of the roller was a set of blades rather like those contained in a plane’s engine. On the whistle, whilst a competitor was standing on top of the roller, members from the five other teams (as each team missed out a game this year) had to direct high-power water hoses at the blades to make the roller turn. Once the roller began to pick up speed, they could alternate the roller’s direction by pointing the hoses to the other end of the blades with the intention of causing the competitor to misjudge his step and ultimately fall into the pool below. However, hilarity ensued when the competitors tried to outrun the direction of the roller, because it only made the roller go faster. The French team were confident enough to play their Joker on this game but had their hopes of winning dashed when the home team outlasted their time by ten seconds!
The Jeu Intermédiaire - 'Aquatic Quoits' - resulted in an unusual outcome. The game involved three male team members in the crow’s nest of a ship’s mast, from which they would descend by a wire over the lake. Below them were seven rubber rings marked with different values. The closest to the start was marked 1pt, the next was marked 2pts, the next 3pts and the fourth was marked 4pts. The fifth, sixth and seventh rings were marked 3pts, 2pts and 1pt respectively. The idea was for each competitor to descend the wire and release themselves in time to score the top score of 4pts, remembering to allow time for kinetic energy and gravity to drop them in the target required. All of the first six teams scored three direct hits into the 4pts ring and all scored 12pts. It looked like the game was going to end all square with each team getting 7pts each. However, the first Swiss competitor descended the wire and had obviously mistaken which ring to drop into as he passed the third ring and still hadn’t released himself. He then released above the 4pts ring but kinetic energy carried him to the second of the 3pt rings. This now meant that the maximum score the team could get was 11pts in total, which in fact was the score they achieved, and whilst the other six teams were guaranteed 7 pts each after the first run, the Swiss team were doomed to just a solitary 1pt, much to the dismay of presenter Mascia Cantoni.
The children of Swiss team members Dante and Monica Crameri - Alberto, Corina, Nando and Orlando - all participated in the programme for Val di Poschiavo in 1994!
Game 5 - ‘Serving the Beer’ - and Game 8 - ‘The Bridegroom’s Attire’ - were used in future heats of JSF. The first was used again in 1974 at the British International at Northampton when the theme of the games that night was 'The Wild West'. The game involved 'barmaids' sliding glasses of beer along the bar (as portrayed in many skits of Wild West films) which had to be caught by a team-mate. However, the team-mates were tied to an elastic rope and had to time it exactly right to run forward and catch the glass as it reached the end of the bar otherwise the elastic rope would retract, bringing him with it. The second of the two games was used, but in much more detail on 29th July 1981 at Meiringen-Hasliberg, again in Switzerland, to celebrate the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, which had taken place earlier in the day. The game in this heat involved a bride and her soon-to-be groom climbing into a small rectangular box and she had to assist him in changing his clothes from casual wear to his wedding attire. Elements of the game included trousers, shirt, tie, waistcoat, jacket, top hat and shoes.
After the second game, a technical problem with the live link at the site where the Jeu Intermédiaire was being held, led the organizers to shift the whole schedule throughout the evening. After the first game, there was no further play on the Jeu Intermédiaire until after Game 6. This then resulted in three rounds of the game being played consecutively by two teams, and the last two countries had to play the game after the outcome of the final game. For some unknown reason, despite the commentators expectancy of the teams to play the Jeu Intermédiaire in order after the delay, the British team played out of turn and competed sixth in order (instead of third) just before the Swiss team after the final game.
French team Aix-les-Bains, despite coming in second place on their Joker on the first game, led the competition throughout the night and had amassed enough points before the result of the Jeu Intermédiaire to have secured victory.
Teams: Namur (B) v. Vevey (CH) v. Delmenhorst (D) v. Lille (F) v.
Delmenhorst (D) - Monika Behrmann, Bernhard Ebrecht, Uva Ellmann, Ushe Fietz, Wolfgang Heuken, Juta Klaus, Karin Morgenthal, Karl Müller, Nikan Müller, Gerraut Pfink and Volker Pietrich.
Games: The Bowling Alley, Junkyard Water Carrier, Romeo and Juliet, Capping the Bottles, Conjoined Stilt Walkers, Death to the Spider, The Bath of Venus and The Great Escape.
