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Pau (Municipality, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France)

Elan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez (basketball)
Section Paloise (rugby)

See also:

Elan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez

EBPLO supporter's flags - Images by Ivan Sache, 6 July 2012

Élan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez (EBPLO - website) was originally founded in 1931, as the basketball section of the Élan Béarnais (EB) sports club, established on 13 December 1908 in Orthez. In 1967, Pierre Seillant, the son of one of the first players of the club, was elected president of EB. The club joined the First League in 1973 and played for the first time in the Korać Cup in 1978, which EB would win in 1984 (97-74 to Belgrade Red Star). The club also won two national championships in 1986 and 1987, with a 3rd rank in the Champion's League the latter year. At the time, the club played on the legendary Moutète market hall, whose main use was as a huge poultry market.
In 1989, the club was relocated to Pau and renamed Élan Béarnais Pau- Orthez (EBPO). The municipality of Orthez, then with some 12,000 inhabitants, could not afford the increasing budgets required by professional basketball. Seillant preferred moving to Pau rather to Bordeaux to keep the Béarn identity of the club. An arrangement was found with André Labarrère, the Mayor of Pau, although the two associates belonged to opposite political camps. A brand new sports hall was inaugurated in 1991. Pau-Orthez won seven more national championships (1992,1996,1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004). The club still holds the European records of successive appearances in a European cup, 30 (1978-2008).
In 2008, the club got bankrupted. Pierre Seillant had to leave the presidency. The club, partially refunded by the Lacq Intermunicipal Authority and the players Boris Diaw and Mickaël Pietrus, was renamed Élan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez (EBPLO). Another two emblematic former members of the club, the player Didier Gadou and the coach Claude Bergeaud, were appointed President and Executive Director, respectively. This did not prevent EBPLO to join the Second League after a 33-year tenure in the First League. The club won the Second League, defeating in the final CSP Limoges, another legendary club, coming back to the First League in 2010.

The club's supporters use (at least) three flags (excluding the flags conveniently tagged by local sponsors):
- a vertically divided green-white flag;
- a square, quartered green-white flag;
- a horizontally divided green-white flag (photo, 9 May 2010).

The original Élan Béarnais sports club founded in 1912 a football section, whose original flag is shown (photos of the obverse and reverse of the flag) on the website of the football club.
The flag is a French tricolore. The obverse of the flag is charged with the writing "PATRONAGE ST JOSEPH / ELAN BEARNAIS". The reverse of the flag is charged with "PAROISSE ST PIERRE / ORTHEZ". A patronage was a sports association managed by a local parish (paroisse) priest. On the reverse is also shown a blue shield with a representation of the Orthez fortified bridge, whose modernized version was originally used by the basketball club.

Ivan Sache, 6 July 2012

Section Paloise

Flag of Section Paloise, left, flag of the professional section, right, flag of the former, amateur club - Images by Christian Gout, 4 February 2004

The rugby club of Pau, founded in 1902 as the Section Paloise de la Ligue Girondine, became rapidly known as the Section Paloise.
Section Paloise won the French championship in 1928, 1946, 1964; the French Cup in 1939 and 1952 (then called Challenge Yves du Manoir), and 1997; and the European Shield in 2000.

In 1998, professionalism was officially recognized by the French Rugby Federation. The professional section of Section Paloise (website) adopted a flag featuring the Pic du Midi d'Ossau.
Beforehand, the amateur club used a flag with a slightly different emeblem in the middle.
The green and white colours of the club were adopted in 1912.

Ivan Sache, 4 February 2004