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Café des Aiglons
The new collection unveiled!
Ahead of the 103rd Cote d’Azur derby and the 2-1 win over Monaco, fans and former players alike gathered to welcome come new historical pieces to the collection at the Café des Aiglons.
It's a beautiful story, tinged with Rouge et Noir. In 2014, the National Sports Museum left Paris, and headed to its new home in Allianz Riviera, Les Aiglons’ new nest. However, one element of the museum didn’t cross the borders into the County of Nice: the "Bar des Sports", where the visitors of the Parisian Museum used to meet.
"We fought to create a space dedicated to Le Gym and its supporters. We couldn’t accept it any other way. It was inconceivable for us that the Club could not have its own place here. A "Bar des Sports" could work in Paris, but certainly not in Nice where Le Gym and it’s culture is too strongly established among the people of Nice to do without it," smiled, 6 years later, Virginie Rossetti, Communications and Brand Director of OGC Nice.
FREE ENTRY
In order to convince the Ministry of Sport, the club called on its former players as well as its oldest, most loyal supporters to collect shirts, pennants, scarves... Each piece of fabric in honour of a specific period of the club, founded in 1904. Brought together, they convinced the decision-makers to create the "Café des Aiglons", which will become a place of sharing and transmission. For the past six years, fans have been able to meet those who have worn the club's colours before them and (re)discover the most beautiful moments of the club's history. All of it free of charge, so that money would not be a barrier to the passing on of Le Gym's culture.
FROM LLORIS’ JERSEY TO THE BERGER’S SKIS
This Saturday, this Rouge et Noir collection was expanded. In the showcases, you can now find the jersey worn by Pablito Rodriguez during the 2001-02 season, that of Hugo Lloris in 2007-08, Charly Loubet's kit in UEFA Cup against Barcelona, that of Olivier Fugen against Kilmarnock in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1997, or the jersey of José Cobos in 2004. The former Gym captain was present on Saturday and also unveiled the Berger's bike and skis, now on display in his memory.
Le vélo du Berger est désormais exposé au #CaféDesAiglons #OGCNASM pic.twitter.com/5mW6rjWRNN
— OGC Nice (@ogcnice) March 7, 2020
"This bike marked my debut here. When we were doing training courses in Saint-Martin de Vésubie, he used to come with this bike,” remembered the former Nice defender with emotion. "At the start, the Club asked me for my Monaco-Nice jersey (2004/05, 3-4). Unfortunately I couldn't find it, I had given it to a supporter. But I found the centenary jersey. The most important thing is to have kept the BSN captain's armband, which has marked my history and the bond between us and the fans.”
Also to be found in the collection is a new space dedicated to the "freshest" souvenirs, for recent memorabilia, such as the boots worn by Hatem Ben Arfa in 2015-16 or the pennant given by Ajax Amsterdam when the Dutch giant visited in the third qualifying round for the 2017 Champions League.
"We are very happy," said Thomas Fanari, Head of Development and Communication at the National Sports Museum. "It proves that this is a place that lives and breathes today and you can see that there are a lot of people here: fans and former players. That's the beauty of this museum, bringing together the past and the present to ensure that the Club's heritage is included in the National Sports Museum.”
‘REMEMBER WHERE WE COME FROM’
"For me it's essential to know where you come from in order to know where you're going," said Stephane, who came to admire the new collection before the derby. "Not everyone had the chance, me included, to experience the club's glory years.”
At each home game, fans are reunited with a former Aiglon in the traditional pre-match rendezvous. This time they many former players, with Guy Mengual, Jose Cobos, Bernard Castellani, Christophe Meslin, René Bocchi, Charly Loubet, Henri Zambelli and Olivier Fugen all present for the occasion.
All these people spent "a moving moment," as Fugen said, who wanted "to thank Virginie Rossetti and President Rivère, who take perfect care of the former Aiglons and also of this Café which is family run, where you can come and see a former player of all eras before each match. I think it's extraordinary.”
And Virginie Rossetti concluded: "A big thank you to our former players and collector fans who have trusted us since the beginning of the adventure by lending us all these unique pieces, we are extremely touched!”
The meet and greet with a former Aiglon
The rendezvous ‘Tell me’ brings together the club's fans at each home match at the Café des Aiglons to meet and greet a former player, honoured by OGC Nice. He then receives a Former Aiglon Trophy, in the centre of the pitch, a few minutes before kick-off from the hands of Virginie Rossetti, and addresses the crowd. Since the 2016-17 season, Loubet, Jouve, Huck, Baratelli, Bjekovic, Langers, Salvioni (photo), Djelmas, Mattio, Cobos, Varrault, Vahirua, Ederson, Digard, to name but a few, have all been honoured.
The former Aiglons, are a big part of Le Gym
The pre-match tribute is part of a global policy that will be rewarded in 2019 by the Prix Génération Foot, which rewards the French professional club that best promotes and integrates its former players.
Members of the Aiglons Alumni Association from their first day at the club, those who have honoured the Rouge et Noir jersey can find themselves in the stands to follow their successors. A section of the stadium is reserved for them in the Garibaldi stand.
The names of all the former players and coaches since the beginning of the professional era are also displayed on the walls of the conference room in the training and coaching centre. While the "centurions" are now being honoured. An integral part of the club, the "Alumni" also regularly find the time to take part in the clubs community service events carried out by the Endowment Fund.