"THE ZANY OLYMPICS" HEATS OF JSF 76 - THE FUN & GAMES EUROPEAN GAME SHOW THAT TOOK PLACE IN Liège, Belgium. GREAT GAMES , GREAT MEMORIES GREAT ENTHUSIASM AND THE GREAT STUART "HA HA" HALL COMMENTATES FROM THIS BBC AUG 1976 TRANSMISSION. ENJOY TV WHEN IT WAS FUN ALL THE WAY. MORE DETAILS BELOW:-
"SPOILER" ALERT BELOW IF YOU DONT WANT TO KNOW THE RESULT:-
Did You Know?
This heat was held in Cointe, a western suburb of the city of Liège. The games arena was located in a multi-functional leisure complex known as Le Plaine - loosely translated as The Play Area. The facilities in the complex include basketball, tennis and volleyball courts, a rifle range and a full-size football pitch surrounded by an athletics track. Each of the sports has its own particular area and is cordoned off from each other by small hand barriers. However, when the programme was held there, many of these barriers had to be removed and special flooring was laid over the courts' bases to protect the surfaces.
The programme opened with the teams being led into the arena by Le Royal Guidon Hesbignon Fanfare Cycliste de Haneffe. Comprising 50 members on bicycles (some of them on tandems), the band is located in Haneffe in the heart of the province of Liège and is one of the most active companies in the community. The band has played the role of ambassador for the city for well over 100 years, with invitations to play from not only towns in Belgium but also in France, Germany, Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Entering the arena to some typical Belgian speciality tunes, halfway into the arena they segued into Knees Up! Mother Brown halfway through!
British team Thurrock was very unfortunate in this heat with malfunctioning equipment. On Game 3 - 'Water Tandem Ride' - a broken bicycle saddle hindered the team in completing the course - which had also hampered the Netherlands team - but a re-run was granted by referee Gennaro Olivieri for both teams. On Game 6 - 'Suspended Unicycles' - some 'faulty' equipment caused the British team to be unable to complete the course, after the suspended unicycle had come off its wire causing the equipment to jam. However, on this occasion Gennaro Olivieri refused a re-run stating that, "We won't give another start because the material is quite okay. It is up to the competitors not to put out the bike".
Swiss team La Neuveville were a very strong team and had, in fact won the competition after Game 7, even before the last Fil Rouge had been played! The team participated again when they joined forces with neighbouring town Nods in 1992.
With the Dutch team Hilvarenbeek finishing in 2nd place with 40 points, they were tied with their countrymen from Pijnacker (Heat 1) in terms of qualification for the International Final. As both teams had won three games and come second in one each, qualification was ultimately decided on a countback of third place finishes, with Hilvarenbeek having achieved two to Pijnacker's one. This was the first time that an International Final competitor had been decided in this way, although a similar happening had occurred in 1975, again with the Dutch teams!
There was a summer break of four weeks between the staging and recording of International Heats 4 and 5 of Jeux Sans Frontières. This was due to the XXIst Summer Olympic Games being held in Montreal, Canada between Saturday 17th July and Sunday 1st August 1976. This break allowed broadcasters to carry live coverage of the events and free up technical, administrative and presentation staff and resources for the sporting tournament.