Jokers: Joker Playing Cards (except France – Large Plain Card with two Joker Playing Cards placed in the centre).
This heat was held at the beautiful open-air theatre located on the Route Merveilleuse on the ascent to the Citadelle in Namur. Built in 1889, it was used to promote summer concerts of music, dancing and drama for the local inhabitants. Today it is known as Théâtre de Verdur (The Green Theatre) and since 1985 has been the home of the free annual Verdur Rock festival which is organised and coordinated by the Youth Service of the city of Namur. Although it is only a one-day event, the festival offers amateur rock bands a rare shot at playing before a large audience and with the theatre’s size, the festival has witnessed crowds of up to as many as 10,000 people in recent years!
British team Aberdeen started well in Namur by winning Game 1 - ‘The Bowling Alley’. The game involved a girl bowling two balls towards a set of fifteen pins. At the end of the alley, there were five other alleys set at a 90° angle to the first, and at the end of these were compartments numbered 0-4. There was also an extra compartment after the first five which was numbered 5, and if her ball was unfortunately hit by her competitors and ricocheted whilst still moving, it could drop into this compartment. However, if the girl had managed to pass all the other alleys without contact, the ball knocked down the pins at the end of the course. The number of pins knocked down plus another five (being the number of compartments passed successfully) were added together to give a total. Italy went first and could only manage a total score of 7 for the two runs. The British girl went second and scored 17 on her first run and repeated it on her second run to give a total of 34. Surprisingly none of the other teams could even beat the Italian score, and West Germany scraped home in third place with a total of just 2!
The Italian team of Siracusa (Sicilia) were very unlucky when they played their Joker on Game 4 - ‘Capping the Bottles’. The idea of the game was that two girls from each team with a maximum of four rounded poles each had to climb ropes on either side of a large bottle. On reaching the top, they had to place two of the poles across the bottle’s opening and then place two on top of them at a 90° angle. This was repeated and on exhausting their stock of poles they had to descend the ropes and repeat the course. They had to be careful not to produce too much swing when climbing and descending because the poles protruded out further than the bottle’s width and it was very easy for them to become dislodged by the ropes touching them. As time limit approached, one of the Italian girls touched the pile with the rope and it tumbled to the ground and exactly at that moment the whistle was blown for the game to end. One second later the girls would have had eleven sticks on their pile to give them 12pts, but the disaster left them with just two sticks and an unfortunate 2pts for their Joker.
Trailing the Swiss by 10pts before the final game, the Belgian team of Namur played their Joker on it. The Swiss team of Vevey had to finish in the first three places to guarantee themselves an outright victory (should the Belgians win the game). On the whistle, the teams had to climb a large wedge-shaped wall and, using a large plank had to traverse five more of them, and then raise their national ident letters to finish the game. The West Germans set off at a cracking pace followed by the Belgians, but it was soon clear that the Belgians had the game under control and eventually finished ahead of them in 1st place, securing 14pts. The Dutch team (also playing their Joker) finished next, and the Swiss team followed them home in 4th place to produce a tied match at the top of the scoreboard.
Before the programme started, Michel Lemaire introduced the British team first and the crowd was treated to a tune from eight members of the Aberdeen Bon Accord Ladies Pipe Band playing Scotland the Brave. As the introduction of the teams continued, Michel reached the French team of Lille, and they were described by West German commentator Camillo Felgen as coming from the city where French President Charles de Gaulle was born and raised. Ironically, later that year de Gaulle passed away in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises at the age of 79.
After their success in the first game, the British team Aberdeen team narrowly won the second game too and then came a close second in the third game. After this, the team then played their Joker on a very risky game - ‘Conjoined Stilt Walkers’ - and failed to score. Even the West German commentators stated that it was difficult to understand why a team would risk their Joker on this type of game. The team were awarded just 2pts and followed it up without another last place, two 5th places and with a dismal performance on the Fil Rouge, they finished in 5th place overall!
Teams: Ath (B) v. Savognin (CH) v. Radevormwald (D) v. Avignon (F) v.
Caernarfon (GB) - Michael Blake.
