Toulouse: with a board from the old Ponts-Jumeaux stadium, he creates a collector’s knife from the Stade Toulousain
Bernard Loquet, 65, former 3rd line of the “Rouge et Noir” in the early 80s, had a winemakers’ knife made with a single handle: it was made from a board from the old stands of the Ponts stadium. -Twins, destroyed in 1980.
It’s the kind of object that any true Stade Toulousain enthusiast, any (very) longtime fan of the “Rouge et Noir” would like to own. Especially since it’s a rare object, very rare… We saw it last Saturday during the general assembly of the Amicale des Anciens du Stade. Bernard Locket, 65 years old, former 3e line of the “Rouge et Noir” in the early 80s then trainer of the Reichel juniors (generation Marfaing, Ntamack, Lacroix, etc.), made a splash at the meeting of former stadiers by presenting the “Liadou”, a knife of winegrowers made in Aveyron, near Marcillac-Vallon. But not just any knife. This one has a unique sleeve. Valuable for old Stade Toulousain lovers. “Indeed, its handle is made of wood, but not just any wood. It comes from a board from the old stands of the Ponts-Jumeaux stadium”, specifies Bernad Loquet, passionate about local knives, and who therefore took advantage of knowing the Aveyron cutler from Liadou to produce a special series with his board of Wood.
The knife whose handle was made with a square from the old Ponts-Jumeaux stadium.
51 pieces and not one more
Which therefore comes from the mythical Toulouse enclosure, destroyed in 1980 to make way for the Toulouse ring road. “It was Alain Pagès (former Stade player, editor’s note) who had recovered some boards from the popular platform at the time. He had a board left that I recovered to make the handles of my knife”, says Bernard Loquet who therefore made 51 copies (and not one more) of this unique piece of wood which makes all the charm of this knife which features the Stade logo on the handle and an engraving of the former Ponts-Jumeaux stand on the blade. “It was not easy to do because the wood of the stands was not very noble, it was fir. Knife handles are usually made of hardwoods like olive, juniper so we had to process it. »
In the end, the result is very successful and once the project was unveiled, requests poured in. “I would have needed four times more but I only had one board”, regrets Bernard Loquet who sold all his stock during the general assembly of the Elders of the Stadium. At €130 each, happy buyers now get a very beautiful winegrower’s knife, a “Liadou” with a handle made of wood that smacks of nostalgia, that of the Ponts-Jumeaux stadium where so many generations of Toulouse supporters have posed their buttocks between 1908 and 1980. Delivered in a pretty box where the speech of the late André Brouat delivered the day of farewell to the Pont-Jumeaux was printed, Bernard Loquet’s “Liadou” would have been a hit at the foot of the Christmas tree Toulouse supporters if the Bois des Ponts-Jumeaux had not been missed…
