admin18area.coms with VaShagare
NORMAN Mapeza comes across as aloof to most people.
The FC Platinum coach definitely has the air about him, a presence.
Those who don’t really know him quickly dismiss Mapeza as a man who believes that he was cut from a different and much more special cloth than the rest of us.
However, that is a bit unfair on the man because amid that perceived pompousness, he is just a young Zimbabwean coach who loves his job and nation.
Those who are mischievous have sort to question why he is secretive about his private life as very little is known about his “wife and children.”
They argue that it is a sign that he is not a man of the people.
That too is unfair because for all the years that Kallisto Pasuwa was the trailblazing Dynamos coach there is no single day we were treated to the sight of Madzimai Pasuwa.
Does anyone know Moses “Bambo” Chunga’s wife because of press coverage?
No!
However, there is something that is true about Norman Mapeza that always gets said when talk about football personalities crops up.
Normara has some bully tendencies and the way he uses hand gestures when talking unsettles many.
That right hand, with its bracelet, is always raised during conversations and to the uninitiated that can be very, very unsettling.
At Mandava last Saturday, the FC Platinum coach brought out the bully in him as he engaged in a verbal exchange with veteran journalist Paul Saul Mundandi.
After watching his side salvage a barely deserved draw against a fired up Dongo Sawmill, the under pressure Mapeza refused to grant a post match interview to journalists in the presence of Mundandi.
The FC Platinum coach did not take kindly to the journalist’s reportage of his expensively assembled team’s humiliation away to Tanzania’s Young Africans in the caf Confederations Cup two weeks ago.
Mapeza accused Mundandi of describing FC Platinum as useless after they got walloped 1-5.
Now, Mapeza must be reminded that his antics were childish and uncalled for.
The only people who are answerable to him are the FC Platinum players, the team’s backroom staff and his “wife”.
He is not remotely qualified to lecture journalists on what to write and what not to write.
Stick to the football business you know best Norman and leave journalism to the journalists.
Such childish behaviour has no place in modern day society and the sooner you realise it the better.
Yes, you can bar that female journalist from speaking to your players for reasons you best know but never ever fool yourself into believing you can control what journalists write about FC Platinum.
Respect the journalists and they will respect you, treat them like crap and they will take you to the cleaners.
I wonder what your employers said after such negative coverage of their company sponsored outfit.
VaShagare hopes you didn’t get yourself into a tight spot mate.
I am glad you and Paul have made peace; Zvishavane is too small for you guys not to co-exist.
But events of last Saturday highlight how compromised a journalist becomes when a travelling team pays for his airfares and accommodation.
When they fly you, house you and feed you they naturally expect you to be one of theirs don’t they?
The coaches dressed by the devil?
There were two typical cases of how not to dress at the National Sports Stadium on the Saturday that Mapeza and Mundandi got into their war of words.
Dynamos coach David “Yogi” Mandigora and his Buffaloes counterpart Joseph “Shabba” Takaringofa were so shabbily dressed, it hurt.
Mandigora used to be one of the best dressed coaches during his first stint as DeMbare gaffer.
Who can ever forget the Adidas tracksuit, the Pacific branded Dynamos jersey and the trainer shoes?
What has happened Bla Yogi?
Is it age my guy?
However, Yogi and Takaringofa are not alone in dressing like makorokoza, there are several other gaffers who are guilty of this one.
We will dish out the awards of shame one fine day.
Having said that there are coaches who look the part and these include Mapeza himself, Taurai Mangwiro, Kelvin Kaindu, Mark Harrison and Luke “Vahombe” Masomere among others.
With the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League being taken into millions of homes by SuperSport our coaches need to have that professional look.
One cannot expect to be taken seriously if he dresses like a traditional healer when he is a football coach.
Hell no.
Va Shagare exits the scene.
VaShagare is the founder of DeMbare DotComs and can be contacted on that Facebook page as well as the email [email protected]
Online Reporter