The idea of Game 4 - ‘The Cyclists’ - was for a young man from each team to cross the pool on a bicycle via a wooden beam. Whilst crossing the pool, he had to hit a cymbal hanging above the centre of the pool with a small hammer and then continue across to the other side. However, the game produced a protest from the West German team of Radevormwald because they were eliminated on the first round along with the French team. Gennaro Olivieri explained that the teams were told that they had to cross the beam on the bicycle without their feet touching the ground or the bicycle coming off the beam. Although the West German competitor had crossed the pool successfully he had clearly used his feet to help his balance.
Game 5 in this heat - ‘The Spacewalkers’ - was an unusual game in so much as the competitors played it upside down with battery packs attached to their torsos. Dressed in silver outfits and safety helmets like astronauts, the competitors had to hang upside down with their feet magnetised to a metal bar and their hands behind their heads. On the whistle, they had to walk across the bar ensuring that the boots were fully attached to it before removing their other foot - otherwise they would fall into the pool below.
Although this was French presenter and commentator Léon Zitrone's last year with Jeux Sans Frontières, he was re-introduced to European audiences in 1978 when he co-presented the annual Eurovision Song Contest which was held in Paris that year.
After the opening three International Heats of 1970 in Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, which were made and transmitted in black-and-white, this competition from Avignon was the first Jeux Sans Frontières to be made in colour. Despite this, local French viewers only saw it in monochrome.
When the teams were introduced on to the poolside, each held a placard displaying its name and country. On the placard of Great Britain (and the master scoreboard) was printed ‘Carnaervon’, which is strange because that has never been an Anglicised spelling of the Welsh town's name. The Welsh spelling is 'Caernarfon' and the Anglicised spellings are 'Caernarvon' and 'Carnarvon'. The Radio Times used 'Caernarvon' in its listing of this heat. We have elected to use the Welsh spelling.
In his introduction of the teams, West German commentator Tim Elstner mentioned that Caernarvon was famous for the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales at the town’s castle in 1969.
The Caernarfon team wore green t-shirts in this heat in addition to the normal red ones to represent the colours of the Welsh flag.
West German team member Heidemarie Rosendahl who was born in Hückeswagen, was an athlete who competed mainly in the pentathlon and long jump. She set a world record of 6.84m in the long jump at Turin in 1970 which stood for five years. She also went on to compete in the Munich Olympic Games in 1972, in which she won a gold medal for the long jump. She also competed against Northern Ireland’s Mary Peters (later to become a one-off guest presenter in the 1980 British Domestic series) in the pentathlon at the same Games. Presenter Simone Garnier gave her a special mention at the start of the team’s participation in the Jeu Intermédiaire after which she received a rousing hand of applause by the crowd. Interestingly, the West German commentators made no mention of this.
Teams: Genk (B) v. Locarno (CH) v. Kleve (D) v. Reims (F) v.
Hoogland (NL) - Paul Boon (Team Coach), Gerard van den Heuvel (Team Captain), Sjef Boon, Henk van de Corterlet, Gerard van Dijk, Carla Ebing, Eugène Eijssen, Henny van Hamersveld-van de Wardt, Ans Hilhorst, Kees van de Hoven, Diny Hulsegge, Mart Keet, Greet van ’t Klooster, José van ’t Klooster, Margreet van 't Klooster, Bert Kreijne, Gerard Kreijne, Jan van Middelaar, Elly Nieuwenhuizen, Kees de Ridder, Wim de Ridder, Annelies Schoonderbeek, Johan Smink, Truus Smink, Nel Tondeur, Evert Valk, Stien van Wee-van de Wetering.
When this Jeux Sans Frontières competition was held, Cardiff was in the county of Glamorgan. In 1974, as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, it became part of the newly created county of South Glamorgan. South Glamorgan consisted of the county borough of Cardiff along with the southern part of the administrative county of Glamorgan, and also the parish of St Mellons from Monmouthshire. Following the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, South Glamorgan County Council was abolished on April 1st 1996, with Cardiff becoming its own unitary authority.
Read James Cowan's excellent feature about this heat in the JSFnetGB Comment section and also his piece on Cardiff Castle's history in 1970 Venues.
On 4th August 1970, the 1969 Cardiff team were invited back to demonstrate the games to the competing teams in the build-up to this event. The dress rehearsal, staged the night before transmission, was won by the Belgian team from Genk - who would go on to repeat their success in the event proper. Genk's victory was not rewarded with qualification for the International Final, as they scored two points less than Namur had in Heat 3 (another joint 1st place finish). Namur's score would be beaten by Verviers in the next heat.
