Dynamos Coach Attacks Female Cameraperson

By Perkins Bare

Dynamos Coach Paulo Jorge Silva capped off what hasn`t been a great week for him by finally losing his nerve as he charged at a female reporter from ZBC who pitched up at the team`s training camp, injuring her in the process. He then went on ahead to ban all the players and his whole technical staff from giving interviews to the press threatening that anyone who dared to violate it would lose his job.

It all started on Sunday when a seemingly innocent interview of Paulo Silva was published in the Standard. The coach opened up on his coaching credentials and title aspirations but then it all went horribly wrong for him when it was taken a step further and unraveled that he had misrepresented his coaching credentials just to get a job at Dynamos.

“I had stints with Stuttgart, Greuther Furth, Nuremberg, Aalen – all in Germany – but I was coaching their Under-21 teams. It is in Albania that I got my first job as an assistant coach. This did not last long as well as I left the club to join Sharjah FC where I had my first job as head coach, ” Silva said in that interview. “I joined Admira in 2014 after they had played in the Europa League the previous season,” he added which then saw him cropping up again in Nigeria in September last year where he joined newly-promoted side COD United only to dump them 3 months after signing the contract.

One thing that was clear about Silva was that just like most European coaches on the continent he was just as nomadic but after a little digging by NewsdaySport Stuttgart denied all claims that one Paulo Jorge Silva was ever on their payroll adding that they did not have a U-21 team.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t find anything more about Jorge Paulo Silva. The persons in charge for our centre for junior players don’t know him and as you already know, there is no-Under 21 (team) at our club,” the club’s media and communications officer, Laura Steinacher wrote.

This however did not go down well with the general public as it then opened up a can of worms. Just like that all that he had listed as his credentials both coaching and playing were now under scrutiny and there was a lot of questions to be asked. What could have made the coach to lose it was the headlines in the papers especially the one asking if he was a `rookie`.

The coach is said to have sprained the wrist of Bangamu, the female cameraperson in a scuffle which forced his counterparts Lloyd Mutasa to join and try and save her skin. He is said to have temporarily confiscated the camera and ordered that she delete all the footage she had recorded. He then however later went on to apologise and he says he thought the journalists were from Newsday which is currently writing bad stuff about him.

The coach under immense criticism with the secretary general of the Zimbabwean Union of Journalists Foster Dongozi promising that they will make a formal complaint.

“We will certainly be lodging a complaint to ZIFA, Premier Soccer League and Dynamos following this rogue and barbaric attack on one of the media personnel” he said in an interview with a local daily.
“It was very regrettable that it happened that way. We have always highlighted to both the Government and the stakeholders that media predators such as this Dynamos coach are very dangerous to members of the profession.“So we would like to warn ZIFA, the Premier Soccer League, Dynamos and their coach that he should behave in a professional manner towards members of the media or else we stop covering their events.“We would also like them to guarantee the safety and life of journalists when doing their duties in these events.If the coach has a problem with the media, he should report to the Voluntary Media Council or to the Zimbabwe Media Commission. He can also make a civil case if he feels offended by a certain journalist or paper ” he added in that interview with a local daily.

The coach is expected to be sanctioned as well by both the PSL with his paymasters having already condemned the action. Dynamos president Kenny Mubaiwa reiterated that the club would indeed take action adding that Dynamos as a brand makes it a point to ensure that they are always on good stead with their stakeholders who promote them and they would never under any circumstances wish to bring disrepute to their sponsors or the club itself.

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