Players in alteration with journalists

There was an unfortunate incident that occurred at the Hilton Hotel in Yaounde on Friday the 30th of May,a day before the indomitable lions were to face the Cape Verde Islands.A press conference had been scheduled with some of the players of the Cameroonian national team and some members of its coaching staff.According to a state radio report on Saturday, Coach Otto Pfister,goalkeeping coach and former lion Thomas Nkono were present.The players involved were Captain Rigobert Song,assistant captain Samuel Eto'o fils and current goalkeeper Idriss Carlos Kameni.Things went wrong,when one of the journalist claiming to speak for the whole sports journalist community complained about their inability to get access to the players after training sessions.They complained about their working conditions in general and starting walking out of the conference room one after another.A confrontation occurred between Radio station Siantou reporter Philippe Bonney and Samuel Eto'o Fils with the later said to have head-butted the reporter.Cameras were also claimed to have been destroyed by Carlos Kameni and goal keeping coach Thomas Nkono as STV and New TV television stations were trying to film the incident.The players have taken a decision not to talk to the press until further notice.The incident hit the morning news stand on Monday the 2nd of June,with TV stations and daily newspapers calling Eto'o Fils all type of names.The damage control for Eto'o Fils begins with him appearing on prime time national TV station CRTV to give his own account of what happened on the Friday before the Cameroon,Cape Verde encounter.Eto'o called it a family misunderstand and express regret over the whole affair.He said he has personally talked to Bonney Philippe and the matter is now resolved.He made some personal promises that were not disclosed but the key point of agreement is that there will be a better working relationship between the media and the soccer players.He claims there was a show of disrespect from the sports journalist and that the indomitable lions should be giving the same level of respect of say the soccer national teams of England,Spain,France or Brazil.There were clips of Eto'o talking part in various community activities during his previous stay in the Country.A complete different image of what took place in the Hilton hotel.Bonney Philippe was shown on national TV with a cast on his left hand.So for the moment there seem to be a truce between the media,the players and Cameroon Football governing body FECAFOOT.Bonney Philippe had already contacted an Attorney to file charges and claims that he will go ahead with the charges if the agreement between the players and the media is not respected.Eto'o Fils and the rest of the Lions travel today the 5th of June 2008 for the Island of St.Mauritius where they are due for a match against the latter on Sunday.