Jeus Sans Frontiers 1975 Ieper (B) English Commentary Full Show

Event Staged: Tuesday 26th August 1975
Venue: Grote Markt, Ieper, Belgium

Theme: Love and Marriage

Teams: Knokke-Heist (B) v. Faido (CH) v. Bietigheim-Bissingen (D) v.
Nancy (F) v. Swansea (GB) v. Riccione (I) v. Steenwijk (NL)

Games: The Cave Men, The Wedding Presents, The Honeymoon Cars, Hanging Out The Washing, Arrival of The Storks, Paying the Taxes, The Drunken Husbands and Posting the Bills;
Fil Rouge: The Bride and Groom;

This heat was held in the beautiful Market Square in Ieper in front of the Cloth and City Halls. The two buildings have had a chequered history with both being heavily damaged during World War I. After the war with money paid by Germany in reparations under the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the main square including the two buildings were built as close to the original designs as possible.

The Jokers in this International Final were represented by cats. The reason for this was that in the Middle Ages, cats were believed to have been an animal of the Devil, and people used to throw live cats from the rooftops of the buildings. Today, the tradition is still preserved but not with live cats. The Cat Parade or Kattenstoet takes place every three years on the second Sunday in May. It involves the throwing of toy cats from the belfry and a colourful parade of cats and witches.

The seventh game - 'The Drunken Husbands' - provided some hilarity not only during the game but also whilst the referees conferred times. The idea of the game was that a 'drunken husband' dressed in top hat and tails would arrive home late from the local bar, only to be met by an angry wife. On the way from the bar, the husband had to traverse a moving conveyor belt avoiding large sacks being swung by opposing competitors, and changing from his evening wear into his pyjamas. On completion of this, he then dismounted the conveyor belt and had to greet his wife with a 'peck' on the nose. This was actually done by pulling down on the wife's nose which released a spring and her arms were raised complete with a wooden rolling pin in her hand.The first competitor pulled down so hard on the nose that the nose was pulled from its mounting and fell to the floor. Whilst replacing it the wife's bra fell to the floor also, exposing her bare chest behind. Presenter Mike Verdrengh quickly jumped in and picked up the bra and replaced it back in place, much to the amusement of the crowd, referees Gennaro and Guido and Mike himself. The Swiss team of Faido played in the last heat of the game and failed to come out of the bar after Gennaro had blown the whistle. After about five seconds he realised his mistake and came out of the bar and began to play the game. Gennaro blew the whistle and stopped the game and permitted him to restart the game. However, despite the restart he made a complete shambles of the game and finished in last place, and the team had trusted their Joker on him!

Swiss team Faido's performance in the International Final was in total contrast to their success earlier in Mannheim. Whereas the team had finished in first place on five of the eight games they played in West Germany, the team finished in last place on five of the eight games they played here in Belgium!

French team Nancy became the second team (joining Dutch team Alphen aan den Rijn) to reach consecutive International Finals. Having being placed 3rd in the previous year's final, the team were determined not to be outdone a second year running. They were so determined, in fact, that the Nancy team were celebrating before the final game, because they were 7pts clear of their nearest rivals Riccione, meaning victory was already theirs.