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Title: HEAT OF THE GAME

Reference number: 6995

Date: 1960

Sponsor: Industrial Heating Division of the General Electric Company Limited of England

Production company: Turner Film Productions, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England

Sound: sound

Original format: 16mm

Colour: bwcol

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 28.43 mins

Description: Detailed account of the installation of undersoil heating at Murrayfield stadium, 1960.

39 miles of cable was laid on pitch, 6 inches deep and 6 3/4 inches apart. Only 1/2 inch of error in cable alignment across whole pitch.

Film dated 1960 from newspaper clippings.

Credits: Filmed by courtesy of the Scottish Rugby Union (sic)
ph. Ian W. McKendrick
ph. Peter D. Smith A.I.R.P.
comm.s. Frank Phillips
in charge of production Brian Nicol, A.R.P.S.
The main contractors were George McKinlay & Co. of Byre (sic) Road, Glasgow, who installed the electrical equipment. The cable was laid by Harrison McGregor and Guest Ltd. A David Brown Company. The installation was made possible by the very generous gift to the Scottish Rugby Union by Mr. Charles Hepburn

Shotlist: [col] Title, credits (0.39) elevated view Edinburgh Princes street, castle (0.46) gvs Scotland v France rugby match, intercut with crowd (1.07) Princes street, Scott monument, mist visible (1.11) ext. Scottish Rugby Union, pan int. Murrayfield (1.16) c/u newsagents signs 'Rugby International Postponed', 'Match Goes Into Deep Freeze', 'Heavy Frost Stops International' (1.21) crowd of men walking in street (1.31)[b&w] BBC newsreel January 1959 showing 4 marquees over pitch containing 68 oil burners and straw on ground (1.53) [col] pan Murrayfield (2.14) 3 men on pitch discussing undersoil heating (2.21) men with cable laying machine on pitch (2.36) plan of Murrayfield (2.41) layout of cables which is then superimposed onto plan of pitch (3.00) terminal trenches dug on pitch (3.05) cable laying in progress by use of specially designed mole plough (4.42) men looking at large stones found before surface (5.02) c/u stones and impact marks (5.09) broken turf (5.14) spot check on cable alignment (5.27) complete laying sequence (9.26) replacement of cable drums on tractor (10.06) hand laying of cable for remainder of distance to trench (10.44) 2 electricians check continuity and insulation of cable ends (11.24) dog (11.26) gvs laying with improvised weights added to machine due to hardness of ground (12.01) break in turf which groundsman repairs (12.11) gvs laying with support wheels to prevent sinkage (12.41) sunken goal post sockets, cable passes either side (13.21) view from terracing. Another tractor rolls the watered and completed portion of the pitch (13.50) c/u sealing off cuts by roller (14.13) machine cuts visible from terracing, sprinkler on pitch (14.39) Mr J. R. Escrit, Asst. Director of Sports Turf research Institute, and Mr T. Sellers, Murrayfield groundsman, examine the pitch 3 days after laying and rolling. Marks barely visible (15.13) periodical check on cable alignment with rope and measuring tape (16.16) gvs laying using modified machine with adjustable weights and suspension. C/u laying (17.22) c/u drivers guide pointer (17.40) c/u layer, break in turf visible (17.49) worms eye view (18.06) gvs test run (18.18) view from terracing as cable laying nears end (19.01) final cable put on machine in preparation for last run (19.30) last few yards by hand at dusk (19.41) gvs cold tails being removed from drums ready for connection to junction boxes (20.16) bunched cables in trench going into lead trench for distribution box at 10 yard intervals (20.33) c/u wiring of distribution box (20.53) int. main control room, man linking distribution box supply cables to the main switch gear (21.15) gvs completed installation of outgoing cables (21.45) view from terracing during wintry conditions, light snowfall (22.04) checking of inspection boxes, fuses and watertight covers (22.23) int. control room, man checking everything (22.55) c/u contractors, housing box closed and switch flicked (23.14) electricity meter (23.22) c/u time switch and thermostat (23.44) manual control switch (23.49) contractor coil switch for time delay operation (24.06) indicator box on stand (24.18) int. control room (24.26) ext. pitch, turf cleared of snow, snow around edges (25.00) c/u Scottish Daily Mail, Monday February 15, 1960 comparing snow- bound Easter Road football ground with clear Murrayfield (25.04) football match at Hampden, Scotland v team in white (England?) (25.24) mass of men making their way towards Murrayfield for Scotland v France in January 1960 (25.42) crowd entering through turnstiles (25.55) pan terracing (26.01) pipe band on pitch (26.04) French flag, cut to French team running on (26.09) St. Andrews flag, Scots run on. View from crowd of match in play (27.47) schoolboy fans cheering and dancing (28.02) empty pitch viewed from empty terraces (28.11) ecs (28.43)