He is now one of the voices of the morning show of France Bleu Loire Océan. But for many Nantes residents and listeners, Antoine Thollé will remain the voice of FC Nantes. The one that will have made them shiver over hundreds of club matches. And among his most striking outbursts, listeners will undoubtedly remember the title in 1995, the semi-final of the Champions League, the following season against Juventus Turin, but also the two victories in the Coupe de France commented on by the journalist. Twenty-two years later, Antoine Thollé offers himself a last final of the Canaries in the stands. He will co-commentate the final of the Coupe de France on France Bleu Loire Océan with Florian Cazzola, live from the Stade de France, this Saturday evening.
“It’s very symbolic”
“It’s very symbolic but it’s a little scaryrecognizes Antoine Thollé. It’s a bit scary, firstly because I’ve lost a bit of football. I’m not really FC Nantes, except of course for work. But for the opposing clubs, like Nice for example, I worry a little because there I’m going to have to work the files not to say bullshit, because the players I hardly know them.” A little scary also to find the duties incumbent on the commentator, he admits. “We may exult, be playful, bawl from time to time, we have all done it, but we still have responsibilities because we have people who listen to us, we cannot say anything. We take them with us, that’s radio!”
My comments were not oriented but they were a bit Yellow and Green!
And the least we can say is that Antoine Thollé knows what he is talking about. Him, the child who played at FC Nantes until juniors, and was already commenting on his football games with his brother. “It was so-and-so passing the ball to so-and-so, who dribbled so-and-so and who was going to score and goal! We were both playing in a corridor or a piece of land and I was commenting, there was a little thing that surely started to shiver.” Then the football-loving kid became a sports journalist on the radio. At the beginning, “by chance”and for almost 20 years, at a time when television broadcasts did not exist, and where meetings were mainly lived through the airwaves.
Hundreds of matches commented on France Bleu
“Occasionally, some put on the television but with the sound of the radiobecause my comments were not oriented but they were a bit Yellow and Greensmiles the man who will take a well-deserved retirement in a few months. With the lag problem, the radio sound would sometimes come after the TV picture, so sometimes you had the goal in the picture but the radio came two seconds later. I have very good memories of this period, but you have to know how to turn the page.”
These are family reasons that push Antoine Thollé to turn the page of a life in the suitcases, to scour the enclosures of France for the championship, as everywhere in Europe on the occasion of the European Cup matches. Without regret, assure the one who marked several generations of supporters. “But it also hurts when a young man who is now 40 says: I used to listen when I was a kid, in my bedroom at night. My parents didn’t want to so I hid. I take a hell of a slap! But it was a great moment”he jokes.
Two Coupe de France finals, two victories!
Before putting on his helmet as a sports commentator, Antoine Thollé will have made Nantes supporters experience the last two victories of the Canaries in the Coupe de France. The first with the journalist from France Bleu Loire Océan, Martial Cure. The second with the consultant Serge Le Dizet. On May 7, 2000, Nantes faced Calais, the little thumb. “There is an almost complete and filled Stade de France for Calais in yellow and orange. Everyone had a scarf in the colors of Calais at least around their necksremembers the journalist, a bit provocative, who was mounted in the stands with his FC Nantes jerseyflocked with his first name. It was not well received at first, I saw some not very nice looks, but that’s the game! You have to know how to be a player and stay sporty!”
It was the first time I saw a captain win a trophy and share it with the captain of the team opposite.
From this victory, Antoine Thollé keeps a strong image. That of Mickaël Landreau inviting the captain of Calais, Réginald Becqueto brandish with him the Coupe de France. “It was the first time I saw a captain win a trophy and share it with the captain of the team opposite, it was really a great gesture!” History does not yet say what strong image Antoine Thollé will keep from the Coupe de France 2022. But the journalist from France Bleu Loire Océan says he is happy to be able to experience this final live from the Stade de France, a few months away from leaving the antenna. Hoping that the saying: “Never two without three” takes place around 11 p.m.