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FC Nantes (Footbal club, France)

Presentation of FC Nantes
Melen-ha-Gwer flag
Brigade Loire supporters' flags

See also:

Presentation of FC Nantes

FC Nantes (FCN) was founded in 1943 by the merging of several amateur clubs of the town. Incorporated into the First League in 1963, FCN won the national championship in 1965, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1995 and 2001, the French Cup in 1979, 1999 and 2000. The club was semi-finalist of the European Cup Winners' Cup (the defunct C2) in 1980 and semi-finalist of the Champions' League in 1996.
The supporters of FCN use different combinations of the club colors, green and yellow (divided horizontally, vertically, quartered...).

François Tournier, Ivan Sache & Jérôme Sterkers, 17 December 2005

Melen-ha-Gwer flag

Melen-ha-Gwer flag
- left, original design - Image by Raphaël Vinet, 8 March 2002;
- right, variant - Image by Ivan Sache, 27 February 2001

The Melen-ha-Gwer (Yellow and Green) flag was designed by Raphaël Vinet for the supporters of FCN, colouring the Gwenn-ha-Du with the colours of the FCN.

Ar Banniel [arb], #7 (Winter 1998) reports a variant of the flag seen during the Nantes-Sochaux match, 29 August 1998. The flag had five black ermine spots placed horizontally in the yellow canton.

Ivan Sache, 8 March 2002

Brigade Loire

Brigade Loire flag - Image by Ivan Sache, 14 December 2002

This flag was designed in 1999 by François Tournier for the Brigade Loire supporters' club. The flah should:
- include the three colors of Brigade Loire, yellow, green and black. Yellow and green are the club's colors while black is the color of Brittany, highlighting the historical inclusion of Nantes into Brittany);
- be easy to manufacture;
- be easy to recognize;
- be easy to wave in the stadium;
- highlight the identity of the supporters' club
Therefore, the flag is based on the following elements:
- the association of geometrical parts easy to stitch together (vertical and/or horizontal elements), without anything painted on them;
- stripes of different height, to be different from the chequy, horizontally or vertically striped flags already used by other groups.

The flag is made of five horizontal yellow-black-green-black-yellow stripes, with the respective proportions 2:1:2:1:2.
Yellow stands for the town of Nantes and the football club, the players being nicknamed Les Jaunes (The Yellows).
Green stands for river Loire that waters Nantes. "Loire" is also the name of the stand used by the Brigade Loire.
Black, on both sides of the green stripe and therefore of river Loire, means that Nantes, and by extension the department of Loire-Atlantique, north and south of the Loire, historically belongs to Brittany. These two black stripes also recall the two arms of the cross on the flag of the Duchy of Brittany, the Kroaz Du.
The square proportion is not mandatory, especially for the manufacturing of the velum, a huge flag that covers the whole stand, but the stripes' proportion should be respected in all cases.

François Tournier, 14 December 2002

Other Brigade Loire flags - Image by Ivan Sache, 3 May 2006

Other flags seen on TV images and on the supporters' club website are based on the traditional Breton flag, too. The flag has a black cross on a green or yellow field.

Ivan Sache, 3 May 2006