Early on during rehearsals, this heat demonstrated it was going to take a heavy toll on the teams: a member of the West German team fractured a collar bone, while two French and one British team member were treated for torn muscles. By the end of the rehearsal day, nine players were out with injury (by the end of the competition the total injured was to climb to eleven).
The teams entered the last game with Lowestoft (GB) leading with 36, followed by Hoogland (NL) on 34, Locarno (CH) on 30, Kleve (D) on 28, Genk (B) on 26, Rimini (I) on 25 and Reims (F) on 21. However, for the first time five countries chose to play their joker on the last game (still permitted in 1970), something which was to throw the order up in the air! The final game was as simple as it was spectacular. Two men from each country had to race down the course carrying a carriage towards seven castle towers, one for each country, on top of which waited a damsel in distress. They then had to climb the tower, hoist their country’s flag and rescue the damsel by carrying her down the tower and into the carriage. Once she was sat in the carriage, she had to be carried back down the course to stand on the podium at the end. As the game unfolded it became clear that the British who, while the first up their tower, had disappeared on the descent! The Belgians meanwhile had played a blinder and bombed back down the course with their damsel while most of their rivals were still descending their towers. Britain trailed inexplicably home in last place, way behind the other countries. The result, with the impact of the jokers added, completely altered the positions: Belgium was catapulted from 5th to joint 1st place with Switzerland on 40 points; Italy rose from 6th to joint 3rd with Britain and the Netherlands on 37 points; West Germany fell from 4th to 6th place with 36 points, with France the only country to hold its pre-game position in 7th with 27 points!
After winning this heat (albeit jointly), Switzerland set a record which stands to this day - the longest period without an International Heat win. The Swiss heat winner was Faido in International Heat 5 of 1975 - an unbelievable 34 International Heats later! Ironically, during this lean period, the Swiss managed to win two International Finals - one in 1972 and another in 1974!
Teams: Verviers (B) v. Estavayer-le-Lac (CH) v. Andernach (D) v. Angoulême (F) v.
Bassano del Grappa (I) - Giacomo Andriolo, Micaela Bariani, Ausilio Basso, Sandra Berti, Lucia Comis, Virgilio Crema, Ornella Fabris, Christiana Ferraro, Wilma Fontana, Giovanni Forner, Giorgio Giacobbo, Maria Mazzariol, Claudio Merlo, Sandra Milani, Fiorenzo Operti, Giuliano Pasuello, Walter Rubin, Daniela Scagnetto, Paolo Scagnetto, Ruggero Stragliotto, Antonio Tasca, Ferruccio Tasca, Paolo Tagnin, Franco Toborchi, Luciano Trento, Stefano Zampieri.
Jokers: Cartoon Jester Playing Cards.
Groningen is the capital and largest city of its eponymous province in the north-east of the Netherlands. It has a population of just under 200,000 inhabitants and is located 51km (31½ miles) east of Leeuwarden, 85km (52¾ miles) north of Zwolle, 147km (91¼ miles) north-east of Amsterdam and 35km (21¾ miles) west of the German border.
The city was founded on the northernmost point of the Hondsrug area (a large ridge of sand on which much of the province and neighbouring Drenthe is built). Groningen was founded around AD 950 at the site of a Roman camp and has a rich history, which can clearly be seen from the old medieval buildings in the downtown area. However, the oldest document referring to Groningen's existence only dates from 1040. In the 13th century, when the city was an important trade centre, its inhabitants built a city wall to underline its authority. The city had a strong influence on the surrounding lands and made its dialect a common tongue. The most influential period of the city was the end of the 15th century, when the nearby province of Friesland was administered from Groningen. During this period (1492), the Martinitoren (Martini Tower) in the market square was built, which loomed over the city at a height of 97m (318ft 3in), making it the highest building in Europe at the time. The city's independence came to an end when it chose to join forces with the Spanish during the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) in 1594. It later switched sides, joining the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
In 1614, the University of Groningen was founded, initially only for religious education and in the same period, the city expanded rapidly and a new city wall was built. That same wall was tested during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674), when the city was attacked fiercely by the bishop of Münster, Christoph Bernhard von Galen (1606-1678). Fortunately, the city’s wall resisted and this event, known as Gronings Ontzet (Siege of Groningen), is celebrated with music and fireworks on 28th August each year.
