Italy wins OGAE Retro Second Chance Contest!

The results of the OGAE Retro Second Chance Contest 1972 have been revealed at the beginning of October. Italy won in the main category with the song Montagne Verdi, and France won in the Guest category with Une Belle Histoire.

The OGAE Retro Contest

As many fans know, the OGAE (the Federation of official national Eurovision fan clubs) organises several fan contests after Eurovision is over. The most famous is the Second Chance contest, in which songs that failed to win their national selection are given a second chance by the OGAE. Each club sends one song from their national selection, and fans vote for their favorite. Just like in Eurovision, the results are then converted into a Top 10 for each country.
This contest started in 1987, and the results of the 2017 edition were revealed a few days ago, with Sweden’s A Million Years winning with a landslide.
In 2003, the OGAE started two new contests, one of which was the Retrospective Second Chance. The idea was simple: since there had been national selections before 1987, many songs still deserved a second chance. Thus, the 1986 Retro contest was held in 2003, and won by The Netherlands and the song Fata Morgana.  Since then, the Retro contest has been held every year, “in reverse”. In 2004 was held the 1985 Retro contest, and so on. The voting usually opens after the modern Second Chance contest’s voting closes.

The 1972 Retro Contest

In August this year, the 1972 contest started, and OGAE members from around the world were able to vote until August 31st. Eleven countries competed in the main category: Finland, the UK, Portugal, Malta, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Italy and Belgium. 30 clubs were able to vote (not only the participating ones). Here are the results :

1. Italy – Montagne Verdi – 308 points
2. Germany – Geh die Straße – 198 points
3. Finland – Sua Rakastan – 187 points
4. Sweden – Säg Det Med En Sång – 186 points
5. UK – One By One – 184 points
6. Ireland – They Take Me Back – 162 points
7. Belgium – Femme – 141 points
8. Portugal – Vamos Cantar De Pé – 117 points
9. Norway – Lillebror – 110 points
10. The Netherlands – De Oude Zigeuner – 93 points
11. Malta – Gashfur Tac Comb – 57 points

Italy won the contest by a landslide, and for the first time. Moreover, it is the first country in the history of the contest to score more than 300 points. Montagne Verdi (Green Mountains) is a romantic song about a girl’s first love, by Marcella Bella. The song participated in the 1972 Sanremo Festival, where it only ranked 7th.

The Guest Category

The 11 candidates in the main category were all songs from actual 1972 national selections. But since 2004, other countries can compete in a second category: the Guest Jury Hits. The guest juries are all the clubs voting for the main category but not participating. They can be countries that didn’t have a national final at the time, countries that didn’t participate in the corresponding Eurovision, and even countries that didn’t exist. OGAE Rest of the World is eligible too. All are invited to send one of their hit from the year of the contest.
For 1972, 16 of the 19 guests sent a song. France won for the first time with Michel Fugain’s Une Belle Histoire (A Beautiful Story). The runner-up was Spain with Nino Bravo and Un Beso Y Una Flor (A Kiss And A Flower), and the 3rd place went to David Cassidy’s Could It Be Forever, representing OGAE Rest of the World.

The details of the votes for both categories, as well as free and legal downloads of all the songs, can be found here.
Did you know about the OGAE Retro Song Contest? Do you like the winner(s)? What do you think of the other competing songs? Tell us in the comments below and on social media at @escxtra!