JSF Final 1994: Memories





Jeux Sans Frontieres 1994 Final by Brian.K.Outlaw

The Date is Thursday September 1st 1994 and i am in Cardiff Castle witnessing the rehearsal of the Grand Final of the Game Show JEUX SANS FRONTIERES!
The Weather is Fine and i am perched on a Balcony viewing events.
To just put this in to perspective,i am here because in early 1994,the "Family Channel",an entertainment-based Sky TV Sattelite Channel started showing edited versions of the show bought from S4C!
Those were from 1992 & 1993 and so i sent S4C a letter who then passed it onto "Nant Films" who were producing the Show "Gemau heb Ffiniau" in the Welsh Language and i was told that this curent run of 1994 would culminate in a Grand Final on Welsh Soil,at Cardiff Castle".
Naturally,being a Fan of the "old" show,i wanted to purchase a ticket and during the Summer i contacted CARDIFF CITY COUNCIL who were distributing the Tickets and £5 was a price that was certain to take me on this JSF adventure!
Getting back to that Thursday night,rehearsals took place in the dry and i found out a certain MARTIN MORLEY had designed the games for the Theme of the Final which was "Around The World in 80 Minutes In the Future"!
Now,having seen his work on Sky TV for the Rhyl Shows in 1993,i thought that this guy was a visionary and should be up there with the likes of Poppy Perrani,Willi Steinberg and of course Britain's own Stuart Furber!
You will see some of the Photos with this article that i took before the Recording of the event and i nosed round backstage about just who was competing in this Grand Final!
To you Greek Fans,when POROS was mentioned,i allready knew that they had played before in 1993,their first ever season in "PAXINIDIA HORIS SINORA" and finished a creditable Fourth in the 1993 Final held that year IN KARLOVY VARY in the Czech Republic"!
WREXHAM were the same as they had played before a few times and OLIVONE from Switzerland who actually won a 1977 JSF Heat at Evry st.Vrain on the Outskirts of Paris!
Now,there were a few "new" Nations competing alongside the old favorites from Switzerland,Italy & Portugal,there was Malta and Slovenia and of course the Eastern Europeans of the Czech Republic and Hungary!
Those last two having won the 1992 Final in TREBIC and exactly the year later in 1993,KECSKEMET!
So,Rehearsals were to go the way of OLIVONE from Switzerland with 80 Points,followed by SETUBAL from Portugal(78) and the Czech Republic's CESKA TREBOVA with 76!
The Full Scores were as Follows:
(1)CH OLIVONE 80,(2) P SETUBAL 78,(3) CZ CESKA TREBOVA 76,(4) C/GB WRECSAM/WREXHAM 66,(5) I VALLE D'AOSTA 65,(6) SLO BLED 64,(7) GR POROS 59,(7) H PECS 59,(9) M VALLETTA 46.
The Show was presented by S4C's NIA CHISWELL and IESTYN GARLICK with the help in the "CASINO" by Welsh Comedian JOHNNY TUDOR!
Fast Forward to Saturday 3rd September 1994 and i am in a queue waiting to get into the Final and a man in front of me mentioned that"LLANFAIR PWLL..." had finished 6TH the previous evening in Rome,Italy in what was the last Heat before tonight's big Final!
Sadly.the weather deteriorated into Heavy Rain and as i got in covered in my Welsh Flag,a Wrexham Team Member(A Female i might add!!!)shot back a wave and Smile!
The Show started at 8:30PM in the pouring rain and i must admit that the Arena was not full but the Greek,Italian and Portugese Fans were very voiciferous plus "us"(I am English by birth by the way!!!)Welsh!
On Game One "The World",WREXHAM threw down the Gauntlet and played their Joker.....they won it handsomely collecting a full 18 points(9 Doubled)to set the tone of the Show!
In the next Game,Game 2 "Paris" the Czechs Played their Joker also collecting the full compliment of 18 points and so you can see where this is going!!!!!
The lead was to Change hands between the two nations throughout the evening,The weather not dampening the ardent of JSF Fans including myself and that will be shown in my Pictures that you will also see with this piece!
A Real Band played throughout the precedings and they didn't get wet as they were in an roofed enclosure so they couldn't get a drop!
The presenters NIA & IESTYN were beautifully costumed but sadly they would fall foul of the elements but as thr real troopers they were,continued their way through the show!
At one time,IESTYN came to where the Welsh were and spoke a little English which i thought was a nice touch!
So,the event came to a climax and to the Last Game and by now WREXHAM had a point lead over CESKA TREBOVA!
As the others by now were out of the running it was all down to the Red Spaceship of WREXHAM and Orange one of CESKA TREBOVA!
The wet crowd couldn't anticipate what was about to happen,with the Welsh Fans including myself,on their feet Cheering their favorites on,it was neck and neck between the Welsh and Czechs throughout until the Czechs finally pulled away and claimed the 18 points on offer,Wrexham finished a close second but alas it wasn't enough!
One of my personal favorites for the event SETUBAL from Portugal were to finish well down the field as well as those strong Hungarians from PECS!
POROS,who were in their second consecutive Final finished a creditable 5th but the groan of the Welsh Contingent could be heard throughout the eain-saoked arena!
However,it was to be a fitting what was to be a last show for Wales but it was a case of so near,so far for the Wrexham team!
It had been a great event enjoyed by myself and all the various peoples of Europe and i now have to thank KOSTAS for the idea of doing this piece,CHRISTOS MOUSTAKAS for finally supplying me with a DVD Copy of my most memorable night albeit in Italian and also ROBIN EVANS & SUSAN WATERS of NANT FILMS for allowing me to make the dream a reality!
So,the Final Scores after an evening of wet weather and high drama were as follows:
(1) CZ CESKA TREBOVA 90,(2) C/GB WRECSAM/WREXHAM 89,(3) CH OLIVONE 74,(4) I VALLE D'AOSTA 66,(5) GR POROS 65,(6) SLO BLED 61,(7) H PECS 56,(8) P SETUBAL 52,(9) M VALLETTA 51.
There was a Christmas Special held at Cardiff Castle later that week but i only got to the Rehearsal,i was at Football on the Tuesday 6th September 1994 when the Christmas Show was recorded!
A night to Remember for Saturday 3rd September 1994,one that will remain in my memory forever!

 

 

12/2010