Groningen has been called the ‘World Cycling City’ because 57% of all journeys made within the city are by bicycle and, as is the case with most Dutch cities, it is well adapted to the high number of cyclists. A large network of bike paths make it convenient to cycle to various destinations and, within the city, the bicycle is the most popular means of transportation. Groningen's nightlife depends largely on the population of students studying at Groningen University (28,000) and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (25,000). Its cultural scene is vibrant and remarkable for a city of its size with the Grote Markt, the Vismarkt, the Poelestraat and Peperstraat (the surrounding streets) crowded every night of the week, with most bars not closing until 5.00am!
An absolute must for any visitor to the region is an excursion to the village of Bourtange. Located in the province of Groningen, it is actually 48km (30 miles) south-east of the city centre near the German border. Although it only has a population of 430 inhabitants, thousand of tourists flock to the village each year to see the star-shaped Festung (Fort) Bourtange. It was built in 1593 during the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) when William I of Orange (1533-1584) wanted to control the only road between Germany and the city of Groningen which at the time was controlled by the Spanish. The fort was used until 1851, after which it was given up and it became a normal village. However, around 1960, living conditions in the village deteriorated to such a state that it was decided that Bourtange would be rebuilt to its former glory and today it is used as an open-air museum.
The games were played on the market square in the city centre which until 1838 had also used for public executions. It is dominated by the Martinitoren, the Stadthuis (City Hall) and the Goudkantoor (Gold Office) and, until World War II (1939-1945), was considered to be one of the most beautiful squares in the Netherlands. During the liberation of the city (the Seige of Groningen) on Sunday 15th April 1945, the north and the east sides of the square were almost entirely burnt down, partly due to arson by German troops, partly due to shelling by Canadians. Fortunately, the Martinitoren and its church, the Goudkantoor and the City Hall were not damaged.
With the nine main streets in the city centre all converging on the market square - Martinikerkhof, Poelestraat, Oosterstraat, Gelkingestraat, Herestraat, Zwanestraat, Oude Boteringestraat, Oude Ebbingestraat and Kreupelstraat - there was speculation after World War II that the Grote Markt would be considered as a major traffic roundabout. Fortunately, this never came to fruition and with the introduction of the Verkeerscirculatieplan (traffic management plan) on 19th September 1977, the square became traffic-free except for buses and bicycles. Cars and vans are only permitted to enter the square on market days via Oude Ebbingestraat on the northern side. The Grote Markt was the main transfer point for local public transport from 1880 (first horse tram) until 1992, and this role is now taken by the central bus station at the Hoofdstation.
At the front of the Town Hall, a plaque has been mounted in recognition of the city’s Liberation in 1945 whilst on the south side there is one dedicated to the memory of the six city councillors killed during World War II. The current pavement was laid in 1926 and in the middle there is a compass rose, with its centre bearing a stone inlaid with the words '5 mei 1995, 60 jaar Bevrijding; 1000 jaar in vrijheid verder, 2995' (‘May 5th 1995, 60th Anniversary of the Liberation; 1000 years into freedom, 2995’).
Nowadays, the market is primarily known for its concentration of bars and restaurants on the south side, many of which were owned by Dutch hospitality entrepreneur Sjoerd Kooistra (1951-2010).
In the dress rehearsal for this event, Italian team Bassano del Grappa finished in first place, whilst Great Britain team Margate finished fourth ahead of Belgian team Verviers which finished in seventh place. And Margate became the first British team this year to win two games in a heat!
