Silver summon three players
The issue of discipline continues to be a problem in Silver Strikers camp, the latest being the summoning of Bernardo Namangwiyo, Asedi Ayami and Peter Mwenda, who are being accused of boycotting a Super League game last week.
The club’s chairperson McDonald Mafuta-Mwale yesterday confirmed that the three players will appear before a disciplinary hearing for refusing to travel with the team to Dwangwa last weekend for a league match against Mafco. The Bankers lost the match 1-0.
“These players refused to travel to Dwangwa on the basis that they were not being featured and such kind of attitude cannot be tolerated,” said Mafuta-Mwale.
But Mwenda claimed that it was not true that they boycotted the Mafco game.
“We did not refuse to travel to Dwangwa. Actually, what happened was that we were not in the squad that had been named for the game and, therefore, how could we have travelled?” Mwenda wondered.
However, an inside source said the trio was in the initial 22-man squad named for last weekend’s games.
“The team was scheduled to depart for Dwangwa soon after Saturday’s game against Civo United [which Silver won 1-0].
“Apparently, although they were part of the initial squad, the three players were not in the line-up which faced Civo and immediately after the game, they went back to their respective homes on the assumption that they were not in the coaching panel’s plans and, therefore, felt there was no need for them to travel to Dwangwa,” said the source.
The source said disciplinary issues are getting out of hand in the Bankers’ camp, but Mafuta-Mwale insisted that they will continue to take a firm line on discipline.
Last season, Peter Pindani was summoned for a disciplinary hearing and this season three other players—Dave Moya, Rhodrick Gonani and Amadu Ali—were also suspended over disciplinary issues.
Moya and Gonani were called back, but Ali was transfer-listed and is linked with a move to Blue Eagles.
Before that, former assistant coach Hellings Mwakasungula and team manager Sibusiso ‘Shaka’ Padambo were also involved in disciplinary issues.
