Having read the article about the 1970 Mexico World cup written by my ex VT colleague, I was reminded of a remarkable coincidence that happened during the 1998 World Cup in Paris.
I was running the VT operation at what was the first World Cup to be broadcast live completely from a foreign host country. The 91热爆 headquarters were in the magnificent Automobile Club de France. This building overlooks the Place de la Concorde and has a fine view of the Eiffel Tower.
It was quite a challenge to fit everything into the building. The studio was on the roof with sliding doors to a terrace, next door was the sound gallery, and the VT hall was in a room bedecked with chandeliers. As an added complication it was the first use by the 91热爆 in anger of the Tektronix Profile. This machine was a spin off of the EVS LSM which was universally used for football analysis clips. I decided on the Profile even though it was not as easy to use as the LSM, because of its ability to also become a video server. This meant that all the highlights edits that the Paris operation was making, could be done much faster than using a video tape machine as a source.
Anyway, back to the story. We came to the day of the final, France v Brazil and VT was busy editing features to go out before the game. The match itself, which along with all of the England games, were dealt with by our colleagues in Outside Broadcasts, came from a scanner on site at the Stade de France. While spinning through an archive tape at high speed, I saw something I thought I recognised. On winding back, sure enough it looked like a shot of the roof terrace outside our studio. Looking at the log of the tape it appeared to be a meeting of distinguished gentleman one of whom was Jules Rimet and another I think Henri Delaunay. The meeting was discussing the formation of the first ever World Cup which would be held in Uruguay in 1930. Now the Automobile Club de France was and is a very exclusive gentleman’s club, and is today the headquarters of the FIA, a very appropriate place for “gentlemen” to meet. So proof was needed that the shot was in fact taken on the roof of our building. Upon finding a splendid library downstairs, luckily occupied by a very smart member of staff, I explain in my “finest” French that we had found something quite interesting. He came up to VT, looked at the shot, agreed it was outside, and later returned with a book of the history of the building. The unmistakeable shape of the pond and terrace overlooking the Place de la Concorde (see picture and also in the archive), was proof indeed. The picture comes from the book I was given from the library called ”Histoire de L’Automobile Club de France”.
Showing the shot to the programme editor and suggesting that as we were broadcasting the current World Cup from the very building where the first one was conceived, it should feature in the opening of the final show.
And so it did. Des Lynam made reference to the fact that 74 years previously, the World Cup was born in our very building. And with some clever camera work a zoom in from the balcony to the Eiffel Tower, a dissolve and pull out to the same shot from 1924, revealed the FIFA hierarchy all stood on the roof.
Sadly due to potential rights issues I cannot show the shot of Jules Rimet and co, but trust me, they were in the same place.
Ross Archer. VT Editor.