The Fil Rouge (called Jeu Intermédiaire in all the other heats this year) almost ended in controversy. The idea of the game was that two team members in a small wooden carriage had to come down a ramp of rollers towards a castle entrance gate. Atop the entrance were five guards on the ramparts which the two competitors had to knock down with wooden balls. If any were left standing, the carriage passed under the gate and into the moat at the end of the ramp. The two competitors then had to get out of the moat before the next players could start to descend. The West German team went third and seemingly completed the game in just two runs in 39 seconds. However, Gennaro Olivieri rushed in and declared their time was 1 minute exactly. Dutch team Aalten were last to compete and they came down the ramp very quickly in 16 seconds and knocked down four of the guards. The camera remained fixed on the next couple waiting to descend but no signal was given to the touch judge at the top of the ramp to release them. Eventually after 40 seconds the pair began to descend and successfully knocked down the outstanding guard in a total time of 1 minute 02 seconds, placing them in second place on the Fil Rouge. However, Gennaro Olivieri rushed in and nullified their runs and stated that they would have to have a re-run because of the delay after the first run. This resulted in the home crowd being ablaze with boos and whistles which drowned out the Dutch commentator’s explanation. On the re-run, the Dutch team proved that their first run was not a fluke and completed both runs in 39 seconds. However, the team had not been properly prepared and they had not started the game until 9 seconds after the whistle was sounded, but despite this the referees deemed that the team had completed the course in 25 seconds! Incidentally no explanation was given for the delay after the first run and fortunately the West German time error did not have any effect on the output of the programme because either way the team would have finished in second place.
Both the Belgian and Swiss teams played their Jokers on the last game and confused the home crowd somewhat. The Dutch went into the last game 1 pt ahead of the West Germans and four points ahead of the Belgians. The Belgian team won the game and Guido Pancaldi announced that the Dutch had come second. The Dutch team and home crowd believed that the six points had secured the home team victory and began celebrating whilst Guido continued to announce the finishing positions on the game. He then announced that Belgium had not scored seven points but fourteen points with the Joker. The crowd's jubilations were very quickly silenced whilst the Belgians celebrated their third victory of the year.
Five members of Italian team Bassano del Grappa - Virgilio Crema, Maria Mazzariol, Daniela Scagnetto, Paolo Scagnetto and Ruggero Stragliotto - had previously participated in 1970 as members of Italian team Adria, and all featured again in 1971 for Jésolo. Brother and sister Paolo and Daniela Scagnetto also returned to participate for the Jésolo team in 1976. Team member Wilma Fontana also participated in the teams of Jésolo (1971), Marostica (1974) and Jésolo (1976). Paolo Scagnetto again reappeared as co-team coach for Rosolina Mare in 1993 and Porte Tolle (Donzella) in 1994!
The city of Groningen was awarded the hosting rights for this city after Rotterdam, Alkmaar and Delft had also been considered as potential venues. The attendance figure for the event was given as 2,750 spectators and it cost 75,000 guilders (c.£8,700 at 1970 exchange rates) to stage. A large proportion of the costs was committed to the construction, purchase or hire of props and equipment, which comprised two pools each containing 50,000 litres of water, 120 tubes, 50 plaster vases, 2,250 tennis balls, 3 giant foam balls, 540m of curtains, 321 flower pots and 100 plastic balls.
The team from Aalten had originally been victorious in the Dutch Domestic series Zeskamp in 1968 and were invited to join the six highest scoring teams of the 1969-1970 series in this year’s series of Jeux Sans Frontières. All the qualifying teams were allocated their respective heats according to their finishing position with their aggregate scores. Aalten were given the honour to play hosts at this heat held in Groningen.
This was the first ever Dutch International Heat and it provided one of the closest competitions ever. After six games, only one point separated the top six teams, and before the last game it was possible mathematically for any of the seven teams to win the heat.
This heat was broadcast between 9.05-10.31 pm (the town clock was shown at the beginning and the end of the programme) so the TV companies whose broadcast ended at 10.20pm would have had to extend their broadcasts or miss the last Fil Rouge and final game!
Before the British team departed for London’s Heathrow Airport, Ronnie Corbett - now known as one half of double-act The Two Ronnies - turned up in the pouring rain outside the Council Offices in Margate’s Cecil Square, to help the Mayor - Councillor W.C. Goodrich - give the team a rousing send-off. The pint-sized Scottish comedian, who was appearing each Sunday at the resort’s Winter Gardens Theatre, arrived in his large silver Bentley and said, “I just had to come to see the lads and lassies off. They are such a grand lot and I hope they win in Europe”.
Throughout this heat, the British team wore the orange t-shirts used in their Domestic heat with their red ‘GB’ dossards, and the West Germans wore light yellow shirts with their light blue dossards. This led to some confusion for TV viewers watching in colour because the Dutch and Belgians were also wearing orange and yellow shirts respectively - their normal competing colours.
