Eurovision 1971: Dublin

Ireland’s first contest was held in a theatre celebrating its hundredth birthday. The Gaiety in Dublin opened in 1871, and in April 1971 some four hundred of its seats were taken out to make room for an orchestra and the cameras, leaving an audience of about seven hundred. Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir presented.

The EBU had spent the year rewriting the rules. Most of what changed in Dublin is still recognisable now.

Everyone comes back

The boycott was over. Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden all returned, and so did Austria after two years away. They came back, by all accounts, because the rules had been changed.

Malta entered for the first time. That made eighteen, equal to the record.

Germany’s Katja Ebstein was back from the year before. Belgium’s Jacques Raymond had last sung in 1963, and this time he was a late call-up: he and Lily Castel replaced the duo Nicole and Hugo after Nicole came down with jaundice.

Six on stage

Until now an entry had been one or two singers, with up to three more allowed behind them. From 1971 a country could put six people on stage. That is still the limit, and it is the rule that let groups into the contest.

Two jurors, in the building

The new voting system was built to do two things: produce one clear winner, and make sure nobody scored nothing.

Each country sent two jurors. One had to be between 16 and 25, the other between 26 and 60, with at least ten years between them. They sat in a separate room in the theatre, watched on television, and gave every song except their own between one and five votes. They had to write their scores down after each song, so that nothing could be adjusted later.

Then they were brought on stage and read out their own scores, three countries at a time.

It worked in one sense. The lowest possible total was 34, and nobody finished with fewer than 52. But the flaw showed straight away: some jurors gave almost everyone one or two. Whether they did it to help their own country nobody could prove. The system lasted three contests.

Previews

One more new rule was aimed at viewers. Every broadcaster had to supply a film of its song, and every broadcaster had to show all of them in preview programmes in the days before the final, so that each entry reached the public on equal terms.

The protest at the door

For RTÉ this was one of its first programmes in colour. The contest forced the broadcaster to buy colour equipment a year earlier than it had planned, at a time when about one Irish viewer in a hundred owned a colour set. The bill ran over the estimates, and cuts were made right across the organisation to pay it.

Some of RTÉ’s own staff answered on the day. They handed leaflets to the public calling for a boycott, and jeered and booed the delegations as they arrived at the theatre.

They were not the only ones outside. Official Sinn Féin picketed in opposition to Ireland joining the European Economic Community. Conradh na Gaeilge, the Irish-language organisation, objected to RTÉ producing a pop contest at all. The Irish Women’s Liberation Movement and the National Athletic and Cycling Association were there as well.

Monaco

Inside, Séverine won for Monaco with “Un banc, un arbre, une rue”. She finished on 128, twelve clear of Spain’s Karina. It is the only time Monaco has won.

Germany and Katja Ebstein were third for the second year running, the United Kingdom fourth and Italy fifth. Malta’s debut ended in last place.

And for the only time in the contest’s history, the acts that came second and third were given awards too.