It was third time lucky here for the Belgian team of Verviers, who after 2nd placings in 1967 and 1968, finally managed to win an International Heat.
Oddly, the blue electronic scoreboard which would be introduced as the main scoreboard in 1971 was used as a secondary scoreboard in this International Heat, presumably as a test. The photograph below clearly demonstrates its presence at the event.
Teams: Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (B) v. Widnau (CH) v. Gelnhausen (D) v. Saint-Malo (F) v.
Ancona (I) - Giovanni Bellini.
Italian competitor Giovanni Bellini made the eighth of his nine appearances in Jeux Sans Frontières at this heat. He had previously participated for both of the successful Montecatini Terme teams in 1966 and 1967 and Terracina in 1968 (all of which reached either the Semi-Final (1966) or the International Final (1967 and 1968) and Frascati in 1969. He made his ninth and final appearance as a member of the Bracciano team in 1975.
Great Yarmouth scored 5pts on the last game to give them a score of 39pts, but the scoreboard only added 3pts giving them 37pts. However, by time the qualifiers for the International Final were announced, the referees had realised the error and Great Yarmouth were shown as the British qualifier. We have corrected both the results and the scoreboard as shown above.
The Dutch team of Alphen aan den Rijn, like national rivals Aalten in the previous heat - lost the competition on the last game. Leading the field by 5pts and the West German team by 10pts, all they had to do was to finish in the top three positions on the last game to clinch victory. West Germany played their Joker and scored 14pts but along with Switzerland and Italy, the Dutch team were disqualified and relegated to last place, scoring just 1 point. Fortunately, the 1pt was enough to give them a second place with 40pts - ahead of Aalten on 39pts - and a place in the International Final.
Like the Margate team had done in the previous heat, the competitors from Great Yarmouth (GB) sported the same coloured t-shirts that they had worn when winning their Domestic Heat. In the case of Great Yarmouth, this meant playing in light-yellow with the standard red 'GB' dossards.
Teams: Verviers (B) v. Vevey (CH) v. Radevormwald (D) v. Aix-les-Bains (F) v.
Como (I) - Giampiero Ajani, Aurelio Balestrieri, Ezio Bardelli, Mario Brunello, Cristina Caimi, Andrea Castiglia, Elvira Cavicchioni, Giovanni Comerci, Antonio Converso, Sergio Favaron, Lia Giudici, Margherita Giudici, Luigi Greco, Anna Marchetti, Emilia Martini, Graziella Monti, Emy Montini, Milli Meri, Calogero Napoli, Pietro Normanno, Giovanna Rossi, Antonio Stabile, Fulvia Rupcich, Giuseppe Tantardini, Guido Tenconi, Giuseppe Terzo, Paola Valsecchi, Adriana Verdicchi, Alberta Viannello.
The Fil Rouge - ‘Castor and Pollux’ - was a simple game and involved two female competitors standing on podiums in the pool. On the edge of the pool was a male team-mate, also standing on a podium, holding a 10 metre cane which had a flag of his competing country’s colour attached to its end. On the whistle, he had rotate on his podium and sweep the flag around and his team-mates in the pool had to jump and clear it and then land back on their podiums. Everything was going fine until about 45 seconds into the game, when one of the Belgian girls jumped over the flag and missed her footing on the podium’s edge and came crashing down hitting her face harshly on the top of the podium. Unaware of the seriousness of the situation, her male compatriot continued to sweep the flag, but her team-mate in the pool realised something was wrong and jumped off her podium into the pool to assist her. By now she was lying limp in the water and her compatriot swiftly helped pull her to the edge of the pool, whilst her team captain and medical staff quickly arrived. Obviously unconscious, the girl was lifted out of the pool onto the pool’s edge, and the game was stopped. She was seen being carried away to receive further medical help. Other incidents of this type have normally resulted in a re-run later in the competition. However, Gennaro came in to explain to Belgian presenter Michel Lemaire that they would only accept the score at the point of the accident. This resulted in Belgium finishing in last place in the game!
The last game - 'Romeo and Juliet' - saw West Germany, Italy and Netherlands all playing their Jokers, and was simply a case of Romeo bouncing on a trampoline and passing roses to Juliet high in a tower above. The weather once again played its part and the only three teams that were able to finish the game were West Germany, Netherlands and Italy, receiving 14pts, 12pts and 10pts respectively. The other four teams were all placed in seventh place and scored 1pt each. It should be noted that the Italian finished the game just two seconds before limit time. This close shave enabled them to win the International Final, because had they have been out of time, they would have received just 2pts and been demoted to 3rd place. As a result, the Dutch team of Alphen aan den Rijn would have been crowned winners!
Terry Wing, a member of the British team recently contacted JSFnetGB and told of a night that was memorable, though not always for the right reasons: "I was in the Great Yarmouth KO team in 1970 competing in the amphitheatre in Verona on the night of the rainstorm. We only managed to come 5th but we did win our Joker game. It was quite an eye-opener for us country kids finding that we were up against the likes of Heide Rosendahl, the German world long jump record holder, and a world champion trampolinist, but we had a wonderful time." In May 2011, Terry attended a Great Yarmouth It's A Knockout reunion. "There was lots of reminiscing, photos and Zimmer-frames. We saw a home movie showing our progress to the final, and the Christmas Special in Holland, where Chelsea footballers Peter Bonetti and John Hollins were part of our Great Yarmouth team."
This International Final was played out in an appropriately gladiatorial fashion considering the setting, but it will be remembered for all the wrong reasons - the weather, an injured player and a disappearing crowd.
News reports in the Italian press stated that a burst of heavy rain hit the Verona area at around 9.45pm on the night of the transmission. For this to be referred to as a heavy burst of rain was somewhat of an understatement! The weather had been very hot and humid on the previous three days, and on the night of recording, a massive thunderstorm passed over the amphitheatre bringing with it some of the heaviest rain ever seen on the programme, drenching the arena and resulting in the crowd, presenters and referees being completely caught out. The first signs that the rain was on its way was after about 39 minutes into the programme during Game 4 - ‘Centaur and the Nymph’ - when the West German team which had not yet competed on the game were disadvantaged. The game involved a girl chasing a ‘centaur’ and tagging it, but after the rain had started, the sandy ground became saturated and very slippery and the West German girl was unable to catch her quarry and finished in last place. Despite protests from the team’s manager regarding a re-run, the decision was upheld and the result stood.
The rain continued to pour and the heaviest came during the fourth round of the Fil Rouge, and for the remaining teams still to play in the game, it was a lost cause trying beat the previous three rounds played. French presenter Claude Savarit tried in vain to commentate on his country’s performance but the rain simply prevented him from seeing and speaking and he was not even given an umbrella!
Surprisingly, everything carried on as normal with no stoppage by the organisers despite the horrendous conditions, and it was at this point that the 30,000 crowd quickly dispersed and literally left the arena, never to return. By the end of the programme only about 5,000 spectators remained in the stands!
By the time the next Fil Rouge was due to be played, there was a slight respite when the rain relented slightly and although British presenter Eddie Waring commentated on-site without too much trouble, the game’s equipment was soaked and the competitors struggled to deal with it.
By the time the last Fil Rouge was played the rain had stopped and it was West German commentator Camillo Felgen’s turn to commentate on the game. However, Mother Nature had not quite finished yet. No sooner had Camillo returned to his commentary box when the heavens opened once again, only this time with more intensity, and continued for the rest of the programme. Most of the blackboards used to record the scores of the games were totally obliterated by the weather. For the referees it was a case of grin and bear it, as their freshly pressed jackets and trousers quite literally were turned into ‘sponges’.
As Gennaro recorded the placings and points on the blackboard for the last game, the rain was falling so heavily that it appeared as if he was standing under a shower unit, and all praise and respect should be given to the judges, referees, on-site technicians and stage-hands who worked tirelessly the programme, whilst incurring the wrath of Mother Nature.
At the end of the programme, although the weather had caused problems for all the teams, it was always going to be the Italians’ night after the fourth game, and they were not going to allow a freak thunderstorm prevent them from becoming the Jeux Sans Frontières Golden Trophy winners.
This International Final was very well attended, with 30,000 spectators inside the amphitheatre venue. Ticket requests were actually in the region of 40,000 and the Verona Committee of Tourism distributed 25,000 tickets for free.
The winning Italian team of Como received approx £4000 in prize money, Netherlands £2000, West Germany £1000, Belgium £500, Great Britain £350, France £250 and Switzerland £125.

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